第3节

ad lightly with one hand.

Entering the hut, Roz saw the firestone had been trimmed, leaving only

a tiny flame to light the way to bed. Picking up the stone, she pushed

it out through the door flap then found her way back to the bed in the

pitch dark and snuggled down between the soft layers of furs.

She knew what was going to happen; had known with an overwhelming

certainty ever since she had been introduced to Cadillac on the

flight-deck of The Lady.

It was just a question of time. Her whole life had been a voyage of

discovery, but in the past year the pace had accelerated. One

revelation had succeeded another with bewildering speed. It was like

being in a sail-boat driven by a hurricane which preceded a gigantic

storm: a storm that threatened to sweep away the world she had known.

She had learned that Steve was not a true kin-brother.

Neither of them had been born to Annie Brickman. They had been placed

in her care by the First Family. And to the mystery surrounding their

origins had been added another: inexplicably and without warning, her

already extraordinary mental gifts had been expanded, giving her access

to powers that enabled her to warp the perceptions of those around

her.

Through her telepathic link with Steve had come the shared discovery

that they were both Mutes and this had helped to open her mind further,

enabling her to understand that her life had a deeper purpose.

With the deliberate burning of her uniform she had severed all links

with her past, just as Cadillac's previous existence as part of the

Clan M'Call had been consumed by fire.

They both had to begin anew. Together.

As she waited, she stroked her breasts and belly, and pressed down hard

in an effort to contain the love-heat that was building up between her

tightly-closed thighs.

A fleeting shaft of moonlight illuminated Cadillac's glistening body

as he entered the hut on all fours and slid between the furs. There

was a moment's hesitation before he edged into contact then they turned

towards each other, bodies moulding, arms and legs enfolding, as if it

was the most natural thing in the world.

Roz did not possess the detached professionalism of the Thai

body-slaves who with the help of liberal doses of sake had inflamed his

desires in Ne-Issan, but it felt right and it felt good. For both of

them. Each in their own way had loved their former partners but this

was different. Cadillac did not feel overawed as he had when sharing a

bed with Clearwater, and Roz, for her part, was freed from the confused

feelings of shame and desire which had always surrounded her furtive

couplings with Steve. Feelings which, for the last two years, had been

compounded by her jealousy for Clearwater.

With the opening of her mind and the realisation that her hated rival

was a soul-sister, those negative feelings had been transformed. Now

at last she was able to give full expression to her emotions. Here at

last was the love she had yearned for - unencumbered, unrestricted; not

hedged about with petty rules and regulations. A love that could now

be expressed in words that had been denied to her since birth. An

emotion which, through her inability to express it, had become

distorted and misdirected towards her kin-brother.

She was still linked closely and intimately to Steve, but only through

her mind. Her heart and body were now her own, and she had found the

person with whom she was destined to exchange these precious gifts. In

so doing she had found her place in the world, a new identity, and a

mission which gave her life meaning beyond mere physical existence.

Then it happened. A sweet burning that brought a sharp cry to her lips

and a juddering sigh to his.

Everything flowed together, their minds and bodies fusing in a