Page 191 of Stars in Umbra
However, for now, he had a woman to love and care for.
Rina stirred in his bed, a sleepy hand reaching out for him.
Mo shoved his problems aside and crawled back beside her, pulling her into his arms.
For this one night, the world could wait.
He would hold and protect her, and pretend that no devious god had any claim on his life.
The next morning, the storm passed, leaving the cliffside home washed clean and bathed in sunlight.
Mo and Rina sat in the glass-roofed atrium, their hands joined over the gentle curve of her belly, sipping mugs of steaming tea.
The anger from his encounter with Sulfiqar was a roiling knot in his stomach.
However, he had to share the burden, for that was what he and Rina affirmed to each other.
Still, he plastered on a calm expression, listening to her divulge the news that her Brigadier stripes would be awarded in six months.
She shared that she’d accepted a co-shared role with a new hire, Colonel Farian Gray.
He stroked her jaw. ‘Congratulations, my love.’
She kissed his palm. ‘This arrangement might reduce my time away but still allow me to achieve my desired ascendance within the military corps.’
‘I’m so proud of you,’ he rumbled.
‘As I am of you, my beloved. It makes me so happy you’re remaining as Chief of Security for the Riders, so thankful for their understanding of your fraught journey.’
He brooded, his frame vibrating with subtle tension, despite her words.
Rina stopped talking. ‘Honey, are you alright?’ she asked, her thumb tracing a reassuring circle on the back of his hand. ‘You seem quiet this morning, soldier.’
Mo’s composure cracked.
He pulled his hand from hers and ran it through his hair, a gesture of deep frustration. ‘I need to tell you something,mi kaya,’ he began, his rasp weary and heavy. ‘Last night, during the storm, while you slept, my father, Sulfiqar, came to me.’
He glanced at Rina’s face, bracing for her reaction.
Her expression was a canvas of appalled. ‘He freakin’ what?’ How?’
In a rumbling bass, he explained the impossible encounter, the divine ultimatum, and the chilling revelation about Thrall and his father’s connection.
He also touched on Simi’Ren, the brother he had never met, and the impending celestial clash Sulfiqar wanted them to undertake.
He relayed his sire’s parting threat with a shudder, ‘He told me not to let any harm come to my ‘precious family.’’
Rina listened in stunned silence, her hand moving to her belly.
When he finished, she reached for his hand again, her grip firm. ‘He’s a fool if he thinks we’ll fall for his manipulation. He’s a monster, Mo.’
‘I know,’ he rasped, pushing a hand through his hair. ‘Itfokkin’ sucks that he’s trying to strong-arm me into a war I want no part of. We have a ‘no secrets’ pact, and this is a burden I couldn’t keep from you, since it involves us.’
Rina’s moved her hand so her palm lay flat against his chest, steady as his heart thundered beneath it.
Her eyes burned with that soldier’s clarity she carried into every battle, but softer now, because this one was for him.
Rina’s tone was crisp, a commander dissecting strategy.
