The Astronomer Read online

  Her mouth fell open. She looked at Gene. He waved. And it was Emilio who returned the greeting.

  “You ... know him ... Gene?” she said, her breath coming in rasps.

  “Who, Lio?” He looked at her, his expression puzzled.

  By then, Emilio was in front of them, and she watched helplessly as Gene embraced the man who knew her most intimate secrets.

  Gene slapped Emilio on the back. “Lio, buddy, come meet my beautiful soon-to-be fiancée, Fraya Riber.”

  Fraya tried to steady her breathing. She looked at Emilio with what she hoped was a plea.

  He narrowed his eyes for only a second before he stepped forward and kissed her hand. “The pleasure is all mine.”

  Her skin burned under his touch. She pulled at her hand, but he clasped it firmly.

  “I thought we’d never meet, Fraya.”

  The underlying meaning of his words was unmistakable. It conjured memories of a promise she had made and broken on the most passionate night of her life.

  She had to get away. She had to excuse herself. “Mr.—”

  “Please, call me Emilio.”

  She ripped her fingers from his as if his hand was a flame. She turned to Gene. “I thought you said his name was Lio.”

  Gene looked at her with a small frown. “Yes. L–I–O. Lio. Short for Emilio.”

  “Gene has told me so much about you,” Emilio said, his blue eyes like ice. “Pity we haven’t met sooner.”

  Life had played its share of ironic jokes on her, but this was the cruelest.

  “I’ve never been to Zone 30,” she said, almost flinching at how lame she sounded.

  “Indeed,” Emilio said. “Why have you never brought your lovely girlfriend home, Gene? Honestly, your descriptions of her beauty don’t do her justice.”

  “She’s always working,” Gene said, taking her hand, “and you know how hard it is to change zones. But next year, after the mating ceremony, when Fraya has finished her studies, she’s been granted permanent residence in Chile. She’s already had a job offer, my clever girl. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up then.”

  “I can’t wait,” Emilio said, his tone promising nothing good, his expression one of cold calculation.

  Fraya was going to excuse herself to run to the ladies, anywhere she could hide, but Emilio had already stepped up and draped her arm over his. The contact with his body, even through the fabric of his suit, made her skin tingle.

  “I think it’s about time I get better acquainted with your future mate, Gene. Come,” he said darkly to Fraya, “let’s get some drinks.” He directed his attention back to Gene. “Champagne?”

  Gene nodded happily. “Thanks.” Already turning, he said over his shoulder, “Bring her back in one piece.”

  Fraya allowed herself to be escorted through the room, not showing anything of the turmoil she felt. Instead of heading for the bar at the far end of the room, Emilio led her through the double doors to the veranda. He paused to take two flutes of champagne from a waiter and pushed her along the path to the steps that led to a terrace overlooking the bay.

  “Mind your step,” he said when they descended. “I see you haven’t fully recovered.”

  They stopped at a low wall. Emilio left the glasses on a cocktail table. Unable to meet his eyes, Fraya looked at the view beyond, but the beauty of the candle lanterns drifting on the water, courtesy of Gene’s daddy’s points, was lost to her. His fingers found her chin and guided her gaze back to his. A thousand needles pricked her flesh, igniting the flame she had tried to ignore all week. Then he took her hand and folded her fingers around the stem of one of the glasses.

  His face was hard when he lifted his glass to hers. “Congratulations, Fraya. To your engagement.”

  She shook her head. “Emilio, I didn’t know...”

  “That you were fucking your boyfriend’s best buddy? Thanks to you, neither did I.”

  “It wasn’t like that. It was a crazy day. Gene confessed about...”

  “About cheating on you with Zita. Yes, I know. He told me he was going to tell you.”

  “So you must understand then. I didn’t go looking for ... for...”

  “What was I, Fraya? A revenge fuck?”

  Her eyes widened. “What?”

  “Was I the fuck you needed to revenge yourself for Gene’s betrayal?”

  “Don’t think that.”

  “What must I think? You deceived me. You lied to me.” His head bent down to her ear. “You promised me that I could have you again, and again. That was our agreement. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”

  When she jerked away to stare at him she flinched at the anger she saw in his expression.

  “I swear, Emilio, I had no intention of lying to you. I was just out of control.”

  “Were you ever going to tell your future mate that I fucked you senseless?”

  Fraya shook her head sadly. “I owe him everything.”

  “Just because he saved you from a car wreck doesn’t mean you have to mate him.”

  “You know about everything, don’t you?” she said warily.

  “I’m his best friend, for God’s sake.”

  “You’re blaming all of this on me when it’s just as much your fault for seducing me. I didn’t ask you to fall into my life from a bloody cliff. How come you didn’t put two and two together when Gene told you I had been missing?”

  “He only called the next day to tell me you had taken off after a fight but came back, and that you were leaving straight away for New Monte Carlo. He didn’t say when you got back, so needless to say, I had no reason to suspect that it was his beautiful future fiancée who had spent the night tied up in my bed.” Fraya felt her cheeks flush but he carried on relentlessly. “I spent the rest of the week searching every hotel, guesthouse and health center for a woman who promised me her name, her number, her body, and left me cold.”

  “You have to understand...” She glanced in the direction of the hall. Gene’s dad, Patrick, stood on the steps, waving at her. “I didn’t mean to...” She waved back at her future father-in-law who motioned for her to return inside. “What now, Emilio?” she asked, her voice shaky.

  “What now, Fraya? The cards are in your hands.”

  “We can’t tell him, ever. Gene holds you in such high regard. This will destroy him.”

  “Yes,” Emilio said, his tone cutting, “this is something I can’t tell him. Because of you, I have to live a lie, for the rest of my life.”

  It was clear that Emilio had nothing but contempt for her now and it saddened her. The proximity of his body tortured her with the knowledge that release was only an arm length away. Or maybe light years, a chance she ruined, and will never be granted again. She’d die for one more minute in his arms, but her responsibility weighed heavier on her. Her body’s inexplicable desire had trapped Emilio, Gene and her in a lie. There was no way to fix it. Why did it suddenly feel as if her life was scattering to pieces around her? There was no time to flee or break down somewhere in private, because Patrick had come down the steps and stood in front of them.

  “Come inside, you beautiful girl. It’s time to make the big announcement.” He patted Emilio on the back. “Coming? I know my son wants to share this special moment with the people closest to him, and there’s no one as dear to him as you, except Fraya of course.”

  Fraya shot Emilio a guilty look. He pursed his lips and smiled tightly.

  “Let’s get the show on the road,” Emilio said, and then he turned his back on her, walking ahead of them to the festive room.

  She couldn’t give a name to it, but the man had ignited something inside of her. It was as if her whole body came to life in his presence. She had been woken from a slumber, from a lifelong sleep, to an agonizing hunger, a need that only his hands could ease. She wanted them on her body now, like she had never wanted anything before. She needed. There was a connection she couldn’t even try to explain. Numbers, logic, concrete facts, had always been her th
ing. This man had turned her world upside down. Her body knew him, acknowledged that he could satisfy her in ways no one else would ever be able to. He knew parts of her she didn’t even know herself. He had to know them, to have woken them so effectively. Those parts of her were dark and hungry, waiting to be satisfied. This has never happened before and the intensity of the experience filled her with fear. What was wrong with her?

  * * * *

  The minute they got back to Zone 102, Fraya walked into the Toronto government research lab, a place she hadn’t visited since an explosion had leveled the institute where her parents had worked as neutron scientists, killing them both. She couldn’t bear to be reminded, but she now walked into the workstation of the only one she could turn to, the person who used to be her mother’s best friend, Claudia St. Clair.

  The woman had aged, her once dark hair streaked with silver. Claudia looked up from loading a cylinder with test tubes when Fraya entered. Her hands stilled in her task. She got to her feet slowly.

  “Fraya,” Claire exclaimed softly. She rounded the counter and took Fraya’s face between her hands. “How long has it been? Eleven years?”

  Fraya managed a nervous smile. She pulled away and regarded the other woman with a mixture of sadness and angst. “You said I could always come to you if I needed help.”

  Claudia’s hands dropped to her side. She tilted her head. “Why did I guess this isn’t a social visit?”

  After her parents’ death, Fraya had been the one who had broken the contact. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Claudia. Fraya just couldn’t look at Claudia without thinking about her loss and experiencing the pain it brought anew.

  Fraya pushed her feelings to that dark corner inside herself, a place she kept a tight lid on. “Something’s wrong with me, Claudia.”

  Alarm flickered in Claudia’s grey eyes. “You better sit down.”

  Ignoring the invitation Fraya started to pace the room. “Something happened to me in Zone 11.” She drew her hands through her hair. “I can’t sleep. I can’t eat, work or study. You need to find out what’s happening to me.” She looked back at Claudia. “I’m going to lose my fellowship if this madness continues.”

  Claudia had always had a calm way about her, even now as she studied Fraya with caution. “Start at the beginning and tell me everything.”

  “I’m having strange symptoms of arousal. It’s so intense that it’s painful. I can’t focus.”

  Claudia’s gaze slipped to Fraya’s left arm. “You’re not mated yet.”

  “No. Engaged. The mating is to take place next year.”

  “Gene?”

  Fraya’s head shot up. “You know about Gene?”

  “I’ve heard the news. People talk.” She shrugged. “And of course I always ask about you when I run into the people who used to be your friends.”

  Fraya looked away, unable to meet Claudia’s eyes.

  “Gene has nothing to do with your symptoms, does he?” Claudia said.

  Fraya shook her head.

  “Did you meet someone else, Fraya?” Claudia asked gently.

  “That’s beside the point,” she said warily. “Can you do a blood test?”

  “I can. Do you have authorization?”

  Fraya hugged herself. “No. And I don’t have enough points to cover it.”

  “I see.”

  “Can you help me?” Fraya asked hopefully.

  “I’m sure I could slip some tests into the research budget.”

  “Please. You’ve got to find out what’s happening to me. Can we do it now?”

  Claudia glanced at the security camera mounted on the wall. “We’ll do it in the bathroom. But you need to tell me what I’m looking for.”

  “I wish I knew.”

  Claudia took a hypodermic needle and three vials and dropped them into the pocket of her lab coat. “We best get a move on. My colleague is due back from lunch soon.”

  She ushered Fraya to the ladies room at the end of the hall and swiftly took the samples. Once back in her lab, she deposited the vials in a testing device and typed instructions into the computer.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Claudia looked up. “Thanks to the government’s investment in the latest technology I can have instant results on almost everything, but this is going to take a bit more time.”

  “What is it?” Fraya asked, looking over Claudia’s shoulder at the computer screen.

  “I’ve run the new test results against your existing records. There seems to be a new hormone present in your blood, but to be sure that this is what’s causing your discomfort, I need to run more tests.”

  Fraya blinked. “A new hormone?”

  Claudia turned her swivel chair to face Fraya. “This ... someone ... that you met in Zone 11, did you sleep with him?”

  Fraya pinched her eyes shut for a second, and nodded.

  “And it was fireworks?”

  Fraya frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “This is very rare, and I’ve never come across it in person, only read about it in studies, but it seems you have found your perfect mate.”

  Fraya grabbed the edge of the counter. “Gene is my mate.”

  Claudia’s wise eyes were sympathetic. “I need blood samples from your lover to be sure, but if what I guess is true, you both possess the perfect cocktail of hormones that would not only make you compatible, but the perfect pair for breeding. In this case the male’s hormone present in your blood–and again until I’ve verified it scientifically this is speculation–acts as a breeding trigger.”

  Fraya felt her body starting to shake. “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “By lack of a better word, he’s ‘infected’ you with this hormone to ensure binding, and the effect could be as severe as a physical addiction, which explains your current condition. Your body is having withdrawal symptoms.”

  Chapter Six

  “That would explain the pain, the arousal?”

  “Yes, once again, in theory. I’d have to run tests on both of you to be sure.”

  Fraya shook her head. “That’s not an option.” She thought about how Emilio had left their engagement party, his eyes blazing, and his back stiff. He had waited for the speech and the toast, and then he was gone, without sparing her as much as a backward glance. Emilio hated her now, she was sure. But it wasn’t his dislike of her that spurred Fraya’s determination to stay as far away from him as possible. It was her fear of her reaction to him.

  Claudia got to her feet. “Fraya,” she said softly, “what happened between the two of you?”

  Fraya shook her head again, more forcefully this time. “This is somewhere I just can’t go. You have to find me a fix. Fast.”

  “When did you first start feeling like this?”

  Fraya allowed her mind go back to the day she tried so hard to push from her memory. “I was in a forest, caught in a storm. I fell into a stream trying to cross a bridge and he saved me. I felt it immediately. At first it was faint, like tiny sparks, then it got worse, and by the time we got to his hotel it was intolerable.”

  Claudia seemed thoughtful. “This specific hormone’s attributes are more like that of a microbe. It could only enter the bloodstream via saliva, intercourse or contact with his blood. And you say this happened before you had sex?”

  Fraya nodded again.

  “Did he kiss you at any point?”

  Fraya’s eyes widened. “He had given me mouth-to-mouth when he pulled me from the water.”

  “Ah.” Claudia smiled. “That explains it. He infected you through his saliva, and his sperm would have been the only relief for your body’s reaction. It carries a substance that eases the discomfort.”

  “The pain did subside after we ... you know. But only slightly, and then it was back. Oh God.” Fraya held her head in her hands. “Can this be fixed?”

  “I can create a serum from your white blood cells to ease the symptoms, but it will never be as effective as—”

  “His spe
rm.”

  “Exactly.”

  Fraya paused. “But he used condoms.”

  Claudia lifted an eyebrow, the curve of her lips hinting at a smile. “Condoms, as in plural?”

  Fraya felt her cheeks grow hot.

  “Did he at any one time practice foreplay without a condom? Even without realizing, his sperm could have already been released before he actually ejaculated.”

  Fraya didn’t have to answer. She was sure it was written all over her face. Of course he had. And she had begged him to, couldn’t tolerate having anything as much as a condom between them. At least he had maintained enough control to ignore her pleas. He had given her just a taste, before rolling on the condom, and that taste had satisfied her. Then. Now it was tormenting her. She flushed more deeply, remembering her needy voice, the words she had whispered to him, and the screams that had echoed in his hotel room.

  “Fraya,” Claudia said, her tone imploring, “Do you think there may have been more at stake than simple physics?”

  Drawn from her memory, Fraya looked at Claudia, puzzled.

  “Do you think, Fraya, that maybe there could have been feelings involved?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You would have naturally experienced a strong physical attraction to the man–no, that’s an understatement, it would have been humanly impossible to resist–but judging from your reaction, the way your eyes became alive when you talked about him, I sense something more.” Claudia waited for the meaning of her words to sink in. “I was there when you were born. I saw you grow up. I’ve known you all my life, and I think I know you well.” Claudia paused. “Did you fall in love with him?”

  Fraya snorted. “Of course not. There’s no such thing as love.”

  Claudia’s expression softened. “Fraya, you’ve pushed everyone away after your parents’ death. You’ve never allowed anyone close to you. In all these years, you wouldn’t let me comfort you, not once. You’ve refused to be loved, or to love. Don’t you see? It’s a way of protecting yourself from the pain of life you got to know way too young. But pretending love doesn’t exist won’t change anything.”