Page 57 of Guiding Desire
Yet, that Vin, Taros, and Karmine wouldn’t expect Orrey to channel them on their mission was one of the least surprises Senlas foresaw outside the walls. But that was a dish that would spoil tomorrow.
Today, he’d try tackling imprinting. “The others are family at this point. I know them. They’d protect you if I couldn’t. In a hypothetical where they’d ask you for channeling, it would be an emergency, overload stress or them being close to shock.” Senlas wasn’t sure how exactly to phrase the next without coming off as aggressive or domineering.Chance of a flybug’s asshair in a Guardian’s fire of that, Senlas thought. “They would never initiate sex. They wouldn’t have sex with you. They know I couldn’t bear the thought of that, of you sleeping with someone else.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Senlas watched that verbal bomb hit. Ahead of them, the clinic came into view. If Orrey wanted to storm off, he’d soon have the opportunity, even if it meant just storming off into an examination suite.
“I’m not sure I understand. I do understand the expectation of sex is much stronger with imprinting, but you’re saying it’s exclusive? That’s a rule?”
Senlas frowned. “Less a rule, more something that’s understood. A courtesy. Of course Conduits have been known not to love the Guardian who imprinted on them, and some Guardians who imprinted have treated their Conduit like I will never treat you. I would also like it if you didn’t sleep with anyone else, including other Conduits. And regulars.” Senlas paused while he drove down the ramp to the hospital’s garage and took a patient spot closest to the elevators. “I feel very possessive when it comes to you. I have no right to, but I do. You became mine when I touched you. And I want you tobemine. Of your own free will. Do you understand, kitten?”
Orrey looked from his lap to Senlas, then back to his lap. “No. But I am willing to try. A Conduit would have known this? A real one, I mean.”
“You are a real Conduit.”
Orrey nodded. “It seems odd. If you consider a Conduit’s main purpose is channeling.”
“Reductive. Don’t be reductive. Let’s go up.”
For the elevator ride up and for the exam, Orrey was quiet. A triage bot met them when the elevator arrived, taking them along a chipper light blue corridor.
A physician already waited for them in the examination suite. If Orrey had an issue with Senlas being in the room, he didn’t voice it. Senlas stood off to the side, part of him aching to take Orrey’s hand, soothe him, not that Orrey looked like he needed much soothing.
The physician—a different one from the emergency one who’d treated Orrey, one with light green and red ribbons at his collar, making him a stem cell and recovery specialist, cut down the excess cell growth that was covering the regenerating tissue on Orrey’s face with a micro laser and adjusted his meds, taking the dosage of the pain medication down.
When Orrey complained about being tired, the man eyed the file on his screen. “After your initial scans, I’d expect that. You were lucky in that your injuries were not as severe as they could have been, but your body went through quite a shock. Your eyes needed to heal, your ears did too, and your skin is still healing. If you are tired, your body is just telling you it needs sleep to get all that healing done. In very simple terms, being involved in bomb explosions has feeling tired as a side effect. My medical advice is to sleep.”
Orrey’s frown at that was in equal parts endearing and exasperating. The look the physician gave Senlas was not at all charmed but strongly implied a Conduit especially should be given all the rest he could ever want.
That look still on Senlas’s mind made him want to try to convince Orrey to head back home while they followed the triage bot through the brightly lit corridors and back to the exit.
Col appearing from seemingly thin air like he sometimes did put a stop to that. He’d waited in a quiet corner of the foyer and came over to them, wearing a loose-fitting romper in yellow, pink, and shimmery blue that matched his blue eye.
“I have your parasol,” Col said and handed one of two creamy white parasols to Orrey. “Your face looks like it’s healing nicely.”
Orrey ran a hand through his short hair and reluctantly took the parasol. “Yes, thank you.”
“Home or picnic?” Col asked.
Senlas put a hand on Orrey’s shoulder and opened his mouth to try convincing Orrey to go home one final time.
“Picnic,” Orrey said before Senlas could speak. “Although I have never been to the Grounds proper. Central was the closest I ever got the other day.”
Col fell in step on Orrey’s other side. “You mean you didn’t join one of those tours they offer?”
“Don’t schools visit a lot?” Senlas asked.
“In my year, we had a vote. The science center won. Not by much, but we got to see how they engineer crops, make sure they’re perfectly adjusted to cohabitable agriculture. Like in your building.”
Col chuckled. “I’ll show you around. And the tours only go through a small part of the area, of course.”
“Can’t wait,” Orrey said, two words that had never before made anxiety spike in Senlas’s blood.
TheGuardian&ConduitGrounds were, in many ways, a city within a city. Fewer vehicle roads than elsewhere took people from one end to the other, and those vehicles only serviced the Grounds. The hospital bordered on the rest of Argentea as it provided medical care to anyone, but a skyway also connected it to G&C Central.
Orrey stared out toward the lawn with the statue of Guardian Wilan in the center, footpaths cutting the courtyard into twelve neat sections. Today, tables had been set up along the paths, offering food and drinks as well as informational material.
“Oh, that looks very nice,” Orrey said.
“Not where we’re going.” Coldis hooked his arm under Orrey’s. “That’s for the general public. You know, opening our doors because it’s Covenant Week. We’re going into the inner Grounds.”
