Page 33 of Scars & Starlight
“Avaris to Tara,” he murmurs, making me choke on a laugh.
“Do you know what a mockingbird is, Kai?” I ask with a playful tone, then watch as his eyes flash. A bemused expression barely crosses his face when I continue: “Will I be able to talk to my nanites? What do they sound like? What kind of things can they do?”
“Canary,” he calls me, and I playfully punch his arm, then promptly shake it out when that hurts.
“Fuck, you’re hard,” I complain.
We both freeze and look at each other. My lower belly tightens when I see his nostrils flare in response to my words. Is he feeling what I’m feeling?
TARGET EXPERIENCING ELEVATED CARDIORESPIRATORY ACTIVITY. VASODILATION DETECTED IN FACIAL AND GENITAL REGIONS. NEUROCHEMICAL SIGNATURES CONSISTENT WITH SEXUAL AROUSAL.
“Holy hell!” I exclaim. “It’s like hearing voices without a sound.”
Kairen raises an eyebrow sardonically. “Are they talking to you?”
“Sure are,” I reply, still awed. Then I look at his crotch, where his cargo pants tent. “Very specifically.”
He snaps his fingers under my nose, then waits for me to look up. “They only give you the information you ask for, my princess,” he purrs, examining his perfect cuticles. I look at my torn ones, then ball my fists. Can’t my nanites heal that?
DIVERTING MENDING EFFORTS FROM CRANIUM TO UPPER EXTREMITIES.
“Argh!” I grab my now-throbbing head. My heartbeat echoes in my brainpan.
“Relax,” Kai murmurs, grabbing my shoulders with his long, elegant fingers. His eyes flash red, but it doesn’t frighten me at all. “I’ve overridden the medical protocols. They will ask for my confirmation before proceeding until you’re comfortable with them.”
I wrap my arms around his waist and rest my forehead against his chest. “You’re a walking blessing, Kairen Veyrath.”
I feel his chin settle atop my head. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”
I chuckle self-deprecatingly. I’ll let him live with his illusions.
“Are you too tired to learn how to utilize the exoskeleton armor, Princess?” he asks with a stirring of breath against my hair.
“If I say yes, can we stay like this?” I ask him with a hopeful note in my voice.
His shoulders shake with soundless laughter. “I’d hold you like this until we both return to stardust, but I would prefer to not worry about your safety for a moment longer than necessary.”
I make a cooing sound. This alien is the embodiment of a green flag.
“Alright,” I say with resolve, extricate myself from his embrace, and straighten my back. “How do I turn the exoskeleton on?”
I barely finish speaking when a tingling sensation travels through my body, starting at my neck and moving down to my feet.Jumping up, I twirl and look at myself from every angle, then run to the mirror on the dresser.
The armor is a pearlescent white, the pale imitation of his, broken by neon purple lines. But that’s not the freakiest part. I touch the side of my face, admiring the flickering line on my cheek.
“Your neural filaments are as beautiful as you are,” Kai says from behind me. I didn’t even notice him joining me at the mirror, but I now lock my eyes with his. We look good together. We look like we belong.
“What are they?” I ask in awe, turning my face this way and that to catch all the angles.
“A physical manifestation of the nanites,” he explains. “The more nanites you host, the more numerous the filaments. Adult Avaren have them over most of our bodies, depending on the occupation and station.”
When he places his hands on my shoulders, I instinctively step back until I’m pressed against him. He rests his hands on my lower stomach, making the muscles there clench, then ever-so-slowly glides them up, stopping right under my breasts, accentuated by the skin-tight armor. I wiggle against him, urging him on, my lower back brushing against his groin.
Rather than escalating the tension between us, Kai takes a step to the side and turns me around. “Look at your palms,” he instructs, his voice showing how affected he is by the sparks flying between us, reassuring me that it’s not all in my head.
I do as he says and admire the larger ports with the muted purple light in their center.
“Is this how you killed the Ghorvek the day we met?” I ask him. I remember the prince hovering behind our enemy and making it drop like a sack of stones with one pulse from his hands.
