Just then he felt the shout of rage, the explosion of power leaving him and a brilliant red beam exited his eyes.

A brilliant red beam of death aimed straight at Maggie.

"No! No, Maggie-no!" At the last moment, Kor managed to wrest a small bit of control back from the demon inside. He jerked his head up, sending the red beams high above her head instead of directly at her.

There was a scream of rage, both from the demon within and the witch who claimed to be his mother. The beams of burning energy shot high...and hit the great stone arch directly over Maggie's head.

With horror, Kor watched as the arch burst apart and huge chunks of carved stone came raining down. He saw Maggie look up too, an expression of terror and shock on her face. Then one of the stone pieces slammed into the side of her head and she went down in a crumpled heap on the steps.

"No! No!" Kor's vocal chords unfroze and he gave a cry of rage and sorrow that was all his own. He had to get to her-had to go to Maggie! For a moment the demon held sway over his body, paralyzing him, keeping him from his beloved.

Cast it out, Maggie had said. You have to cast it out!

And finally, Kor found he could. He pushed the dark voice out of his head and regained control. At last he was free to go to her, free to go to Maggie.

The crowd of a.s.sembled Touch Kindred were babbling and the Swamp Witch was screaming as he raced to Maggie's side but Kor barely heard them. He knelt on the stone steps and gathered her limp body into his arms.

"Maggie?" he gasped. "Blondie-come on-talk to me! Please, Maggie, please be all right! Please, I love you!"

She didn't answer. Not when he called her with his mouth...and not when he called her with his mind. Her eyes...those lovely deep blue eyes he loved so much...rolled up in her head and a trickle of blood leaked from the corner of her mouth. Her yellow curls were red, matted with blood...so much blood and he had spilled it-it was all his fault!

Kor put a hand to her chest but he couldn't feel a heartbeat, he tried to feel for a pulse but his fingers slipped in the blood and still she didn't move...didn't speak...didn't breathe.

Maggie was dead.

Chapter Thirty-seven.

"Maggie." Kor pulled her close, cradling her limp body against his chest. Suddenly a cry of anguish broke from his lips. "NO! No, please! She can't be...she can't be..."

He couldn't finish the sentence aloud but the little voice in his brain had no problem doing it for him.

Dead...she's dead and you killed her! You killed her, Kor...you are to blame!

Kor bowed his head. He knew it was true. There was no denying his guilt, no defense he could give-none he wanted to give. He had invited the demon in willingly, wanting only to forget his pain and humiliation. He had given it free access to his mind and body, had allowed it to control and command him and use him to terrorize and kill innocent people.

And in so doing, he had killed the only woman he had ever truly loved.

Something broke inside him with the realization and a hoa.r.s.e sob was torn from his throat.

It's my fault-it should be me! Please, let me die too. I don't want to live without her. Oh, Maggie I'm so sorry. No...no...no...

"Warrior, look up."

The voice above him startled Kor. It had the same supernatural resonance the dark voice of the demon had had but it was richer, kinder and infinitely more powerful.

Standing above him was a Kindred female with green-on-green eyes. They glowed a brilliant emerald as she looked down at him, a mixture of pity and sorrow on her lovely face.

"Lady?" he asked in a hoa.r.s.e whisper. "Who...what are you?"

"I am the G.o.ddess of the Kindred-I am your G.o.ddess, Kor."

"I...I do not worship as a Kindred for I do not count myself as one."

"Ah, but I have ever counted you among my children." A soft smile formed on her lips. "You have had a terrible life-a life of hardship and pain since the demon took you from your witch mother and sent you to live as a slave."

He looked at her uncertainly. "The...the demon did that? But I thought-"

"You were told lies. The demon slaved you out, planning to give you the worst existence possible. He wanted to make you incapable of anything but hatred and evil. In short, he strove to create the perfect host."

"Then he succeeded." Kor looked down at the limp form in his arms. "I killed so many in my life and then I invited him in and let him use me to kill even more. I even killed the only female I will ever love." He kissed Maggie's forehead gently. "Oh, blondie..." he murmured.

"No, warrior, he was not successful. It is true that you are prideful and arrogant, quick to anger and slow to forgive, but you are not devoid of love. Your treatment of the little one in your arms proves as much."

"Who, Maggie?" He kissed her again. "How could I help loving her? She shared my pain-she risked her life to save me and she's so innocent and sweet and good and honorable." He shook his head. "She was right to choose her fiance over me. I don't deserve her."

"And the fact that you know this, has earned you a second chance," the G.o.ddess said.

"What?" Kor looked up at her. "What...what do you mean?"

"Guard her well, warrior. And strive to repair the damage the demon did through you. Remember, I will be watching as I watch over all of my children. Farewell."

The green light faded from the Kindred girl's eyes and she staggered a step, one hand to her head. Suddenly a warrior-the one who had called himself Saber-was there to catch her.

"Lissa? Are you all right, amalla?" he asked, looking at her anxiously.

"I...think so. What happened?"

"The G.o.ddess spoke... through you... again."

Kor jumped when he realized the voice was coming from the girl he held in his arms. He hardly dared to look down but when he did, he was filled with such joy and relief that for a moment he couldn't even speak.

"Maggie?" he managed at last in a low croak.

"h.e.l.lo, Kor." She smiled weakly and lifted her hand to cup his cheek briefly, then let her hand drop as though the effort tired her out.

"Blondie..." He stroked her blood-matted curls carefully. "Are you okay? I thought you were...were dead." He almost couldn't get the word out.

"I was." She looked up at him seriously. "I was, Kor. But...the G.o.ddess sent me...sent me back...for you."

"Oh, sweetheart." He crushed her to him-but carefully.

"Hey!" Maggie pushed against his chest weakly and he pulled back at once, giving her some s.p.a.ce.

"Are you all right?" he asked anxiously.

"You mean after...being mostly dead...all day?" She smiled as though it was some private joke. "I'm fine...really. But, uh, what's this stuff...all over you?" She nodded at the black grime that coated his skin and clothes. "Smells...awful."

"It's dust from the Black Planet," Kor answered. "The mark of the shadow stone. That was where the demon wanted me to go all along-so it could take me over."

"It indwelled you," Maggie whispered. "But it couldn't...couldn't take over completely. Because we're bonded, you and I."

"So you said." He smiled at her. "And I'm d.a.m.n grateful for it too. Without that bond I would never have had the power to break free of the d.a.m.n thing." He cleared his throat. "So this bond...does it mean I don't have to worry about Donald anymore?"

Maggie groaned weakly. "No, you don't have to...worry about him. Don't...get me started."

"She is yet weak, warrior." The Kindred girl called Lissa who had hosted the G.o.ddess touched him lightly on the shoulder. "And this mob is angry with you, despite the fact that Saber is trying to calm them down." She nodded at the people gathered in the square, many of which were glaring at Kor-not that he could blame them.

He nodded. "I want to repair the damage I did if I can, but right now I need to take Maggie someplace safe."

"I think it best you both go back to the Kindred Mother Ship," Lissa said. "Come, I have a shuttle waiting for you and I will call and instruct the ship to fold s.p.a.ce at once."

Kor smiled and gathered Maggie into his arms. "Well, blondie, looks like you're going to be home in time for dinner again."

"Yes." She smiled softly. "But this time...I've got the right guy to come home to-you."

"That you do." Kor kissed her. "And I'm never letting you go."

Chapter Thirty-eight.

"How are you feeling today, sweetheart?" Kor leaned over Maggie's hospital bed and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Much better now." Maggie sighed fretfully. "I'm really tired of being here-I wish they'd let me leave the Med Station and move in to your suite with you already."

"They're just keeping an eye on you, blondie." Kor stroked her hair gently out of her face. "I don't blame them. I can't keep my eyes off you either."

"Silly." Maggie started to say something else but then the spot on his big hand caught her eye. "Kor, what's that? Did you still not get it all off?"

Kor sighed and looked down at the small spot which looked like a pitch black mole at the base of his right thumb. It was about the size of a dime and it wasn't that prominent but it was troubling because it was the last of the dust that had coated him when he stepped onto the Black Planet-the mark of the shadow stone, as the demon had called it.

"I scrubbed and scrubbed last night," he told Maggie. "I don't know why it won't all come off."

She shivered. "Well, you'll just have to try again later. I don't like that stuff-it reminds me of... you know."

"Yes, I know." Kor took back his hand and rubbed the spot against the side of his leg. "Maybe it's never coming off. Maybe it's a reminder to me-something that will never let me forget what I did, what I allowed to happen through me."

"Oh, come on, Kor-I don't think the G.o.ddess works like that. She's not vindictive," Maggie objected. "And speaking of the G.o.ddess, she healed me so I don't see why I can't just go."

"The G.o.ddess healed you perfectly but you're still weak from blood loss," Kor said smiling. "So you'll have to be patient. Believe me, I can't wait for you to get strong enough to come home either."

"I just bet you can't." Maggie gave him a naughty smile. "And why is that? So we can finally have some more bonding s.e.x? I'm going to really enjoy it this time since I don't have to feel guilty the whole time we do it."

"Bonding s.e.x is all well and good but I have other things in mind for you," Kor murmured. "Better than bonding s.e.x things."

Maggie raised her eyebrows. "Better than bonding s.e.x? What can you possibly be talking about?"

"Something very important I'm afraid," Kor said seriously. "You see, I went to the Earth goods store and bought a lot of those canned foods you humans are so fond of but they're all out of order. The first thing you need to do when you walk in the door of our suite is alpa...alba..." His serious facade began to crack and Maggie could tell he was trying not to laugh. "Seven h.e.l.ls-what is it Donald made you do again?"

"Alphabetize. He made me alphabetize them," Maggie giggled.

"Oh, that's right." Kor nodded gravely. "Yes, you need to do that. And when you're finished, I require you to make me b.a.l.l.s of meat that weigh exactly the right amount. Also, we need to pick linens for our sleeping platform that match the curtains and all our clothing. All right?"

"Sure." Maggie laughed again. "And while we're at it, let's be sure the chairs all sit at the dining room table at perfect ninety degree angles."

"I'll also require that our oral hygiene products keep their distance from each other," Kor said. "After all, I can't risk getting your germs."

"In that case, maybe you'd better stop kissing me," Maggie pointed out.

"Or I could wash out your mouth with disinfectant every time I do," Kor said thoughtfully. "That might be sufficient to keep me from being contaminated. I just don't know..."

Both of them cracked up and Maggie laughed until tears came to her eyes. In the week since they had returned from Tarsia, she had been filling Kor in on her disastrous reunion with her ex-fiance and this was the result.

Kor, who had hated Donald when he was a rival, was now fascinated with his strangely fastidious habits. He was constantly begging for more "Donald stories" to laugh at and Maggie was happy to oblige him. Now that she and Kor were together and their bond was strong, she could see how very unhappy she'd been with Donald. In fact, it seemed completely ridiculous that she'd been with him for so long-almost as ridiculous as alphabetizing the canned goods or weighing the meatb.a.l.l.s or folding all the napkins into perfect Isosceles triangles for dinner.

"We really need to stop," she told Kor, slapping him lightly on the arm. "Poor Donald can't help himself, really. He just wasn't the right guy for me and I certainly wasn't the right girl for him."

"No, because you're only the right female for me." Kor leaned over to take her mouth in a warm, possessive kiss that took her breath away. Just as Maggie was about to invite him into her hospital bed-completely against doctor's orders-she heard someone clearing their throat from the doorway.

Thinking it was the nurse, she broke the kiss reluctantly and looked up.

"I'm sorry, I just-" The words died on her lips when she saw who was standing in her doorway-Donald.

"Greetings, Margaret," he said and cleared his throat. "I hope I have not, ah, interrupted anything."

"Donald," she said blankly, looking him over. His leg was looking much better than the last time she'd seen him. The external fixation device was gone and he was up and around-albeit with a cast and a pair of crutches. "What...what are you doing here?" she asked at last, unable to think of anything else to say.

"I believe I told you I was going to be doing some work with the Kindred. They were kind enough to invite me to the Mother Ship early and help treat my leg. It is almost healed now as you see."

"Uh, yes. Yes, I see," Maggie felt awkward. How much of what they were saying had her ex-fiance heard? How long had he been standing there or just outside the doorway while she and Kor laughed about his little peculiarities?

"I heard you were injured as well," Donald said stiffly. "So I came to see you. I am glad that you appear to be feeling well."

"Yes...much better. Thanks." G.o.d, why couldn't she think of anything to say to him? They'd been together for five years but it was like talking to a stranger! In desperation, Maggie nodded to the side of the bed where Kor was standing there, silently sizing Donald up. "Um, so this is Kor. And Kor, this is..."

"Donald!" Kor strode forward, smiling unexpectedly and reached out to take her ex-fiance's hand. He had picked up the Earth custom of hand-shaking but Maggie was a little surprised he was so willing to shake his ex-rival's hand.

"Ah...h.e.l.lo," Donald said awkwardly, holding onto his crutches with one hand as Kor pumped the other. "It's a...uh, a real pleasure to meet you."