{Enki}

Xelan entered the space to find Tameka talking with Miy, as she and the Lyrik exchanged armor. The mother of his child, accustomed to communal showers, slipped out of her tactical suit. Goosebumps formed on every inch of her naked skin. Bones, Pablo, and Jack looked anywhere else in the room. Miy, as comfortable with nudity as any other Lyrik, didn’t rush to hand over the change of clothes. There was no hurry to lace the elements together.

Here Xelan was, concerned over her welfare, while Tameka was gearing up for the battle ahead, and doing a fantastic job of it. Miy laced black bracers which hugged Tameka’s corded arms up to the shoulder caps. There, a bright blue fabric cascaded from it. More of the black leather covered her breasts, tied like a corset. They threaded black shorts over her hips, with the same blue material gathered at her waist and draping down her legs like pants to meet black boots. With every leggy step, the gossamer cloth parted, revealing her tawny skin. It would add an amazing effect to her use of the chain dart holstered on her hip.

“We’ll do hair and makeup when you’re ready,” Sagan offered from where she sat, staring at Triss’ comatose body. She’d already changed into a bright blue halter and black leather pants. The attractive and impractical battle gear matched Tameka’s outfit, but not the expression on Sagan’s face.

Grim. That’s how the Seamswalker looked.

Xelan crossed the room, gripped Sagan’s shoulder gently and kissed the top of her head.

Tameka glided toward the door and called out to Sagan, “After the strategy meeting, we can do hair.” To Xelan, she said, “Let’s do this.” The very picture of health—

Oh. Of course. Tameka was familiar with sipping from Enki’s abundant sources of energy.

As if she knew Xelan had figured it out, Tameka winked at him on her way out of the medical zone. Xelan waved to Pablo and Lynn before following the enticing and capable redhead to the war room. He caught up to her and pulled her behind a column before they entered. He searched her green eyes and resisted kissing her black freckles, all fifteen of them. He’d counted. “I want to hear you say it before I assume—”

Fire blazed in him, energizing Xelan’s blood with electricity until his eyes water and he gasped from the power surge. When he could see again, no longer blinded with power, Tameka’s eyes had transitioned into her Atramentous. Solid green with a black slit for a pupil. She pulled him close during the power feed, and bergamot blossomed between them.

Breathy, Tameka’s voice came out in three pitches. “I’m managing. It’s the best I can do. Now that I’m back in my territory of power sources, I’m a live wire. I want to fuck you while draining Enki’s star and experience that curiosity. But I can’t get Pax off of my mind. I’m not sure how you’re compartmentalizing so well. I won’t lie, it’s almost disturbing.”

Xelan winced, but valued her honesty.

“I know it’s your millions of years of learning to react from a calmer place, and I’m afraid I just lack that. So I might pass out again. I might cry and scream, but I know we’ll get through this together and save him.” Tameka cupped both sides of Xelan’s face. “Until then, that’s how I’m doing. Please don’t ask me again because it disrupts however I’ve managed to cope in the moment.”

Xelan kissed both her palms. “I understand completely.”

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Tameka’s eyes transitioned to normal, and her cheeks flushed as she stepped away. “Sorry for the mixed signals.”

Goofy grins felt a certain way when they formed. Too much stretching and a slight bashfulness which burned. That’s how Xelan felt. “I accept all of your signals.”

“Are you two returning to save the Vast Collective, or does Peaches need a minute?”

Tameka rolled her eyes at Tumu’s intrusion and blew the air from her cheeks. “Are you ready?”

Xelan held out the bend of his arm. “As I’ll ever be.”

They entered the kitchen/war room. Andrew and Kyle arrived at some point, preparing snacks for everyone.

Pehton and Caedes nodded to Tameka. Korac moved over to make room for her. Lamassau circled a finger at her ensemble and gave her a thumbs up.

Tameka’s smile was half-crooked, as if she spent all the energy she’d gathered to appear “okay” for them. She took the center of the room and searched the map. As was her way. “That’s Primary Rem’s sanctum, entry to the Pantheon. Razor’s map takes us to the heart of it for this specific conduit.” She tapped on it. “This is it. Enki’s most sacred ground is our battlefield.”

Korac looked over the area and asked, “What about the stacks?”

Lamassau circled a vacuous space around the conduit. “No stacks there for miles. It could work. We won’t meet any resistance there. It’s not guarded.”

Across the three-dimensional rendering, Caedes adjusted the map with an occasional glance over Tameka’s shoulder at Pehton, who muscled her tiny way in between all the giant males to say, “But there’s a reason this conduit isn’t guarded, right, Tumu?”

The past was still chasing Xelan. This conduit was the basis of so many nightmares.

Andrew and Kyle stopped messing with the replicator to listen to the Tritan’s explanation.

An explanation which started with a heavy sigh. “Torrentus.”

“Now you’re just making up words,” Korac accused, folding his arms with an unconvinced frown.

Despite himself, Xelan held back a chuckle and shook his head to hide his instinctive grin. That Icarus could always make him smile.

Lamassau clicked his tongue. “He’s got you there, Tumi. It’s a terrible name.”

A frown almost replaced Xelan’s smile. He actually quite liked the name.

Tameka pointed to the next location the extra special conduit led to. “Torrentus is there, and it’s a deterrent?”

“Peaches, do you remember when you first came to Enki, and Sagan pointed at a storm over a continent?”

Xelan certainly remembered when he brought the five Progeny to Enki.

“See that storm over there?”

Tameka, already overwhelmed without the aid of a nacre, groaned as if turning to look made her head spin. A big swirling mass of dark gray clouds spread across another oil painting of a continent. “That’s several thousand times larger than our whole planet.”

“Torrentus is the storm.” Tameka pieced it together.

Lamassau said, “And the conduit leads to it. It’s the only stable space there.

Pehton went into more detail. “Say Sagan Seamswalks us all into Primary Rem’s sanctum, and then we make our way to the center of the Pantheon. Anyone who goes into this conduit will never come back. None of the prisoners have, anyway.”

Andrew asked, “Prisoners? I thought they went to Gait.”

Xelan hid a wince and tried to think about anything else.

Tumu explained, “Not the bodies of research. Remorse wouldn’t let them out of the Dyson’s Sphere. Again, this is all conjecture based on—”

“Why do you feel the need to cover for them?” Tameka searched the Tritan’s voids when he looked down at her.

Xelan almost felt the need to intervene when Tumu answered, “There are so few of us left. They are my people. And I hate thinking one way about a person only to learn later they weren’t as bad as I thought.”

Like Gale. Like Korac. And maybe like Nox.

Kyle pointed a joint at the image and returned the conversation to the topic at hand. “So this map says the bridge is on the continent under Torrentus, and this storm, I assume, is always going?”

“It’s not simply a storm. It’s terraforming,” Lamassau said. “But it went wrong when…”

“When we sealed the Aegis inside Gait.” Tumu’s many sharp teeth gnashed together, and Xelan understood it.

Regret.

The Prince of Cinder stared at the screen and bit his thumbnail. Terraforming. Dangerous atmospheric instability, but operated somehow. “It’s a device?” He was already certain of the answer.

Tumu nodded.

Tameka got there before her lover did. She asked, “Does Torrentus have a power source?”

“That’s my girl.” Xelan grinned.