Seeing (Return of the Nine) by Viola Grace Read Free Book Online Page A

yet.” He made a small gesture and the theatre above them filled with stars.
    “Vida, keep your eyes open and look through those stars. Try to see what they face when they look up through the night sky.”
    She shivered and followed his low instructions, trying to fasten more firmly to her parents, hundreds of worlds away. Her parents were blind but they had a feeling for space that she hoped would kick in.
    Vida actually felt a flicker on the other end. “I have a connection!”
    “Excellent. Hold it and remain calm. Find an image of the night sky through their eyes. Find it and hold it.”
    She looked through her father’s eyes and saw the signature of a red star, a blue planet with orbital rings, and a series of moons. Vida relayed them all to S’rin, and he relayed them to the man running the projector.
    “Now, close your eyes and look. Tell us what does and doesn’t match.”
    He kept her power level high, but she could feel her father fading. She sealed the memory in her mind and said, “I have to let him go. He is tired.”
    “Fair enough. Look and tell us what you see.”
    She looked through closed eyes and shook her head. “Not that one. The rings are whiter.”
    “More moons.”
    “Redder sun.” The feeling on her face needed more energy.
    Nineteen different combinations were found, and finally, she opened her eyes and senses. “That is it. That is the one.”
    S’rin helped her to her feet, and she was able to line herself up until she had the same view that her father did. “That moon shouldn’t be there. I can’t see it through my father’s vision.”
    S’rin smiled and expanded the view of the moon. It was green, lush and heavily armed with bases and turrets visible from space. “Your parents are on this moon. That is why you couldn’t see it. They are standing on it.”
    She smiled and took a few steps before she collapsed.
     
    Dr. Meevin shook her head, looming over Vida with a curious look. “You unmated morons. I am shocked how you Gaians fight the bonding. You should have locked in the moment you met.”
    Vida sat up and groaned. “What the hell?”
    S’rin was next to her in an instant. “You fainted. Your system was in shock.”
    Meevin flicked her hand at him. “If you were accurate when you said she had sent her mind across the stars, I have no doubt that she was in shock. She was lucky that her brain wasn’t scrambled.”
    “She is sturdier than that, and I was backing her up.”
    “And yet, you aren’t linked, so it was not a perfect seal. Idiots.”
    Vida rubbed her head and swung her legs off the medical bed. “You have an excellent grasp of the Gaian language, Doctor.”
    “It has been growing by leaps and bounds since your compatriots have begun arriving. No one gets into odd medical scrapes like a Gaian.”
    “We have a talent for it.”
    Meevin laughed. “That is what you all say. Now, you are fine, you need to eat and get some sugar in you. Your system is out of balance, oddly enough.”
    “I will see that she gets what she needs, Doctor.” S’rin helped her off the table and held her against him for a moment.
    “See that you do. I have never seen a Gaian with mating weakness before, but I suppose there is a first time for everything.”
    Vida made a face and said, “Thank you, Dr. Meevin.”
    S’rin walked out with his arm around her, hauling her along.
    “We are going to lunch?”
    He made an odd sound. “No, we are going to the mating gardens. Then, we are going to lunch.”
    “What?”
    “In a woman of the Nine, your little fainting spell is considered a sign that a true mate has been found. The bonding is carried out immediately before your body goes into full revolt.”
    “But I am not a lady of the Nine, so what is going on?”
    “We don’t know, but if a bonding can solve it, we will not wait. Will you bond with me?”
    She snorted. “Yes, S’rin. I will.”
     
    Over lunch, Vida tried to recall the details, but all she knew was that he