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were people who left the valley in hopes of
finding what they desired on the other side of the veil,” Jamison said. “They
turned their backs on their people and their heritage, instead choosing a new
life where people judged one another by how much wealth they obtained.”
    Yeah, that sounded like the world she lived in. Of course
they also judged on beauty and body. The better you looked the more you were
liked.
    “I am sorry that your people have so little character that
they would judge what they do not know,” Jamison said.
    “So what do you judge on?” she asked.
    “We don’t really judge,” he answered and she laughed.
    “I guess perhaps we judge by a person’s actions,” he
conceded. “How they treat others as well as themselves. We look to a person’s
heart and know the beauty that lies inside.”
    That sounded wonderful, but was it truly possible to live
like that?
    “We have never known of any other way to live,” Jamison
said.
    “It sounds nice,” she said. “But I don’t understand why I am
here.”
    “I’m not exactly sure myself,” he answered. “Taggart and I
were told that you would be at the bridal pool and that we should go and see if
you would choose to mate with us.”
    She remembered saying the words that had popped into her
head, choosing them as mates. What had she committed herself to? How long would
she be forced to remain here?
    “You will never be forced to do anything that you do not
desire,” Jamison said and there was anger in his voice again. “What type of
society did you live in that such a thought would occur to you?”
    “You’re reading my thoughts again,” she said, deciding not
to answer him. How did she explain to him that women were bedded and discarded
all the time? That marriages rarely lasted forever. That it was common to marry
and divorce several times.
    “It is a sad world that you live in,” Jamison spoke softly.
“I can’t imagine anyone wanting to go back to such a place.”
    He was right. She had nothing to go back for, no one who
would care. Her mother might want her but only so that her place in the cult
she was now a part of would be sealed. It appeared that her mother had finally
lost her mind and Reggie doubted that she would ever be able to save her. The
only thing she would do would be to find herself trapped and married as the
first wife to some religious dictator. She shuddered at the thought.
    “How could a mother put her child in such a place?” Jamison
asked. “How could a man desire more than one woman to be his life mate, to
bring his children to life? We have no divorce as you call it here. When we
take a mate we form a bond that lasts forever.”
    “Is that what I did when I spoke those words?” Reggie asked.
“Did I form a bond with you and your brother?”
    “Yes,” Jamison nodded. “You accepted our desire to bond and
mate with you.”
    She nodded. So what did it mean to mate or bond with
someone? Obviously it lasted forever to them? So did they not die? Age? What?
    Jamison laughed. “Yes, we grow old and die. It is the cycle
of life. Death gives way to birth and all life has time. But the bond we have
formed is more than a physical one. Already I hear your thoughts and fears and
they become mine. I sense your needs and want nothing more than to meet every
one of them. I begin to know you and love the person before me. Do you not feel
anything for me?”
    Well, yes, of course she felt something for him. She
wouldn’t say that it was love. She couldn’t believe that. Love didn’t happen
that quickly. But there was something there. She knew that she didn’t want to
hurt him. That it mattered to her what he thought and felt. And there was this
thing inside her that kept wanting to take over, to have her give in to all
that he desired. It was getting hard to fight. And her bones were starting to
ache.
    “Your bones ache already?” Jamison exclaimed and she knew it
would do no good to remind him again to stay out