Heart Choice by Robin D. Owens

and refused to tell him anything. Which had shivered his nerves for years. So he’d never dared face the old woman again. Instead, he’d gone to Kalmi.
    He thought of her, of how he’d slaked his pain and need in her body. How he’d touched her with tenderness. But somehow, even before that last scene, their affair had soured. He couldn’t pinpoint the time, or how, but now he knew any feelings he had for her were gone, never to return.
    He erased the holo.
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That evening, Mitchella dressed for her usual dinner with T’Ash and D’Ash in a mood of cheer. She had work! Excellent work, independent of any referral by her good friend Danith. Life’s wheel of fortune was finally turning for her, and soon she’d be on top! Of course, indirectly, Danith had referred Drina to her, and Drina T’Blackthorn, but if Mitchella knew anything at all, it was that cats didn’t do anything they didn’t want to. Drina was a snob and a snot, but the little Fam had good taste.
    So Mitchella would celebrate with D’Ash and her HeartMate, and wouldn’t let the drawbacks of the job enter her mind or pass her lips. With a little time since the kiss and an upsurge of optimism, Mitchella had determined that she was capable of being completely involved in the project and completely uninvolved with the GrandLord. He was a gentleman. He’d take “no” for an answer. She would not let her body rule her head because it would doom her career.
    She wore an expensive, long emerald tunic embroidered with gold-looking thread, a garment that she’d scolded herself for purchasing when her income was so low. She’d hidden it in the closet to forget the expense. She fluffed her hair with a small spell and donned the glisten earrings and necklace Danith had given to her as a nameday gift. T’Ash had made the set, and if she wore it, he might even speak to her civilly.
    It was time they put that little incident between them in the past, not to be remembered. After all, she’d been the one thrown across the city, all he had experienced was a bit of anger at her falsehood that Danith was sterile. Yes, this was an evening for new beginnings, new plans.
    Impulsively, she reached for her new crystal oracle ball for a quick daily divination, but before she picked it up, Antenn’s lagging footsteps clumped to her door and he pounded on it.
    She opened her door, bent down, and smooched his forehead.
    He sniffed. “You’re wearing perfume, why’s that if you’re just going to the T’Ashes?”
    Reaching out, she ruffled his hair and patted his cheek. “Women don’t use perfume just for men, you know. I like the smell, it makes me feel exotic.” She whirled. “Danith likes this scent, too.” Mitchella opened her mouth.
    â€œDon’t sing!” Antenn clutched his chest. “Zow. You look great, you smell great. You’ll have a great time. I’m glad you feel great—just don’t sing.”
    Mitchella turned the first notes of a tune into a laugh. “Are you sure you want to stay here alone instead of visiting the Clover Compound?”
    With a weary sigh, Antenn propped himself against her doorjamb. “I’m tired of the Clovers.”
    Hearing the incipient whine in his voice, Mitchella kissed his cheek. “You’ve been very good, so I’ll grant this strange need for solitude.”
    He grunted. “You Clovers think being with people is the best thing in life. We aren’t all like you, you know.”
    Mitchella just raised her eyebrows.
    The scrybowl trilled from downstairs. She flitted from the room and down the stairs. Running a finger around the top of the bowl, she answered, “Here.”
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“You know,” Straif said to Drina as he strode to T’Ash’s, “though we talked about your jewelry this morning, we are still in the probationary phase of this