The Theron Residency (Brides of Theron Book 4) by Rebecca Anthony Lorino, Rebecca Lorino Pond

volume titled “The Illustrated History of Theron.”
    “As fast as you learn, you could probably read that in a month. Do you know what you are looking at?” He asked as he edged his way closer to her. He leaned in close touching his chest to her shoulder and pointed at the pictures with his finger. He wondered if she felt it too. That shock of electricity that instantly tracked its way to his heart, making it beat faster. The rapid increase in his heart rate would result in that shot of adrenalin that tended to make him light-headed. “This is a legend of how we came to be on this planet. Those are the moons of Theron right here. It is said that we were brought here by the Gods, although nobody knows why.”
    He shrugged his shoulders and added, “It’s one of those heavily debated stories that the teachers and philosophers used to argue over time and time again. Did our original planet die before we were brought here by the Gods? Are we making the same disastrous mistakes when we engaged in war with the Drylon’s and our cities were destroyed? Are we finding our way back to nature among the trees and living the way we are today because of something we learned in the past? There are many questions about why we are so blessed by the Gods now,” He took her free hand and laid a kiss on her knuckles. “I know that the Gods have truly blessed me with you. You are so beautiful, smart, and everything I could want in a woman. It is like the Gods took my order and offered me the perfect gift, you.”
    He could see the pink color rise into her cheeks. He actually made her blush. “You are really sweet.” She looked at the vendor and said, “I will take this one.”
    The vendor was a Phesian and had a thick, dry, cracked gray skin. He grunted out the cost and she dug into her purse. She dropped several coins into his dry, cracked hands. His black tipped fingernails showed when he closed his fist and turned to put them into an ornately carved stained wooden box with beautiful metal scrollwork. He wore silk looking robes of many colors that bellowed out into the wind with each of his graceful steps. His eyes were huge and almond shaped with dark violet irises that were lined with thick black eyelashes. His nose was long and hooked down to his chin with his mouth just under it. Putting the book into her bag, she looked up at Ceran and asked, “Can we get something to eat now? I’m hungry.”
    “Sure,” he led her out to the food court area and they looked among the vendors. Over to the right, she saw a booth that she had not seen before. The area under the counter was painted brightly with many colorful, odd looking fruits and vegetables. She started pulling him to the stand and he immediately recognized one of the earth females behind the counter.
    “Sarah, is that you? How are you?” Laura asked. He watched her step behind the counter and give the woman a hug.
    “I am pretty good. Jacko is doing great too.” She called the little rewa to her and it jumped up on her shoulder. He remembered the day on the ship when he and Brylon got the crazy idea to buy each of their mates a rewa. Emma loved her pet and even got two more. Jacko, Laura’s rewa got lonely and sad when Laura started working so much that she really couldn’t care for it like she should. Rewas require a lot of attention and love. One day, Laura ran into Sarah on the ship and noticed that she was having a terrible time adjusting to the new environment, not unlike several of the other earth women she had run into that day. She offered to let Sarah have Jacko, her little blue rewa. It was probably the best thing that Laura could have done for her little pet. Jacko moved along Sarah’s shoulder hiding just under the tips of her brightly colored hair and waved timidly at Laura with a big silly grin on his face.
    “How is Donal?” Laura had met Sarah’s mate on the day that she collected the DNA evidence for Grace’s trust. With all the work she had been