Page 97 of Fallen from the Stars

“Jace!” the girl cried, her tentacles thrashing as she fought to dislodge the boy.

Theo glanced up at Vasil to find him looking at Melaina. His expression was too confused to be readable, but she could hear the whisper of his tentacles restlessly flicking over the grass.

“She looks like you,” Theo said.

“I…see more of her mother in her,” he replied softly.

Theo couldn’t help the stab of jealousy his words provoked. It was a reminder that he’d touched another woman, had made love to her. That he’d created a life, a child, with someone else. He’d told Theo it had been duty and not desire, but she still didn’t want to think of him being with anyone else.

She quickly pushed those thoughts aside. His relationship with Melaina’s mother was in the past, and that was where it belonged. Just like Theo’s time with other men was part of her past.

Melaina, though…she washere, part of Vasil’s present. Part of his future. And Theo would do everything she could to support him in that, to accept Melaina as part of her own little family.

They watched as Melaina approached the two younglings and, with some difficulty, broke them apart, before leading them back to the house from which she’d come. Once they were inside, Theo and Vasil continued along the path to their own dwelling.

Vasil entered ahead of Theo and moved aside to allow her through. As he closed the door behind her, she ran her gaze over the place again; it looked different with the evening light streaming in through the back windows than it had in the morning. The light made the place seem almost…magical.

Everything but the bathroom was contained in the single main room — a large bed rested in one corner, a table and chair stood in front of one of the sea-facing windows, and the cabinets, fireplace, and kitchen were in the corner to the immediate right of the entrance. An armoire and a storage chest rounded out the furniture.

It was small and simple.

It was perfect.

Everything was hand-made, displaying all the little faults that automated manufacturing had eliminated in the rest of the galaxy, and it granted the whole place an undeniable charm and character she’d loved from the first moment she’d stepped inside. Theo’s life had been filled with bland, machine-constructed components — precise angles and maximum practicality even when constructed of the cheapest possible materials. Even the apartment building she’d lived in as a child had possessed that cold, inhuman aesthetic.

But this place feltalive.

Theo walked across the room, turned, and fell backward onto the bed. She sank into the soft covers and mattress with a groan. Though she was eager to take off the diving suit she’d been wearing all day, all she needed right now was to lie there unmoving — to enjoy some blessed stillness.

“Are you hungry?” Vasil asked.

“I’m practically withering away. My stomach is eating itself right now.” Though Theo didn’t lift her head to look at Vasil, she sensed his frown from across the room.

“Should I send for Aymee or her father to examine you? Or…is that another humanexpression?”

Theo chuckled. “An expression. Yes, I’m starving.”

She turned her head to watch him as he moved into the kitchen. She smiled, letting her gaze roam over his broad shoulders, trek down his strong, muscled back, and settle on the curve of his spine, where his upper body met his faintly-darker lower half. The play of his muscles as he moved was exquisite. When she looked up at his face again, her smile faded.

His eyes were focused, but he appeared…distracted. There was a furrow in his brow, and the corners of his lips were downturned. Though he appeared calm, his tentacles curled and slid restlessly across the floor.

Theo pushed herself up on her elbows. “Vasil? What’s wrong?”

He stilled his hand, in which he held a piece of winefruit. Frown deepening, he set the fruit down on the tray of feed he’d been preparing and turned his face toward Theo. “What if she does not want me in her life?”

Melaina.

Theo’s heart hurt for him. It wasn’t like Vasil to doubt — the kraken she’d come to know always charged ahead with purpose, with confidence. This was a side of him she’d not really seen before now, and she could relate to it.

She slid off the bed and walked across the room, stopping in front of him to cup his face between her palms. “Why wouldn’t she?”

Vasil’s hands settled on her hips; his fingers were firm and strong, even if the uncertainty in his expression remained.

“Before me, I see a worthy male,” Theo said, staring up at him with love and pride in her eyes. “I see a man who wants nothing more than to connect with a daughter he’s never known. A man who is wonderful and kind, strong and protective. A man who would go to the ends of this world to fight for those he cares for.” She stood on her toes, tugged his face down, and kissed him. “She will love you, Vasil.”

He pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes as he pulled her close. Theo slipped her arms around his neck.

“We had all gathered on the beach the night Randall told me I was Melaina’s sire,” he said. “Everyone else went home, one by one, until only I remained. I wrestled with my thoughts deep into the night. I did not know what to do. And then a star streaked overhead…and I gave chase.

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