Page 63 of Infala: Claimed By Rivals
Olivia rolled off the bed and onto her feet, dressing quickly and heading out the door. Zoldana wanted to see her, but truth be told, she had things she wanted to ask the older woman as well.
“Thanks, you’re the best. I’ll catch you later.”
The walk to Zoldana’s was a familiar route by now, still novel in many ways, with myriad sights to take in, but a path she had traveled several times. More than enough to know her way. The local male population took note of her, as usual, but she also saw that there were more females out than before, apparently eager to get a better look at the new woman among them that they’d been hearing so much about.
Olivia took it in stride. Given what she now knew about Maldonian culture it made sense. She quickly made her way to Zoldana’s, the woman’s door already open when she arrived.
“Come in, Olivia,” her voice called out.
She stepped inside, the door closing behind her. Unlike prior meetings, Nijello was not in attendance. In fact, no one else was there but the overseer.
“Quite an adventure you had,” she said as her guest approached. “Come, sit with me. Let’s talk.”
Olivia accepted the offer, sitting comfortably across from her on a very plush puff of faintly pink energy. A soothing sensationtickled her new pigment in a really nice way. Zoldana noted her subtle reaction.
“An energy transfer seat,” she explained. “It adds to the existing power the pigments naturally absorb from the sun and galactic energies. It’s not a lot, but it does give one a little bit of a pick-me-up.”
“I can feel it. The new tats kind of tingle.”
“As they would. But tell me, how are you feeling? Healing well, I see, but this is all so new for you, I would hear your perceptions of it.”
Olivia hesitated. There was a lot shecouldtell the elder, but more importantly, there were things sheneededto tell her. Tell and ask.
“I’ve had some kind of intense reactions, to be honest, Zoldana. And it’s really confusing me,” she said, a little flash of shame coloring her cheeks.
“Go on.”
“It’s not like me to lose control of myself. I mean, I’m not exactly a control freak, but it’s disconcerting the way I’m just so—I don’t know—easily swayed? Susceptible? I mean, the scents are almost irresistible.”
Zoldana smiled. “I see. I had wondered about that earlier but did not wish to mention it. But I see you are, in fact, developing a sensitivity.”
“You expected this?”
“Somewhat. You mentioned reactions that led me to believe you might be able to detect the pheromones of our kind. A very unusual and rare trait, I would add. And it seems that the pigments you received have only served to enhance it. And if you were to actually bond? Well, it would be a boon for our city.”
The human wasn’t so sure how she felt about that. “Bonding? I’ve only been here a few days.”
Zoldana laughed. “Oh, the Infala knows what it wants, and there is nothing we can do about that.”
“But you said it would grow to match a mate. And we looked. Mine doesn’t.”
“Hmm, nowthatis interesting. Then this must be the lesser bond. The one solely of pheromones. But that is a bond, nonetheless. Now, tell me, which of your companions did you react to?”
Olivia swallowed hard, a blush rising to her cheeks. “Uh, yeah. About that. It was both of them.”
A look of shock spread across the older woman’s face, and it was not a passing thing. She was legitimatelystunned. “Bothof them, you say? Oh my. Oh my indeed. This is a quandary. Unheard of since before my time.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean by your reaction to not one buttwoof our males, there is no clear bond to abide.Youwill be the final arbiter of your destiny, Olivia.Youwill have to choose.”
“Choose? I don’t even know what I want. I only just got here!”
“That may be the case, but you have felt the power of the connection, there is no denying it. And now you will spend time with your suitors until you decide the victor.”
Suitors? Victor?Olivia was shocked by the idea, and not very happy with it. Yet she realized on a visceral level that Zoldana was right. She was so primally drawn to each of them, to ignore it would be almost impossible. But to choose? How could she?
“What happens now? How do I choose when I barely know them?”
