Berta's Choice (The Soul-Linked Saga)

  Berta’s Choice

  A Soul-Linked Saga Story

  Book 5.5

  by

  Laura Jo Phillips

  Copyright © 2012 by Kathleen Honsinger

  Cover art/design Copyright © 2012 by Kathleen Honsinger

  All rights reserved.

  DEDICATION

  For my family. Thank you for putting up with my long hours, the cancelled family movie nights, shopping trips, get togethers and occasional melt downs.

  For my husband. Thank you for your constant support, your hours of knocking your head against a wall as you struggled to master the website, the blog and the oh so incomprehensible facebook page. Not to mention the frequent brain-storming sessions, research requests, and hefty editing tasks.

  For Mom. My best friend, biggest fan, constant supporter, and the best listener ever, not to mention the best Mom anyone could ever ask for.

  I love all of you, and appreciate each of you every single day.

  And, as always, for Mom, Grandma, and Great-Grandma---Thank you all for the creativity you passed along to me, as well as the heart to do something with it. There is a little bit of each of you in these books, just as there is a little bit of each of you in me

  Look for previews and coming release announcements at:

  Website:

  www.laurajophillips.com

  Blog:

  arimaslove.blogspot.com

  Facebook:

  facebook.com/laurajophillipsauthor

  Other Books by Laura Jo Phillips

  The Dracons’ Woman

  Book One of the Soul-Linked Saga

  The Lobos’ HeartSong

  Book Two of the Soul-Linked Saga

  The Katres’ Summer

  Book Three of the Soul-Linked Saga

  The Bearens’ Hope

  Book Four of the Soul-Linked Saga

  The Gryphon’s Dream

  Book Five of the Soul-Linked Saga

  Quest for the Moon Orb

  The Orbs of Rathira, Book One

  Visit the home of the Soul-Linked Saga online at:

  www.laurajophillips.com

  or email Laura Jo at:

  laurajophillips.books@gmail.com

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  Berta Simms sat on the sofa in the Bearens’ living room, listening with only half of her attention to the conversation between Hope and the Alverian Empath, Talinka. Berta had never heard of an Alverian, let alone seen one, and she was fascinated by the woman’s appearance. She looked very much like a petite human woman with very white skin, until you noticed that her bright green eyes were a bit too large, and that she had equally green feathers on her head instead of hair.

  Berta reached into the small bag beside her and took out her knitting. Thanks to Doc, the arthritis that had plagued her for so long was now healed, allowing her to take up knitting again after her many years of imprisonment. It was difficult sometimes to remember that sixty years of her life, her entire adulthood, had been spent trapped in a house surrounded by a hundred miles of barren desert. Most of those years she had spent alone, and she often wondered why it hadn’t driven her mad. Maybe it had, she thought, and she just didn’t realize it.

  Because of Hope, and three other women, she was now free. She was also 82 years old and, without the benefit of modern medicine to hold back the ravages of time on the human body, she looked every minute of her age. She was wrinkled, bent, and white haired, her hips so deteriorated that she had to walk with a cane, her knees not much better. But she didn’t care. Being free and safe were all that mattered.

  Doc had told her that he could replace her hips and her knees, and she was thinking about it. For the moment, she was content to help Hope with her three young sons, walk in the garden whenever she felt like it, and meet new people from exotic places, like Talinka. And knit.

  “I am happy that everything worked out so well for you, Hope,” Talinka said after Hope finished filling her in on the highlights of her past few months.

  “Thanks, Talinka,” Hope said. “It’s been an interesting journey, and in many ways a very sad one. But now that it’s over, I have to say that I couldn’t be happier.”

  Talinka smiled and reached over to pat Hope gently on the hand. “It is difficult to lose those we care for, but we must accept our losses, and continue our lives without them.”

  Hope nodded, but had no comment to make. She often thought of her cousin Harlan, and Ellicia, parents of the baby boys she and the Bearens had adopted as their own, and Grace, her beloved friend. Not a day went by that she didn’t think of them. But she did not forget to celebrate her own life each and every day.

  “I spoke with Prince Garen about you after you left Bride House, and about the other women who seemed different,” Talinka said, changing the subject. “I told him that I suspected you were Arimas, and he agreed with me. Since then, the Council has developed a genetic test to identify potential Arimas, but there are some ethical issues with that.”

  “Yes, so my guys have told me,” Hope replied. “Arimas are so important to the Jasani, but at the same time, they don’t want to take advantage of the women identified as berezi.”

  “I understand that they are keeping the results of the tests secret, which is wise,” Talinka said. “I do worry for those women who learn that they are berezi, and actually want to find their Rami. If they announce their status, they leave themselves wide open to the Xanti.”

  “Yes, it’s a problem,” Hope agreed. “Nobody’s quite figured out what to do about it though.”

  “That’s easy,” Berta said as she continued to knit. “They need their own place, like Bride House.”

  Hope and Talinka looked at Berta in surprise.

  “That’s an excellent idea, Berta,” Talinka said. “Bride House is not secure enough though. Making any place secure against the Xanti would be a problem.”

  “That’s easy, too,” Berta said. “Just put it right here on the Dracons’ ranch.”

  “You’re right,” Hope said. “This is clearly the safest place on all of Jasan.”

  “We’d have to clear it with the Dracons, of course,” Talinka said thoughtfully. “And we’d have to find someone to run it. I cannot abandon Bride House. I am needed there.”

  “I would like to do that,” Berta said quietly.

  Again Hope and Talinka stared at Berta in surprise.

  “Why?” Hope asked.

  Berta set her knitting aside and met the other women’s gazes as she considered her answer. “First of all, it would give me something worthwhile to do,” she said. “Second, I have spent most of my life alone, and I would relish the opportunity to be surrounded by other women. And third, there is no specific ability required for the task. A woman is either an Arima for a male-set, or she is not. Period.”

  “That’s true,” Hope conceded.

  “I know that I’m old, and I know that I’m no good for most jobs,” Berta said. “But I can chaperone as well as anyone. After all, the men come in, sniff around, and either find their Arima, or don’t. Easy.”

  Hope and Talinka both grimaced. “That sounds a little...crude,” Hope said after a moment.

  Berta laughed. “Crude maybe, but true nevertheless.”

  Talinka studied the older woman for a long moment. She’d been shocked by Berta’s appearance when Hope had introduced them a short while earlie
r. She’d never seen anyone who looked like Berta and had, at first, thought she was the victim of some strange disease. A few carefully worded questions and answers had told her all she needed to know. Berta Simms’ appearance was the result of extreme aging in humans without benefit of age controls. The saddest thing about Berta, and the most extraordinary, was that she had spent the better part of her life as a captive, and yet was not filled with anger or sorrow about it. She regretted it, and she certainly had some leftover trauma because of it. Even so, her current state of freedom was far more important to her. She enjoyed each moment of her life now, and took nothing for granted.

  “I think that’s a very good idea,” Talinka said. “You would need good staff support, but I agree that the position would not require the empathic abilities that Bride House needs, and that you would be well suited to the position.”

  Berta smiled her thanks and took up her knitting once more. “Thank you, Talinka,” she said after a moment.

  “Do not thank me yet,” Talinka said with an answering smile. “I must first discuss the idea with the Dracons, and get permission from them to build an establishment here on the ranch.”

  “I don’t see them vetoing the idea,” Berta said. “It’s the safest place for berezi, and they will want such women to be as well protected as possible.”

  “That’s true,” Hope said. “We will also need to make certain that the women themselves are assured of their own rights. They must not be forced to join their lives to a male-set against their will, Arima or not.”

  “Do you think it likely that such an event will come to pass?” Talinka asked in mild surprise.

  “No,” Hope replied. “But anything is possible, and personalities might clash regardless of fate’s designs. If a male-set dislikes the one woman meant for them, they have the option of not linking with her if they choose. It is only fair that the woman have the same option.”

  “If a male-set chooses not to mate with their Arima, they also choose to live out their lives alone,” Talinka pointed out. “It would be a hard choice to make.”

  ““Hard or not, it is still their choice,” Hope insisted. “The woman must have the same right of choice as the males.”

  “Agreed,” Talinka said, though she thought it was a moot point. What woman, or man, would choose to defy fate? She glanced at her watch and sighed.

  “I’m afraid my time is up,” she said to Hope. “My ride will be waiting to take me back to Badia.”

  “You aren’t going to try to speak with the Dracons today?” Berta asked, trying to hide her disappointment.

  “The Dracons aren’t here today,” Hope said. “They had to go to Berria, remember? They were going to bring Salene, Rayne and Tani over this afternoon, but had to cancel.”

  “That’s right, I’d forgotten,” Berta said with a sigh. The loss of dexterity, mobility, and even mental acuity had been difficult to accept, but it was the loss of short term memory that bothered her most. She reminded herself how lucky she was to be sitting here, in the Bearens’ living room and smiled to herself as she continued knitting.

  “What about the Lobos?” she asked, smiling at the thought of their three little girls. Varia, Marian and BreeAnna were her favorites, though she would never say so aloud. The Dracon princesses were adorable too, she just thought the Lobos were cuter with their blue hair and sweet, dimpled cheeks.

  “Yes, Saige is still coming with Varia, Mari and Bree,” Hope assured her, aware of Berta’s preference no matter how she tried to hide it.

  “Do you have any psychic abilities, Berta?” Talinka asked. As soon as the words were out of her mouth her white skin blushed a deep peach color. “I apologize,” she said quickly. “I should not have asked such a personal question.”

  Berta waved one hand and shrugged. “I don’t mind,” she said. “I do have a small ability for disrupting electronics. Nothing big, I assure you. I can destroy a vox or vid terminal if I’ve a mind to, but not much more than that.”

  Talinka cocked her head to the side. “Is that all?”

  “That’s all that I’m certain of right now,” Berta replied. “I have a suspicion or two that there might be another ability I’m only just discovering, but I’m not sure just yet so would prefer not to speak of it.”

  Talinka nodded her understanding as she stood up. After saying her goodbyes and promising to make an appointment with the Dracons as soon as possible, she left the Bearens’ home and headed toward the airfield just outside the garrison. As she walked she thought about Berta, turning an idea over in her mind. Her biggest concern was whether she would offend Berta, but in the end, she decided it was worth the risk.

  Chapter 2

  Merrick Falcoran stepped off the transport and took a deep breath of the cool, pre-dawn air. A moment later his brothers, Tor and Jerri, joined him. They’d hitched a ride on a military transport coming over from Berria, so hadn’t had any privacy on the long journey to discuss the issue of their Arima. That hadn’t prevented Merrick from thinking of nothing else for the entire journey.

  “What bothers you, Merrick?” Tor asked as soon as they were alone on the dark airfield.

  “Several things,” Merrick replied. “First, I keep remembering what Miss Aisling said to us about our Arima’s age.”

  “We are far older than eighty-two years,” Jerri said. “Why should that bother you?”

  “Because, as Miss Aisling said, Berta is human,” Merrick replied. “Humans do not age as we do. I believe that eighty-two years is quite a lot for a human.”

  “I’ve seen humans that age and older who look much the same age as we do,” Jerri said.

  “Yes, but Berta was a prisoner and, as Miss Aisling said, she is not in the best of health. Something tells me that she wouldn’t have had access to the modern medical treatments that slow aging in humans.”

  “So you believe she will look like an aged human?” Tor asked.

  “I think it is more than a possibility, yes,” Merrick said. “I think that is what Miss Aisling was trying to tell us.”

  “Won’t the transformation process change her body back to its prime state?” Jerri asked.

  “That’s the theory,” Merrick replied.

  “More than a theory,” Tor argued. “Didn’t it eliminate some physical problems that Saige Lobo had?”

  “That’s true,” Merrick said. “But will it do the same for age? There’s really no way to know for certain until we try it.”

  “There’s no sense in worrying about it,” Jerri said. “We must try it. It will work, or it won’t.”

  “There’s something else bothering you, isn’t there?” Tor asked.

  “Yes,” Merrick replied. “From the moment we scented our Arima in the back of that car, our mating fangs descended and we felt the urge to find her. But there is one effect that we did not experience.”

  “Such as?” Jerri asked, frowning.

  Merrick looked at Tor, but apparently he hadn’t noticed either. Merrick himself hadn’t realized it until they were half way between Berria and the ranch. Once it occurred to him though, he couldn’t understand why they hadn’t realized it sooner.

  “Did either of you have a sexual response to the scent of our Arima?” he asked.

  Both Tor and Jerri looked surprised, then confused. Merrick nodded in understanding. He was surprised and confused as well.

  “What does it mean?” Jerri asked.

  “I have no idea,” Merrick replied. “One thing I do know is that we need to behave with more restraint than we did at the Gryphons’ home. We are lucky that the Gryphons are older and calmer than the other Consuls, otherwise things could have gotten very ugly for us.”

  “Agreed,” Tor said.

  “I don’t think we did anything so wrong,” Jerri objected. “We’d just scented our Arima. It’s not something that happens every single day.”

  “Nevertheless, we will conduct ourselves with more restraint and respect when we visit the Bearens’ home,” Merrick
said. “They have an Arima as well as three infant sons now. Their very nature will make them more protective than usual, and as Berta is under their protection, it will do us no good to antagonize them.”

  “No one may interfere between a male-set and their Arima,” Jerri said. “It’s against our law.”

  “You can tell the Bearens that while they’re ripping our heads off for our rude behavior,” Tor said wryly.

  Jerri grinned, but nodded. “Yes, I see your point. I’ll dust off my best manners and put ‘em on.”

  “How long do you think we have to wait before we approach their home?” Tor asked.

  “Not too long,” Merrick replied. “I think dawn is late enough.”

  “I thought you just said we had to be careful,” Jerri said. “Waking up the Bearens in their own den before sunrise doesn’t seem too careful to me.”

  “I know, but the truth is, I don’t think I can wait any longer than that,” Merrick admitted. “My tension is ramping up as we stand here.”

  “Mine as well,” Tor said. “We may not have the sexual fever, but the need to see our Arima, be with her, and make sure that she is safe is intense.”

  “Let’s go then,” Merrick said. He took two running steps and jumped, his arms transforming into gigantic wings covered with short black fur, the rest of his body transforming immediately after. Before Tor or Jerri had a chance to follow, Merrick was fully transformed into a gigantic black falcon with a violet chest, violet markings on top of its head, a razor sharp, curved black beak and violet eyes. He circled the airfield once to give Tor and Jerri time to catch up, then shot off toward the Bearens’ house, and their Arima.