“This is truly wonderful, husband,” Allara said, breaking his train of thought. “Thank you from the deepest part of my heart.”
She put her hand to the right side of her chest and looked up at him with sincere appreciation in her gorgeous indigo eyes.
“You’re welcome, baby,” Brand murmured. “I hope you enjoy yourself.”
Seeing the wonder on her face, he wished he could stay and watch her first lesson. But he didn’t want to make her feel self-conscious and he did have to attend a Council meeting. Commander Sylvan had offered to let him have time off for what the humans called a “honeymoon” but Brand had only just been made a member of the High Council and he took his new responsibilities very seriously.
Leaning down, he kissed her gently on the cheek. Allara’s eyes widened—it seemed to surprise her every time he kissed her for some reason—and she smiled at him shyly.
“Should I…kiss you too?” she asked hesitantly.
“If you want to, baby,” Brand murmured.
“I…I think I do.” She sounded surprised at the idea of wanting to kiss him, which made him smile. He got the idea that the Q’ess didn’t do much kissing—or show much affection to their spouses at all, for that matter.
To make things easier for her, he got to one knee and held out his arms. Allara came to him, smiling shyly, and put her arms around his neck.
Brand enfolded her gently, loving the feel of her warm, curvy body in his arms. Gods, she was just so adorable.
“Should I kiss your cheek, husband?” she asked, looking into his eyes.
“Or my mouth—if you’d like to,” he murmured.
“I do not know if I will be good at it. Men and women do not kiss among the Q’ess—especially not mouth-to-mouth,” she admitted.
“You’ll learn,” Brand promised her. “I’ll teach you. Here.”
He leaned his head forward and was pleased when Allara met him halfway. Her lips were every bit as sweet and soft as he remembered from their wedding kiss the day before. The kiss lasted longer than he’d expected and when he broke it reluctantly, he was surprised when his new bride came back for more.
“Husband,” she said, after several more lingering kisses. “I think I like kissing mouth-to-mouth.”
“Mmm, baby—I like it to,” Brand murmured, looking into her eyes. “And I promise we’ll kiss some more later. But right now, I need to get to my meeting and you have a lesson to do.”
He nodded at Selena, who had considerately gone to the other side of the large room and busied herself with arranging music on the grand piano sitting there.
“Oh!” Allara’s lovely indigo eyes flew wide. “Yes, the lesson! How could I have forgotten?”
“That’s all right, sweetheart.” Brand winked at her. “I forget everything else when I’m close to you, too.” He kissed her one last time and then got to his feet. “I’ll see you in an hour—maybe you’ll be able to play me something by then.”
She looked uncertain.
“I will try my utmost, husband. I know you are paying good money to give me this opportunity.”
“Hey—no pressure,” Brand told her. “This is your very first lesson so even if you can’t play a note when I pick you up, I won’t be upset. Besides, this is for you—for your own pleasure. So go at your own pace—it can take years to master an instrument.”
“Thank you.” She smiled up at him. “I will see you soon.”
“See you soon, sweetheart.”
He found it ridiculously hard to leave her, but Brand finally got himself moving. He hoped the Council meeting didn’t run long—he couldn’t wait to see his bride again.
Seventeen
Why did I keep kissing him like that? Allara felt a strange mixture of emotions as she watched her new husband leave the large room full of instruments. Part of her was ashamed that she had shown the evil one affection. But another part of her couldn’t wait to do it again.
I have to kiss him and let him kiss me, she argued with herself. Otherwise, he may never want to take me. I am…enticing him—it is all part of the plan to complete my mission.
But she hadn’t been thinking about any plan when she kissed the big Kindred. The only thing on her mind had been how soft his lips were, how gentle his touch was when he enfolded her in his arms. And how kind he was to kneel down so that they could kiss with ease and comfort.
Shame on you! How can you keep your resolve to kill him if all you want to do is press your mouth to his? demanded her aunt’s voice in her head.
Allara didn’t have an answer for that, so she was relieved when Selena broke into her guilty thoughts with a question.
“So—which instrument do you want to learn to play? Is your heart set on the violin or did you have something else in mind?” She made a sweeping gesture, indicating all the different instruments on display.
Allara was overcome again with the idea that she could not only touch any of the wonderful instruments, she might also pick any one to actually use.
“I want most desperately to make the vio-lin’s Song my own,” she told her new teacher. “But can we look at the others, too? I have never been allowed so close to so many instruments of music before.”
Selena smiled and brushed a lock of dark hair over her shoulder.
“Sure! Let me give you a tour. Okay, the strings, you already know…”
She went through the stringed instruments, most of which Allara had seen the day before when the string quartet was first introduced to her. Then they moved on to percussion, much of which didn’t look too different from the drums on Allara’s planet. After that, there were woodwinds, which she recognized as more elaborate forms of the stork-leg bone flutes on her own world.
After that, came the horns—so many horns. They were shiny and gold, though Selena said they were mostly made of brass. They ranged from a trumpet, which was easy enough to pick up, to a huge, heavy tuba which was so big Allara didn’t think any of her own people would be able to play it.
“These are beautiful,” she said, reverently running her fingers over the curling side of one of the horns. “I wonder if they sound like the horns the Q’ess use?”
“Well, let’s find out,” Selena said. She pulled something out of the pocket of the trousers she was wearing and held it up. “An adjustable mouthpiece,” she explained, as she twisted off the mouthpiece on the curling horn and placed the one she’d shown Allara in its place. “Developed by the Kindred. Not only does it adjust its size and shape to fit any brass instrument, it also has a germ barrier in place so I won’t contaminate anyone else’s horn.”
She picked up the curling instrument, holding it in her left hand while her right hand cupped the wide, round bell, and blew experimentally.
“Oh!” Allara gasped as the soft, mellow notes caressed her skin. “Oh, that is the sound of my new husband’s voice! This horn sings with his Song!”
Selena stopped playing.
“Hmm—you mean you think this sounds like Commander Brand’s voice?”
“Yes—yes—it is also the sound of the moun horn on my own planet!” Allara couldn’t believe that the humans had a horn which mirrored both the sound of her favorite instrument and her new husband’s voice.