Soul Dancer Read Online Free PDF

carpet,” he said half-heartedly, dragging the wrinkled coverlet from the bed.
    “How do you propose to do that?” Once, ages ago, they’d tried flying on a pretend magic carpet, an old, ratty blanket. They’d laughed and had fun, but they’d never left the ground.
    “I’ll roll you up.” Quiet music played around them. His somber eyes lit up. “Or I could whirl you away as you dance to my music.”
    Kierra heaved a heavy sigh of frustration. “Great! Then everyone will see us.”
    Jamar crossed the short distance to her. “If I wrap my arms around you, no one will even notice.”
    She uncrossed her arms and jabbed an index finger into his hard chest. “We’re still children in your mind, aren’t we?” She didn’t wait for a response. Irrational anger ate away at her. “We are not children anymore. We’re grown. Adults. We’ll—” Who was she kidding? He wouldn’t pay the consequences. She would. Alone. “ I’ll be responsible for our mistakes.”
    His gold eyes lost their brilliance. “Mistakes?”
    “This…” She couldn’t decide what to call their lying in bed together sweaty and naked, but it hadn’t been making love. “ This sex was a mistake. You’re Jaquill. I’m kattanee. There’s no mixing the two, Jamar. None at all.”
    Had she made her point clearly enough? His eyebrows were set in a frown and a deep sadness crept into his eyes. Naked, Kierra turned around and fled.
    * * * *
    Struck dumb, Jamar collapsed into an armchair near one window, hung his head and stared at the carpet. Kierra and he were a mistake? He raked his fingers through his hair. Tears stung his eyes. They were a mistake? How could she think that when he loved her with every part of his being, when he’d shared his music, and they shared the gift of dancing?
    Dejected, he continued to fasten his unseeing gaze on the plush carpet. Images of Kierra slowly wove their way through his tortured mind. When they had been children—
    Abruptly, he cut off that train of thought. Hadn’t Kierra just told him he was stuck in the past? That he was a mistake?
    “I refuse to accept that,” he muttered, hunching his shoulders, praying the ground would open up and swallow him whole. He couldn’t live without her. He’d damned well tried, but he couldn’t. Praadar had been his home for three years as he’d studied and learned about what freedom meant. Every night when he retired, he’d thought of Kierra and making love to her. His guts had twisted horribly when he’d realized how much he missed her. She was as much a part of him as their shared childhood was.
    The music began to play again, this time in his head, slow, torturous, sweet. “I’m a mistake,” he repeated in a hushed whisper over and over again. Misery flooded through him and twisted his heart in a gut-wrenching knot. Kierra wasn’t a mistake. He had to show her. Somehow. They could run off to Praadar and live together. They’d have six children, each treasured and loved for who they were no matter what their skin color was.
    Jamar wasn’t used to inaction. He brightened at the thought that after he found a spaceship to take them to Praadar, he’d kidnap her. Wouldn’t she love it there, among the carefree people, among the flowers that seemed to be blooming everywhere? Then they could do what they’d intended when they were children. He would become a well-known musician and Kierra would dance, barefoot, to the music that made both their hearts sing.
    There was a sharp rap on the door. Jamar didn’t move a muscle. His brother, who knew little about privacy, strolled in. “Hey bro. You’ve been banging one of the kattanee again?”
    Jamar glanced up at him. Fury flared in his chest. How dared Absar demean Kierra by calling her a kattanee and saying the word ‘banging’?
    “Watch your mouth,” he warned sullenly.
    “Maybe you should get dressed and make yourself useful.” Absar cut the distance between them.
    Jamar felt the younger man’s dark