Exile War 6 Excerpt

Jayda Carlsbad said, “I’m not being stupid. The opposite. This is wisdom. I knew your mother, Mercy. Lust made her an Archon.”

Mercy’s face went beet red. “Lust?! What do you think—”

“I think you’re an eighteen-year-old young woman and he’s an eighteen-year-old young man. You’re both fit, you’re both attractive. It’s natural to feel the pull, there’s nothing wrong with that. What’s wrong is what happens after you feel the pull.”

“If—IF—anything like that happened, it wouldn’t be any of your business.”

“It is if you want to be a Gentle Hand.”

“I’m not sure I do.”

“You have a gift, Mercy. A gift that will pass to your children. That makes it necessary to approach the subject of childbearing with the utmost deliberation and planning.”

“News flash: it’s possible to go talk to a boy without getting pregnant. Whatever you two say about my mother, it isn’t you, Jayda.”

“Talking is the first step. We used to have whole classes in controlling our desires. Some Gentle Hands spent entire careers studying the issue of how telepathy passed to children, and which Hands would have children with the strongest gift. We called them Matchmakers.”

“Yeah, well, Miss Matchmaker, I’m not a Gentle Hand. And yes, duh, Dante’s good looking. I’m sure even you can’t have missed it. But the rest of the world doesn’t fall into bed the moment they see a good-looking man.”

Mercy stomped away. Behind her she heard Hal say, “Maybe let me try next time, Jay?”

Jayda’s voice came next: “Maybe stay out of girl talk lest you be slapped, husband.”