Part 38 (2/2)
”You mean after...being mostly dead...all day?” She smiled as though it was some private joke. ”I'm fine...really. But, uh, what's this stuff...all over you?” She nodded at the black grime that coated his skin and clothes. ”Smells...awful.”
”It's dust from the Black Planet,” Kor answered. ”The mark of the shadow stone. That was where the demon wanted me to go all along-so it could take me over.”
”It indwelled you,” Maggie whispered. ”But it couldn't...couldn't take over completely. Because we're bonded, you and I.”
”So you said.” He smiled at her. ”And I'm d.a.m.n grateful for it too. Without that bond I would never have had the power to break free of the d.a.m.n thing.” He cleared his throat. ”So this bond...does it mean I don't have to worry about Donald anymore?”
Maggie groaned weakly. ”No, you don't have to...worry about him. Don't...get me started.”
”She is yet weak, warrior.” The Kindred girl called Lissa who had hosted the G.o.ddess touched him lightly on the shoulder. ”And this mob is angry with you, despite the fact that Saber is trying to calm them down.” She nodded at the people gathered in the square, many of which were glaring at Kor-not that he could blame them.
He nodded. ”I want to repair the damage I did if I can, but right now I need to take Maggie someplace safe.”
”I think it best you both go back to the Kindred Mother s.h.i.+p,” Lissa said. ”Come, I have a shuttle waiting for you and I will call and instruct the s.h.i.+p to fold s.p.a.ce at once.”
Kor smiled and gathered Maggie into his arms. ”Well, blondie, looks like you're going to be home in time for dinner again.”
”Yes.” She smiled softly. ”But this time...I've got the right guy to come home to-you.”
”That you do.” Kor kissed her. ”And I'm never letting you go.”
Chapter Thirty-eight.
”How are you feeling today, sweetheart?” Kor leaned over Maggie's hospital bed and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
”Much better now.” Maggie sighed fretfully. ”I'm really tired of being here-I wish they'd let me leave the Med Station and move in to your suite with you already.”
”They're just keeping an eye on you, blondie.” Kor stroked her hair gently out of her face. ”I don't blame them. I can't keep my eyes off you either.”
”Silly.” Maggie started to say something else but then the spot on his big hand caught her eye. ”Kor, what's that? Did you still not get it all off?”
Kor sighed and looked down at the small spot which looked like a pitch black mole at the base of his right thumb. It was about the size of a dime and it wasn't that prominent but it was troubling because it was the last of the dust that had coated him when he stepped onto the Black Planet-the mark of the shadow stone, as the demon had called it.
”I scrubbed and scrubbed last night,” he told Maggie. ”I don't know why it won't all come off.”
She s.h.i.+vered. ”Well, you'll just have to try again later. I don't like that stuff-it reminds me of... you know.”
”Yes, I know.” Kor took back his hand and rubbed the spot against the side of his leg. ”Maybe it's never coming off. Maybe it's a reminder to me-something that will never let me forget what I did, what I allowed to happen through me.”
”Oh, come on, Kor-I don't think the G.o.ddess works like that. She's not vindictive,” Maggie objected. ”And speaking of the G.o.ddess, she healed me so I don't see why I can't just go.”
”The G.o.ddess healed you perfectly but you're still weak from blood loss,” Kor said smiling. ”So you'll have to be patient. Believe me, I can't wait for you to get strong enough to come home either.”
”I just bet you can't.” Maggie gave him a naughty smile. ”And why is that? So we can finally have some more bonding s.e.x? I'm going to really enjoy it this time since I don't have to feel guilty the whole time we do it.”
”Bonding s.e.x is all well and good but I have other things in mind for you,” Kor murmured. ”Better than bonding s.e.x things.”
Maggie raised her eyebrows. ”Better than bonding s.e.x? What can you possibly be talking about?”
”Something very important I'm afraid,” Kor said seriously. ”You see, I went to the Earth goods store and bought a lot of those canned foods you humans are so fond of but they're all out of order. The first thing you need to do when you walk in the door of our suite is alpa...alba...” His serious facade began to crack and Maggie could tell he was trying not to laugh. ”Seven h.e.l.ls-what is it Donald made you do again?”
”Alphabetize. He made me alphabetize them,” Maggie giggled.
”Oh, that's right.” Kor nodded gravely. ”Yes, you need to do that. And when you're finished, I require you to make me b.a.l.l.s of meat that weigh exactly the right amount. Also, we need to pick linens for our sleeping platform that match the curtains and all our clothing. All right?”
”Sure.” Maggie laughed again. ”And while we're at it, let's be sure the chairs all sit at the dining room table at perfect ninety degree angles.”
”I'll also require that our oral hygiene products keep their distance from each other,” Kor said. ”After all, I can't risk getting your germs.”
”In that case, maybe you'd better stop kissing me,” Maggie pointed out.
”Or I could wash out your mouth with disinfectant every time I do,” Kor said thoughtfully. ”That might be sufficient to keep me from being contaminated. I just don't know...”
Both of them cracked up and Maggie laughed until tears came to her eyes. In the week since they had returned from Tarsia, she had been filling Kor in on her disastrous reunion with her ex-fiance and this was the result.
Kor, who had hated Donald when he was a rival, was now fascinated with his strangely fastidious habits. He was constantly begging for more ”Donald stories” to laugh at and Maggie was happy to oblige him. Now that she and Kor were together and their bond was strong, she could see how very unhappy she'd been with Donald. In fact, it seemed completely ridiculous that she'd been with him for so long-almost as ridiculous as alphabetizing the canned goods or weighing the meatb.a.l.l.s or folding all the napkins into perfect Isosceles triangles for dinner.
”We really need to stop,” she told Kor, slapping him lightly on the arm. ”Poor Donald can't help himself, really. He just wasn't the right guy for me and I certainly wasn't the right girl for him.”
”No, because you're only the right female for me.” Kor leaned over to take her mouth in a warm, possessive kiss that took her breath away. Just as Maggie was about to invite him into her hospital bed-completely against doctor's orders-she heard someone clearing their throat from the doorway.
Thinking it was the nurse, she broke the kiss reluctantly and looked up.
”I'm sorry, I just-” The words died on her lips when she saw who was standing in her doorway-Donald.
”Greetings, Margaret,” he said and cleared his throat. ”I hope I have not, ah, interrupted anything.”
”Donald,” she said blankly, looking him over. His leg was looking much better than the last time she'd seen him. The external fixation device was gone and he was up and around-albeit with a cast and a pair of crutches. ”What...what are you doing here?” she asked at last, unable to think of anything else to say.
”I believe I told you I was going to be doing some work with the Kindred. They were kind enough to invite me to the Mother s.h.i.+p early and help treat my leg. It is almost healed now as you see.”
”Uh, yes. Yes, I see,” Maggie felt awkward. How much of what they were saying had her ex-fiance heard? How long had he been standing there or just outside the doorway while she and Kor laughed about his little peculiarities?
”I heard you were injured as well,” Donald said stiffly. ”So I came to see you. I am glad that you appear to be feeling well.”
”Yes...much better. Thanks.” G.o.d, why couldn't she think of anything to say to him? They'd been together for five years but it was like talking to a stranger! In desperation, Maggie nodded to the side of the bed where Kor was standing there, silently sizing Donald up. ”Um, so this is Kor. And Kor, this is...”
”Donald!” Kor strode forward, smiling unexpectedly and reached out to take her ex-fiance's hand. He had picked up the Earth custom of hand-shaking but Maggie was a little surprised he was so willing to shake his ex-rival's hand.
”Ah...h.e.l.lo,” Donald said awkwardly, holding onto his crutches with one hand as Kor pumped the other. ”It's a...uh, a real pleasure to meet you.”
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