{Enki}

“Like dis?” Pax asked, softly.

“Almost.” Chris fought not to laugh as he twisted the fishing pole right-side up. No sense in disturbing the fish. “There, kiddo.”

Tameka’s son was gifted with her tawny brown skin, dark brown freckles, and fiery red curls. Xelan’s black eyes with that outer midnight-blue ring afforded Pax a wiseness to his appearance he’d later grow into. He looked smart today in his green carbon fiber jumpsuit. Kids in space clothes. Adorable.

They sat on a glass dock beyond the bungalow’s swimming pool. The perfectly manicured landscape around them included massive polished boulders of a stone similar to alabaster, grasses so well-kept Chris mistook them for turf, and flowering shrubs always in bloom. The same stone as the boulders carved out the bungalows into the colony structure. Glass and white stone without flaws.

Wooden planks and glass walkways laid over slender channels of ocean water within their lofty modern apartments. Six bedrooms, two bathrooms, and one amazing living space completed the Eminent perk package. Alien living quarters were perfect. A mixture of Earthly luxuries and advanced technologies. Which begged the question. What did the Tritans plan to do with a Dyson’s Sphere that didn’t belong to them?

Tameka briefed everyone on her discovery in the Pantheon. The Ancient race, now known as the Aegis, rescued and harbored the Tritans from unknown assailants. As thanks, the species of blue outsiders stole their home.

Rude.

Could the Tritans even run it properly? Understand the technology without an Aegis guide? Were they flying by the seat of their pants here?

The baby Progeny squealed when his pole bowed and tugged.

Excited, Chris shook off his thoughts. “That’s it, Pax. You got… oh my, you might not want that.”

Today’s catch resembled a catfish. The thing glowered at them from below. Its wide body stretched out at least nine feet further into the water. What the hell was that pole made of?

“Look at! I gots it!”

Chris stretched his legs around the kiddo and helped him grip the pole from behind. Grunting and snarling, he promised, “We’ll get it!”

“Hey, whatcha got—Whoa, that’s a big one. Need a hand?” Para offered as she leaned over the water. Tiny cut-off shorts and a knife-ladened leather harness kept her decent. Without the kid around, she usually went nude. Five-foot, eight-inches of blue-haired and gray-skinned nude. Too cute.

Chris spared a glance at her before the fish gave a good haul and almost took Pax with him. “Fudge!” No swearing around the young one.

The shortest Valkyrie giggled before sitting down behind them and scooping her arms around them. With everything in that Icarean warrior body, she pulled. When she barked out a “yip,” they lifted from the dock, fish and all.

Pax cheered. “Big fish! Big! I caught it.”

The fish cussed at them between gasping gulps where it flopped on the lawn.

Chris turned to high-five Para, but stopped short with a grin.

Karter, black wings out and rainbow mohawk spiked, pulled them back in a chain of bodies versus one fish. She grinned with perfect teeth and soft lips. The cropped burgundy jacket over a white tank top looked beautiful against her dark gray skin. She stood a few inches taller than Chris, putting her over six feet, but he didn’t mind. His woman could bench press thirty of him, and he’d be right there cheering her on.

The toddler rushed over to her and jumped into her open arms. “Auntie Kar! Thankie!”

“You’re welcome, baby.” She twirled him around to his squeeing delight.

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The display of affection melted Chris’ heart. Until Karter opened her eyes. Beautiful. Split vertically, the outer halves of her irises were green and the inner halves were black. Holding Pax, they were glossy, near to glistening with unshed tears.

Where was her lost child out there? How close was Tumu to finding them? Millions of years later, it stung that it might not matter at all. They were an adult. Possibly with their own children, but certainly with an entire life without ever knowing their mother. And Karter thought about this. All the time. It weighed on her. Especially in Pax’s presence. A balm and a reminder. Chris knew this in her quiet moments.

Para called out, “Uhm. What are we doing with this thing?”

He turned to find her pointing at the impressive catfish. Only one course of action came to mind. “Frying it.”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “Who’s cleaning it?”

He chuckled. It never occurred to him that a warrior could act so prissy. Not that he was planning to volunteer.

Karter’s rich laughter captured both their attention. They stared at her, enraptured, as she crossed the lawn and withdrew a bowie knife. “Such babies.” His woman sat on that grass and set to work like a professional. Para caught him watching, and they shared a smile. They were both proud and grateful to have Karter in their lives.

Pax grimaced and cried, “Blegh! Icky.” He looked inside the gutted beast before fleeing to the nearest rock worth climbing.

“When you’re older, we’ll teach you how,” Chris offered before sitting down to help his lover at her work.

Para picked the kiddo up in a piggy-back ride. “How was your first day as an Eminent? We weren’t expecting you so soon. I promise, I meant to have the place cleaned before you came back.” The short-haired woman winked at Chris because they both knew that so wasn’t true. Para was a slob.

While gutting a fish with frightening precision, Karter shared, “Celindria canceled Tribunal today. Some kind of emergency.” She smiled with a secret in those exotic eyes.

They heard about Kyle. Tameka informed them on the comms about an hour ago. Chris hoped that set the evil bitch back by leagues. Fury warned them the time was on its way to use their chains. Karter drank hers to save her life when Imminent bombed Xelan’s stronghold last week. Both Para and Chris still wore theirs. Pax, too. Although he didn’t know of its significance.

“How do you want this cut for your frying?” Karter drew Chris out of his thoughts again.

He smiled a big goofy grin at how the sun bounced on the finely woven metallics in the reconstruction of her face. Not a day passed by that he wasn’t grateful she used Rayne’s blood to survive that collapse. His almost-cyborg girlfriend. Those science-fiction geek dreams finally came true. Something tapped him on the head and brought him back to reality. He looked up to find that Para bent for Pax to poke him.

They all laughed.

“Fillets, please.”

Karter grinned at him, making Para sigh wistfully. Simply beautiful. “Coming right up.”

After dinner, they lounged around the living room with full bellies. The kiddo played on the floor with Iron Hope. A replica of his father’s train, complete with the drop forge on the caboose. The three adults split up among the seating arrangements to keep themselves separated. They became too accustomed to their evening snuggles and, if sat too close, instinctively formed a poly-pile not fit for the boy’s eyes. So Chris took up the couch, Para in an armchair, and Karter stretched across the chaise.

For the last half hour, Chris watched Para stare at the floor with a frown on her face. And he couldn’t take it anymore. “What’s wrong?”

Karter perked up from her top secret Eminent reading and examined them.

The shortest Valkyrie sighed heavily and chafed her thighs. Eventually, she explained, “I’ve got that feeling again.”

Now Karter bolted upright. “You do?”

Chris’ heart fluttered a bit with the sudden change. “The foreboding?”

The blue-haired woman nodded.

Before some of their worst missions, Para often reached out to their King at the time—a real bastard—and begged him to reconsider the campaign. He refused, of course. The casualties were catastrophic. Last week, before the Imminent attacks, she mentioned the feeling then, too.

“Well, I got your back. We have each other. And the Shadow,” Chris reassured, meaning every word.

Karter stood up and crossed the room to hug her partner. “Exactly. We’ll look after each other.”

When Para met Karter’s gaze, the sorrow in her black eyes would haunt Chris’ dreams. “I don’t know how to say this. But… I think it has more to do with Tumu finding your youngling.”

Karter winced.

Curious and wanting to shift the subject slightly, Chris asked, “What does this all have to do with Inanis? It happened last week on Earth, putting Lynn in a nightmare situation. It happened during your campaign with Thailea. Maybe your portent is more connected to that?”

Para muttered, “‘In the void, you will know yourself. Within Inanis is us.’”

Chris frowned. “Come again?”

Para glanced at Karter, who explained, “The Exalted. That’s what he said to me after we survived that army of ourselves. While we waited for three days during the siege of their tombs.”

“So, do you think as we get closer to solving this, there’s a chance Inanis will happen… again… I’m so… tired…” Mid-sentence, Chris decided to take a nap. Sleepily, his lids fluttered. Before they closed, he smiled gently as both Para and Karter too rested their heads, purring.

Pax stood and peered at him.

The last thing Chris remembered before he fell asleep was the Progeny boy’s precious laughter.