Page 100 of Silent Lucidity

There’d initially been some justified skepticism on Richard’s behalf, but he and Abella’s mother, Hannah, had been so supportive and accepting that Tenthil had barely been able to process it. He understood now that their acceptance had been so readily offered in large part because he’d brought home their daughter, their baby girl, after she’d been missing for four years. The local authorities had presumed Abella dead.

Tenthil would never have the words to express his appreciation for these people. He would never be able to tell them how much it meant to him to have a family—not only Abella, but a whole group of people who’d banded around him like a tribe.

Richard dried his hands, walked back to the counter, and leaned his hands atop it. He smiled at Tenthil.

Tenthil’s brow furrowed slightly. Richard was a man who seemed to put most people at ease—likely a valuable trait when he sometimes described his job ashead torturer—but conversation had never been Tenthil’s forte.

What had Abella’s advice been?

Ask people about themselves, but don’t press. Keep itcasual.

“How’s…the office?” Tenthil asked.

“Oh, same as always. They bring me broken teeth, I fix them,” Richard replied with a chuckle. “Think it’s almost time, though. Another year, maybe two, and I’m going to hang up my gloves and drill for good.”

Tenthil wasn’t sure how to reply; his experience with leaving his priorcareerhad been somewhat complicated, and he had no desire to reflect upon it. “Sandwich was good.”

“You don’t have to stand around and make small talk with me, Tenthil. Abella’s out back with the kids. Go on.” Richard waved Tenthil toward the back door, his smile never faltering.

Tenthil readily accepted the offered escape route; he walked around the counter, crossed the kitchen, and pressed the button beside the glass door on the rear wall. The door slid open silently, granting him another taste of the fresh air.

He stepped out onto the porch. There was something satisfying about the sound of boots on wood that he’d never experienced with Arthos’s concrete and tristeel, something primal.

For a moment, he looked out over the field behind the dwelling and watched the long grass sway in the breeze, watched the green-leafed trees beyond. This wasn’t his home planet, but this was his home. The place he and Abella had chosentogether.

Abella and Hannah stood on the trimmed grass with their backs to Tenthil as Abella posed and demonstrated a few dance steps to their five-year-old daughter, Zena, as Lucian, their two-year-old son, leapt up with a little growl to chase a passing butterfly.

Tenthil walked down the steps to the grass as Zena mimicked Abella’s dance moves. Though the girl lacked her mother’s precision and discipline, she had natural grace and agility—neither of which saved her when her brother, gaze fixed on the butterfly overhead, ran into her back.

The children tumbled to the ground.

“You ruined it, Luca!” Zena whined.

Lucian rolled over and sat up. He looked at his sister questioningly, and then shifted his attention to the escaping butterfly; he let out a distressed whine.

Hannah and Abella laughed.

Zena turned to her mother, sticking out her lower lip in a pout. “Mommy! He messed me up.”

Abella covered her mouth to stifle her laughter as she walked to Lucian. She knelt and picked the youngling up. “It was an accident, Zena. But you were doing so well!”

Lucian wrapped his arms around Abella’s neck and lifted his silver eyes to meet Tenthil’s. “Daddy!”

Tenthil closed the distance between himself and his family, smiling. He extended an arm and ruffled Lucian’s black hair.

“Daddy! Daddy! Did you see me?” Zena asked as she ran toward him. “Did you see me dance like Mommy?”

He crouched and caught Zena in a hug as she leapt at him, smoothing back her silver hair. “I saw, little one.”

Abella stood and turned toward Tenthil, smiling softly. “You’re home early.”

Still holding Zena, Tenthil rose and met his mate’s gaze, returning the smile. He shifted his daughter to the side, leaned forward, and kissed Abella. “Not early enough.”

Desire sparked in Abella’s eyes as Tenthil straightened, subtly altering the tone of her smile.

Zena giggled. “Daddy kissed Mommy!”

Hannah laughed. “That’s because your daddy loves your mommy very much.” She placed a hand on Tenthil’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. She was a slender woman, a little shorter than her daughter, and had clearly passed her physical grace to Abella. “It’s nice to see you, Tenthil.”

---