Bane by Viola Grace Page A

plague struck the population, infected entered the cities and those who were clear left for the hills and wild areas. The theory was that those who were ill would be unable to fend for themselves in the wild and it would be easier to contain and make folk comfortable in the larger cities as well as keep them supplied with food and water. The pathogen was quick to show signs fortunately but slow to kill.
    They might have a chance to save most of the population if this healer was as effective as the exotic provider advertised. It didn’t sit well with him that he was entrusting his people to a slave, but if she were trained as a healer, he would take any help she could give. They were going to be landing in one of the worst-hit areas, and if she wasn’t able to stem the tide of death, they would all be joining the infected within days.
     

    Avaneer sat up and stretched. The gravity was slightly heavier than she was used to but not enough to cause her any distress. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she noticed one very important thing. She was not in the Alliance high-gravity station.
    Instead of a medical bay, she was in a very well appointed apartment with a balcony overlooking a city of elegant architecture.
    “Where am I?”
    A shadow moved on the far side of the room. “You have been sold to us for the purposes of stopping a plague.”
    Avaneer blinked rapidly. “Sold? I am a trained contact healer of the Citadel under contract to the Alliance. I can’t be sold. It is illegal to own me.” She scrubbed at the back of her neck and climbed out of the pod.
    “Nevertheless, you are here now, and we need your help.”
    He stepped into the light, and she fought the reflex to rub her eyes. She had seen pictures of the dark elves of the Admaryn before but never one made of a hard, glittering black. He appeared to be made of jet and mother of pearl, but his skin flowed and flexed as he moved.
    She sighed, “Fine. I will help, but when I am done, I want to contact the Alliance. They will be looking for me and finding me on a strange world with no transfer order will cause your government problems.”
    He blinked. “Just like that? You agree to help just like that?”
    Ava laughed and moved toward him. “Of course. My particular skills are only of use if I can use them. What do you have here?”
    She began to walk toward the door, her robes swaying.
    “Where are you going?” He moved astonishingly quickly to block her from the door.
    “I thought to go in search of my patients. You would not have brought me here if they were not nearby.” She smiled brightly and extended her gloved hand. “I am Avaneer Leftiss, by the way.”
    He looked at her hand and paused.
    “I wear the gloves so that I don’t gain a resistance to everything. It is a hazard of my occupation. The gloves are quite safe. I even wear them to sleep.” Ava couldn’t stop a snort. “I wear everything to sleep. The only time I am dangerous is when I am naked and that only occurs in the shower.”
    He took her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of her knuckles. “I am Kondr Lytan, Prefect of Nafki North.”
    “Is Nafki the city?”
    “No, Avaneer, it is the planet. We are a sparsely populated world, but our cities are beyond compare.”
    Avaneer smiled up into his sapphire blue eyes. “If the rest of the population shares your characteristics, I am amazed that anything could harm you.”
    He released her hand and opened the door. “We were as surprised by it as you are.”

Chapter Two
    Avaneer was holding back panic with every bit of her Citadel training. She was on a strange world, and no one knew where she was.
    Kondr was an impressive specimen, and it made her a little sad to think she couldn’t even try to touch him. Casual touching was forbidden to contact healers. Perhaps one day she would be assigned a mate, someone who had been checked out that she could call her own, but until then, she was living a solitary life surrounded by disease