Page 185 of Stars in Umbra
It was deep, fierce, and unapologetic.
The world narrowed to the feel of his lips, the strength of his shoulders, the heat of him, the truth of him.
When they finally pulled apart, breathless and tangled, she rested her forehead against his. ‘What did you do today, honey? I thought we were taking a few days off.’
He cupped her face with both hands, his gaze heavy with meaning.
‘I stood before the Riders and the Elders of Eden II,’ he grunted, voice hushed but intense. ‘I told them everything. Every mission and hit. All the sins I committed. I confessed it all.’
She froze, stunned.
‘I asked for punishment,’ he added. ‘I demanded it. Not because I wanted atonement for myself, but because I refuse to let our child grow up in my shadow. I craved to make us clean, Rina. No more secrets. No more ghosts at our door.’
Her lips parted, the magnitude of what he’d done sinking in. He’d laid himself bare, faced judgment. For her. For their unborn baby.
‘What happened?’
‘They gave me absolution. They ruled that I suffered enough and didn’t need any further punishment.’
‘I could have told you that,’ she chided him even as she kissed his cheek. ‘I’m so happy to hear my love. Does this mean you can now live guilt-free?’
‘It does.’
She pressed her hands to his chest, where the gleam of his Sacran glyphs pulsed all over him like living constellations. Her own belly responded, a ripple of warmth beneath the surface of her navel.
She glanced down.
A shimmer, soft and luminescent, a golden glow, just below her skin, cast light through the thin fabric of her top. The glow of an ancient and divine, inherited power stirred.
Mo whistled under his breath. ‘Fokkme.’
‘Don’t swear, honey, not near the baby.’
‘Fokkoff,’ he growled. ‘Don’t you know it’s an indication of freakin’ intelligence to cuss? Likewise, a sign of passion?’
She laughed as he dropped to his knees, pressing a kiss to her belly, arms encircling her hips.
‘You are passionate, I’ll give you that, beloved. You’re also everything,’ she whispered into the crown of his head. ‘To me. To us. For now and eternity.’
He rose, cupping her face again as their foreheads met once more. ‘Then I’ll spend my life making sure that truth remains sacred.’
They stood together in silence, bound by light, legacy, and the fierce promise of a shared future.
31
Powers and Principalities
RINA
To escape the relentless pressure of the past weeks and the suffocating heat of Eden City, Mo took Rina to his second home on Eden II.
The sleek ship cut through the upper atmosphere in a silken dive toward the peaks of the J’Urg M’hor mountains, as stars blurred into soft streaks of silver behind them.
Below, the jagged, infamous spine of the lunar summit rose from the encroaching darkness, its snow-veined ridges catching threads of pale starlight.
Mid-flight, Mo placed the corvette on autopilot and reached for Rina, putting her on his lap.
She stroked his beard and hair as she nestled in. ‘I’m looking forward to seeing where you escape to time, honey.’
