Page 46 of Rescued By the Luxirian

“Right there,” I exclaimed, clapping in excitement when Gryor and Ren hoisted it up to just the correct height. “That’s perfect!”

The banner heralding our first market day and welcoming the vendors was officially hung, swaying in the gentle breeze between two lantern posts. The banner had been some of the childrens’ project and I couldn’t help but grin when I stood beneath it, seeing their little names scrawled out proudly in blue paint. Amongst the messy signatures, I saw my son’s own doodle, resembling more of a tornado than a name.

My heart ached. Sometimes I thought I loved him so much, I would simply combust with it, scattered into millions of little stardust pieces right there in the town square. Right there on the triangular pavers my husband had laid, one of the very first projects he’d done.

We expected the vendors to begin arriving within the next couple hours. Only a few to begin with for our first market day. Mr. Kee, my old boss on Wero, would be among them, bringing some of the best cloth and silks from the outer colonies. Serena had been especially excited about Mr. Kee’s visit because she’d been itching to make more clothing, not only for herself, but to sell to the residents. She was a talented seamstress, a human woman who’d come to live here last year from Neppon. She’d become one of my closest friends and it filled my heart with gratitude and relief that she’d found safety and happiness here. That had always been a goal for Ullima, one Droxan and Italked about, especially given my own experiences on the outer colonies as a single female.

We wanted to be a safe place. A welcoming place. We wanted to establish community here, where we would help one another, not turn our backs.

And I thought, with immense pride, that so far we had accomplished that goal. Not one of our residents had left yet, even after a particularly bad stormy season last year. The most conflict we’d had thus far was Mrs. Smyth wanting to expand her general store for more goods but Droxan had denied her until we could get the second village built.

“How are you even functioning right now?” Serena asked as she approached me, yawning. “Did you get any sleep after our baking session last night? I dreamed of flour, I swear.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” I told her. “I’m just too excited.”

“You and market days,” she laughed. “I don’t understand the appeal. All the noise and hawking wares. Haggling gives me hives.”

When she peeked up at the sky expectantly, where the vendor ships would begin to descend once they entered Ullima’s atmosphere, I teased, “Mr. Kee isn’t here yet.”

“And you’re sure he’s bringing the cloth?”

“Positive,” I assured her, reaching out to squeeze her arm. “Though you might have to haggle with him.”

She mock-shuddered. “Maybe I can talk Jirov into haggling with him for me. That male loves a good deal.”

“And where is your boyfriend this hour?” I asked, raising a knowing brow.

Serena’s cheeks went pink. “Still sleeping. Don’t call him that. We’re just…having fun.”

“Of course.”

Jirov was one of Droxan’s friends from Luxiria, one of the builders he’d hired on in Ullima’s early days. One who’d neverleft and one who’d been making moon eyes at my friend since she first landed here. I was happy for them, though Serena was wary given her past relationships. She was holding Jirov at a distance for now…but I knew how much my friend cared for him. And I knew how patient Jirov would continue to be for her, until she was ready.

“Anyways, let me know the moment Mr. Kee lands. I want first dibs,” Serena told me, winking. She squeezed my hand. “I’ll be with Mrs. Smyth if you need me. I promised her I would help her organize her new shipment that just came in.”

I waved her off, watching her make her way towards the stretch of buildings that lined the south of the square. One was Mrs. Smyth’s general store. Another was a tavern, which Ty’o ran. The last building was still under construction but would one day be a tailor shop, just as soon as Droxan could source the particular kind of material he wanted for the flooring.

Not seen from the square, that made up the rest of Ullima’s budding town, was a school at the north end, a healing bay—we were lucky to have not one but two doctors living at the colony currently—and also Droxan’s offices, which was also where our collective council would meet every week.

There was still much building and growing that we would do in the coming years, but I thought we’d done an amazing job in the time we’d had.

The square was surprisingly busy for this early in the morning and I looked over towards the group of children playing around the fountain at the very center, their delighted shrieks filling the air. Among them, I spied Maxon, splashing his little hands in the water and I felt a familiar tightening in my throat, my love for him a continuous well.

But I blamed the tears at the sight of my son on my pregnancy hormones that particular morning, especially when I saw my mate appear from the northern end of the town, comingfrom the direction of the newest construction site, and swoop up behind his son.

I watched my husband pepper kisses to Maxon’s cheeks, the little boy squealing his delight and surprise. Maxon looked exactly like his father. Shimmering skin that changed with the light, casting him golden in the mornings, and a shadowy blue in the evenings as he slept. Budding black horns that curled around his head, the bone smooth. Black, shining hair that he liked to keep short because he started fussing when it tickled the back of his neck.

But he got my eyes. Hazel eyes that had left my mate shimmery eyed when he’d first seen our son open them.

Now, as I pressed my hand to our growing child—a child that we had just learned about after I went to the healing bay for nausea last week—I was struck by how lucky I had been. I must be blessed by all the gods and goddesses in the universe to have deserved this life. It was everything I had ever wanted and more. Much, much more.

Droxan whispered something in our son’s ear and I watched him beam up at his father, swinging a finger over in my direction.

I cocked my head to the side as Droxan met my eyes and my belly fluttered when I saw the slow stretch of his grin. After all this time, he could still make me feel that way.

He let our son down, who came running to me. Luxirian children—I’d learned—started running after a year. Maxon could talk, climb, and run better than a human five year old…and he wasn’t even officially two until next week.

“Mama,” he said, wrapping his arms around my legs. He was much too heavy for me to carry easily anymore and Droxan didn’t want me trying, especially now that we got confirmation of the pregnancy.

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