In the water, Nox could enjoy Rayne’s soft lips without her straining on her tiptoes and him leaning to meet her halfway. He could see more time in the hot springs in their future. They stole kisses while they danced, holding each other close. The firelight from the dying bonfire bathed her white hair in orange and contrasted the blue in her eyes. As far as he was concerned, it was just the two of them out here. Nox could hold Rayne like this under the light of Earth’s moon forever—
A tremendous splash crashed into them, interrupting the mood. Sagan brought them back to the semi-public setting with a triumphant shout of, “My turn!”
Rayne gave a battle cry and returned fire. Waves crashed back and forth until Nox stepped aside, sweeping away the hair soaked to his face. At his incredulous laughter, the girls stopped and peered at him.
“Sorry, Nox,” Sagan said as she slinked over to Rayne and pulled their mutual lover close.
Rayne stated the obvious. “No, you’re not.” Then she cupped the Seamswalker by the nape and kissed her.
With a chuckle, Nox dismissed himself to shore. No jealousy. Only appreciation. There was no moving on from Rayne. Made even more obvious by Kyle unable to tear his eyes away from the two women kissing in the water.
When Kyle realized Nox had noticed, he gave an ugly scowl before turning back to his hand of cards and submitting the betting pool to Silence’s delight. The young man would compensate for this in Nox’s treatment tomorrow. Frankly, the former King of Cinder didn’t give a shit—
“Oh.” Nox nearly backed into T.a.o. He dipped his head in greeting.
She stared up at him with her solid violet eyes, tilting her head this way and that as if searching Nox’s soul. He let her, uncertain what else to do. Almost as abruptly as T.a.o. had appeared, she wrapped her arms around Nox and hugged him.
This took him back to all those millennia ago when Nox had entertained the ancient Progeny in his castle. T.a.o. had hugged him like this then. A tenth of his size, Nox feared he might break her as he gave the gentlest of squeezes.
T.a.o. spoke against his stomach. “You deserve her, and she knows. We all know. It’s in the Source of us, now. The Eternal Bind.”
The certainty in her voice brought a mist to Nox’s eyes. Every day, he tried to earn Rayne’s love and the acceptance of the Shadow. To hear this… “Thank you, T.a.o.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The small woman separated them and beamed before Seamswalking off to the other side of the gorge. She sat beside Andrius and Devis playing cards with Kyle and Silence. Whatever she’d said to Kyle made him look across the water at Nox, startled. But that wasn’t enough to keep Nox’s attention. His pulse steadied with heavy heartbeats. Over Sagan’s shoulder, while they danced, Rayne smiled at Nox. It was a pretty smile of pure content and love, and Nox felt grateful he was even ten percent responsible for it.
“We’re lucky.” Korac stepped up from behind Nox, with Echo strapped to his front. On anyone else it might look ridiculous, but on the Imperial General it was more like paternal armor. Another way he was dangerous. “She likes you.”
Nox glanced down at Echo to find her reaching for him. How could he say ‘no’ to that angelic face? With a chuckle, Nox gave Echo his finger to squeeze. She couldn’t wrap her entire hand around it, but she tried with all her half-Aegis might.
Korac smirked at the interaction. “With lessons from you and Karter, Echo will become the finest warrior this galaxy has ever seen.”
The compliment swelled Nox’s chest. “Without a doubt.”
“Will you and Rayne remain on Thailea?”
Nox took a moment to consider Korac’s question. Lucas had given them permission to live on Thailea forever. They could spend every night gazing through the silver canopy at the rainbow rings, no longer hidden behind a storm. Tasting the star dust of Rayne’s blood and memorizing the contour of her abs, biceps, back, breasts, and thighs like a map to paradise—
Wait… Korac had asked Nox a question. “Yes. One day, we may return to Cinder, but for now the Aegis planet feels like home.”
At the mention of his paternal race, Korac’s eyes narrowed slightly.
It made Nox think to ask, “So were you involved in Razor’s resurrection?”
Korac looked to the sky like he was counting the diamonds scattered across all that black and blue velvet. It was the same color as the ring around Xelan’s iris. Korac said, “I didn’t think it was fair to Xelan that you came back but not the man who harbored your brother during his exile. We may not care for Razor, but after listening to Xelan tell his Verse, I’m convinced my errant half-brother saved yours from his grief. Among other things, it’s reason enough to give him this opportunity to redeem as you did.”
In their time together, Korac was always stoic and reserved his words for only the most important occasions. Whether that be a rousing speech for the troops or giving Xelan and Nox shit in the middle of a failed prank. On this occasion, Nox absorbed Korac’s words and appreciated all the honesty in them.
Nox took his finger from echo and smoothed a white feather from her face. “You’ve made a hard decision, and I hope it’s a righteous one. Razor doesn’t seem to respond to the pods like the other reformists. How do you think he’s fairing?”
Korac’s half-chuckle was incredulous and a little bitter. “The entire facility is already bending to his will.”
“Well, coming from such an attractive and charismatic family, what would you expect of your brother?”
At Xelan’s interruption from behind, Korac rolled his eyes with a groan.
Nox grinned and thanked Elden for this family of theirs.
May it forever remain in dysfunction and relentless entertainment.