Page 56 of Stars in Halo

‘Aren’t you?’ he levelled with her.

‘Perhaps. What sort are you looking for?’

Katya’s question hung in the air, lingering between them like a delicate thread waiting to be pulled.

He cocked his head at her, lost in thought for a beat. ‘Something, someone real,’ Xion rasped, his attention fixed on the horizon beyond the window. The early morning light cast a soft glow on his features, highlighting the jade glow in his eyes. Katya studied him, her thoughts swirling with a mix of emotions.

Xion’s gaze was intense as he met her eyes. A flicker of vulnerability crossed his visage before he spoke, his rasp filled with raw honesty.

‘I’m looking for the bona fide thing,’ he continued, his utterance measured yet laced with emotion. ‘In a universe where facades and masks are the norm, I crave something legit, something genuine. Someone who discerns past the surface and understands me for who I am, not just what I appear to be.’

As the words hung between them, a sense of introspection settled over the room. It was as if they were both on the precipice of something profound that had the potential to change their lives irrevocably.

Katya listened with intent, her eyes reflecting a mixture of compassion and understanding. She reached out to brush a lock of hair away from his face, her touch comforting yet tinged with a silent plea for connection.

‘I understand,’ she whispered. ‘I want that too, Xion. To peel back the layers and reveal our true selves without fear or reservation. In a world where everything is just a facade, finding something real can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack.’

‘I’ll tell you what’s real,’ she added. ‘The love of children. It’s so pure.’

The way she said it sent Xion’s heart lurching.

He jolted. ‘You? Kids? Got some?’

She hesitated, then reached for her wrist comm.

She gave him a tentative look, then bit her lip. Flicking on a holo screen.

‘Can I trust you?’ she asked.

The question hung in the air between them. Katya’s eyes held a challenge and a vulnerability.

Xion nodded, overcome with an intense longing to know everything about her, all of her secrets.

Katya flicked to a series of image files on her wrist comm, the holographic projection shimmering with children’s smiling faces.

In some stills, they were all over Katya, and her face was wreathed with such happiness that it was clear her love for them ran deep.

Xion’s breath caught in his throat as he gazed at them.

His mind raced with a million questions, hit with a profound desire to journey through Katya’s mind.

‘They’re your children?’ he asked, his voice filled with awe.

‘Naam,’ she breathed. ‘They’re my adopted kids and my world.’

Katya’s eyes misted as she studied a single image of a little girl with dark, bouncy curls and gleaming blue eyes.

‘Where are they?’

That’s when Katya’s face blanched.

Xion lifted a brow as her armour crumbled, revealing the raw vulnerability she’d concealed with care for so long.

He’d seen a sadness lurk in her eyes before, but not like this, so steeped in pain and regret.

‘What’s happened to them?’ he asked with gentle concern, reaching out to her.

Katya blinked away threatening tears, her voice shaky as she began to speak. ‘It’s complicated. I’m caught up in a nightmare, Xion, costing me everything. That continues to destroy my life and those of many around me.’

---