KINSMAN'S OATH By Susan Krinard Contents Prologue PART I - Pegasus Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 PART II - Alliance Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 PART III - Shauri-ja Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Glossary "A Vivid, talented writer with a sparkling imagination.:" —Anne Stuart In her popular novella in the New York Times best-selling Out of this World anthology, Susan Krinard created a futuristic world of humans, telepaths, and an alien race called the shaauri. Now, she returns to that future galaxy with a captivating tale about two telepaths who have nothing in common…except the love they share for one another. Ronan VelKalevi was a man torn between two worlds. Born into the human race, he was kidnapped at the age of six by shaauri. More than twenty years later, he has found himself on the run from the aliens who raised him—and being saved by a ship of humans… Captain Cynara D'Accorso, the commander of thePegasus , has no reservations about rescuing the telepathic Kinsman from his damaged ship. But she isn't expecting the dangerous emotions this troubled man awakens in her—or that he isn't the innocent fugitive he claims to be. Now, as Ronan and Cynara's hearts fall prey to passion, they must discover the paths to which they each were born before their destinies destroy them both… "Susan Krinard has set the standard fro today's fantasy romance." —Affair de Coeur Titles by Susan Krinard kinsman's oath to catch a wolf the forest lord secret of the wolf out of this world (anthology with J. D. Robb, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Maggie Shayne) Kinsman's Oath Susan Krinard BERKLEY SENSATION, NEW YORK This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. KINSMAN'S OATH A Berkley Sensation Book / published by arrangement with the author PRINTING HISTORY Berkley Sensation edition / May 2004 Copyright © 2004 by Susan Krinard. Cover illustration by Franco Accornero. Cover design by George Long. ISBN: 0-425-19655-0 BERKLEY SENSATION™ Berkley Sensation Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. BERKLEY SENSATION and the "B" design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA This book is respectfully dedicated to the Science Fiction and Fantasy authors who have had the greatest impact on my life: Madeleine L'Engle—whoseA Wrinkle in Time , read to my fifth grade class, introduced me to the wonders of the genre; Andre Norton—whose stories helped me live through the challenges of adolescence; Marion Zimmer Bradley—whose work introduced me to lifelong friend Brett Carter; C. J. Cherryh—my ideal world-builder, ultimately responsible for my wonderful marriage to fellow science fiction reader Serge Mailloux; Sharon Lee and Steve Miller—who not only write wonderful romantic "space opera," but who, along with friends and mentors eluki bes shahar and Jennara Wenk and the television seriesBeauty and the Beast , can take full credit for setting me on the writing path. Thank you all. Prologue ^» The boy was young—young enough to be barred fromthe areas of the Persephonean corvette he most wanted to see, and to be assigned one of the Archon's own special agents during the voyage into shaauri space. Too young for wandering the corridors, where he might interfere with the duties of busy crew; too young to visit engineering with its vast sparkling pillars filled with dancing light like rainbows in a bottle, or to join his parents on the bridge. All during the journey, he had spent most of his time in his small cabin or in theAphrodite's mess hall, where he played games on the holosim or cards with Agent Teklys. She laughed when he almost beat her at Nova and told him he was too young to be so good. But he was not too young to know when something had gone terribly wrong. The first warning came when theAphrodite shook as if a great fist had slammed into its hull. Agent Teklys jumped out of her seat, hand flying to the gun at her belt, and stared up as if she could see through the overhead to the source of the explosion. The boy followed her gaze. "What is it?" he asked. All of a sudden he was very excited and very scared. "Is someone attacking the ship?" Before she could answer, the first alarm shrieked over the intercom. Agent Teklys muttered something fierce under her breath. The boy felt her fear; he couldn't read thoughts, not yet, but he sometimes caught images, feelings. What he glimpsed in Teklys's mind made his stomach flip-flop like a spike-eel in a fishing net. Agent Teklys ran to the bulkhead and punched the intercom. All that answered her call was static and the wail of the klaxon. She dashed back to the boy and knelt before him, grasping both his arms. "Listen to me, youngser . I'm going out to see what's happening. I'll be right back, and I want you to stay here until I come for you. Is that understood?" He nodded, swallowing the thickness in his throat. He wanted very badly to go with her, but he'd only get in the way. That was what his older brother Ambros told him constantly. But Ambros was home on Persephone with Uncle Miklos, andhe , the middle son, had been allowed to go with Mama and Papa on this most important of missions. He wouldnot wish he'd been left at home as well. "Very good," Agent Teklys said. "Don't be afraid. I will protect you." With a final tap on his shoulder, she ran through the mess door and sealed it behind her. He waited. He was good at waiting, watching, and listening; Mama said he was very much like his father in that way. But he knew he was not nearly as brave as Papa, or as smart. The noises continued, explosions and bumps and thumps he could feel in the soles of his boots. He thought he smelled smoke. Stray emotions from the crew drifted around him like ghosts, adding to his fear. Mama? he cast out wildly.Papa ? There was no answer. He was not strong enough to make them hear. He ran to the door and placed his hand flat on the control grid. It vibrated against his palm. He stepped back just in time as Agent Teklys charged through, hair loose in her face and her gun raised to fire. The door closed behind her. "We have very little time," she said in a clipped, tense voice. "TheAphrodite has been boarded. You must get to the escape pods immediately." Boarded? He knew what that meant; someone else had come onto the ship, someone who hadn't been invited. "If ever the ship is boarded," Papa had told him, very seriously, on the day they left Concordat space, "I want you to go straight to the escape pods and do exactly what I've shown you. An automatic signal will go out to all of our nearby ships, and someone will come for you. Do you understand?" He didn't understand nearly enough. But he took Agent Teklys's sweaty hand and let her pull him toward the door. It slid open in a burst of bright light. Agent Teklys shoved him behind her, and then the tall figure in the doorway lifted his weapon and fired. She staggered and fell. The boy stood frozen where he was and looked up. He knew what he was seeing. Mama and Papa had carefully shown him the holovids, answered all his questions, and tried to prepare him to meet his father's friends among the shaauri. But his mind compared the holovids to the huge shape before him and refused to make the connection. Red fur. Red, black-striped fur covered the whole body, from long-nailed bare feet to the tips of pointed ears. He stood a head taller than even Papa, who was a big man. He wore short, loose trousers, many belts hung with tools and weapons across his chest, and metal decorations around his arms and throat. His face, wrinkled in anger or confusion, made the boy think of Uncle Miklos's cat on Persephone, but only a little. The shaauri were not cats. Shaauri. Shaaurin—that was what you called one of them. And this shaaurin had just shot Agent Teklys. "Boy?" the creature said. He grated out the word with effort, as if he couldn't quite make his mouth form the right shape. "What…" He flattened his ears and hissed out a stream of sounds the boy didn't understand. "Why are you here?" the boy demanded, clenching his fists. "You aren't my father's friend. You hurt Agent Teklys." The shaaurin's ears twitched back and forth, back and forth. He glanced down at Teklys. "Not… dead," he rasped. "Sleep." There was no reason to take the alien's word, even though Papa had told him that most shaauri didn't lie in the same way humans did. The boy dropped to his knees beside Teklys and put his ear against her chest. He could hear her heart beating, the air going in and out of her lungs. She was still alive. The shaaurin had only stunned her. The boy sat up and rubbed his eyes with his hands. "Why did you come here?" he asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking. "Where are my mother and father?" 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