Page 11 of Stars in Umbra
Every last one of them, devastating in their way, and all of them, each damned one, partnered and settled down.
A swell of joyful exclamations rose from the gathering as the Rider family welcomed Sheba and Rina with smiles and kisses on the cheek.
The air was charged with the warmth of a long-awaited reunion.
‘Sheba, Rina! You both look stunning, like my wife, took you long enough,’ Kage bellowed with a wide grin, pulling them both into a bear hug.
Katya, Xion’s wife and now a good friend of both women, grinned as she kissed their cheeks. ‘Fokkfinally! This celebration was lacking its two most beautiful hellions.’
Kainan chimed in, his chimeric eyes flashing. ‘We were just about to send out a search party.’
‘We’re here now, aren’t we,kaka?’ Sheba retorted, laughing.
Selene embraced Rina. ‘Honey! So glad you could make it. We missed you last month at Harlow’s birthday party.’
‘I’da been there if your other half hadn’t sent me to Sartixia on a wild goose chase, girl,’ Rina replied, hugging her best friend tightly.
‘Someone has to stop him,’ Sheba added, grinning.
They mingled, chatting and laughing, giving Rina a chance to study the family she’d been welcomed into with affection.
Each pairing glowed with the obnoxious radiant affection that only came from an untamed shared passion and bone-deep devotion.
Kainan stood imposing, the SableKhanand Commander, his flame-colored eyes fixed on his wife, Selene, his presence hulking and formidable in a tailored Kwavi ceremonial robe lined with Sable insignia.
Selene, by contrast, was grace incarnate, her gown a spill of silver silk, her wild curls threaded with stardust and soft flowers.
Kage, bearded, scarred, devastatingly handsome, and ever the charmer, whispered sweet nothings to his winsome, lilac-haired Harlow.
She laughed and leaned into him, her eyes alight beneath a fall of her amethyst eyes and a veiled cap of gossamer fabric, her expression one of mischief.
Riv, silver-tressed, lean, lethal, and quiet as winter, rested a hand on the waist of his queen, K’Élisa, who wore her crown of wild, hued feathers that trailed her.
She, a Katánian Sovereign in her own right, stood regal, poised, and wrapped in a flowing cerulean gown lined with sacred crests from her homeland.
Zane was his formidable self, tall and contained, his Kwavi wedding suit dark and pristine.
His psionic energy simmered under the surface, with his cobalt eyes penetrating and all-seeing, softening only for Illana, the fierce redhead at his side, who was clad in a backless gold sheath gown.
Xion, sinister and devastating as always, was statuesque in black, his eyes fixed on his woman, Katya.
The lissome, ethereal beauty was almost too beautiful to be real, and held his complete attention, her face, tipped up to his, reverent and adoring.
Then there was Kisan.
The brooding, silent Rider scared most people off with his stern gaze. It only eased when it fell on his partner, Samira.
She stood beside him with the poise of a dancer and the fire of a warrior, draped in obsidian silks and adorned with silver chains that caught the firelight.
Together, the Riders and their partners were living legends, an awe-inspiring fusion of danger and devotion.
Their power and influence are as vast and undeniable as the star-strewn expanse of Pegasi itself.
However, it was their happiness that stirred a longing in Rina.
Though she was content being single most days, on this day she was lost in part wonder, and some yearning, and if she was honest, a sliver of envy.
Wanting what they had.
