Page 1 of The Build Up

ONE

ABBEY

I stand on the balcony,drinking in the stillness, luxuriating in the sensory tapestry that is Earth.

After being in space for so long, I almost forgot how it feels.

The cold, smooth concrete against my bare feet. The vastness of the star-sprinkled night sky rapidly deepening into perfect black.

The smell of petrichor carried on the warm breeze.

We’re back.

Everything’s okay now.

The disquiet is gone.

The constant niggling; that unpleasant fluttering in the pit of my belly—it’s disappeared.

It was the uncertainty, thenot-knowing, the feeling that there was some big unknown threat lurking out there.

It’s gone now.

Tarak dealt with it.

As usual, he didn’t tell me all the details, but I figured out what happened from snippets of conversation here and there. My friends are quite astute and observant, and Noa—who was directly involved in the whole operation—isn’t secretive like the Kordolians.

The newest addition to our tribe, a surprise telepath from this corner of the world called Jade, is no shrinking violet, either. A good match for the Silent One

Noa and Jade were more than happy to explain the chain of events.

The hostages. The apparently mad but not-what-he-seems prince—Xal’stwin brother.

An ancient Zor portal that could send a person back in time.

Thatone sent a chill through me when I learned of its existence.

I know enough about Kordolians to understand that some of them could have done some very bad things with it.

But being the pragmatic man that he is, Tarak had it destroyed.

“There should be no other possibilities. This is the only version of reality that I want,”he told me afterward. “This existence with you.”

Hecanbe terribly romantic sometimes, even when he’s deciding on the fate of the entire Universe.

Well, the portal’s gone now, and Tarak’s enemies have been defeated, thanks to the inside information he received from Amun Kazharan.

Tarak made Earth’s Federation cede to his terms.

He brought us back home.

The feeling of disquiet is gone, and it’s been replaced with something so good—kicking.

This one, this little offspring of Tarak and mine, is a kicker, more so than Ami ever was. It’s like Bub is doing kung-fu in my uterus.

Five months now.

Not long to go.

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