Page 51 of Scars & Starlight
I chew on my thumbnail. “Do you mean it?”
Do I mean that I almost shot them down?
“No…” I hesitate, gathering my courage. “Do you mean it when you call me your love?” Silence on the other side. Did I put my foot in my mouth again? “Kai?”
Must I answer that question while I’m attempting to obliterate a hostile vessel intent on killing us all, or may I do it when I’m looking into your beautiful brown eyes?
For a moment, I forget we’re in the middle of a shootout. I scuff my boots against the floor like a teenager with a crush, wringingout my hands. I nearly jump out of my skin when the shaft in the floor opens up and Kiko pops out of it.
“The couplings are fixed,” he says proudly.
“Good job, sweetie,” I praise him. “Kairen went to man a turret since he wasn’t happy with the automated systems.”
Kiko spins in a circle. “Did you know that a fighter vessel such as this has its weakest points where turrets are attached to the rest of the hull?”
I close my eyes and tilt my head back. “No, I did not know that.”
The familiar scent of icy blueberries envelops me as Kai hugs me from behind. I didn’t even notice the silence or hear him descend back to the cockpit.
“They can’t exploit any weak points if I kill them all first,” he murmurs, sounding almost as cocky as Kiko did a moment ago.
“That’s my space hunk,” I croon, reaching up to awkwardly wrap my arms around him.
He kisses the side of my neck before whispering into my ear. “As much as I’d love to take you from behind again, the people living here are expecting us.”
I groan. “Hopefully, they’re still there to expect us. What if these Ghorvek didn’t encounter us first? What if they dealt with our future allies again?”
“Then we will help the survivors rebuild,” he assures me. “The Ghorvek are clearly scared, and they should be. We will win this war and drive them off, return your planet to its people.”
I turn around and kiss him, despite having somewhere to be and having the audience of an inquisitive little robot.
Sighing happily, I look up at my malien. “You’re the best thing since sliced bread, Kairen Veyrath.” I tilt my head. “Though I don’t even like sliced bread, that’s just a human saying. It just dries up so fast, you know? There’s nothing like freshly cut–”
The best way to get me to stop rambling? The prince of Avaris’ lips.
26
KAIREN
Over the next moonfall – or approximately two human weeks, according to Tara – we visited the leaders of the continents known as Asia, Australia, and Africa, finishing in South America. We had several more encounters with the Ghorvek, increasingly so over time, and found that more potential allies had met grim fates. Still, not all was lost, and we established several footholds with the various surviving human militaries. I distributed my command team among them, finally leaving only Caden aboard the Sovereign, in sole command – much to his disgruntlement.
“Kai,” he whines over the comms. “It’s been two moonfalls and I still haven’t met any human females. How can you do this to me?”
I roll my eyes at my cousin and childhood friend, the only one – besides Tara and my immediate family – I allow myself to be less dignified with. “It will still be a couple of cycles before we get all the potential matches indexed, Cade,” I say dryly.
His affect changes immediately, a twinkle appearing in his eyes. “Perhaps I’ll find my match the natural way, like you did.”
“I would be very happy for you, my friend, but this might have been some miracle from the universe.” I shake my head. “What arethe odds that we happened to see a Ghorvek destroyer attack a human base, and she was out there, fighting for the children instead of hiding inside?”
“Astronomical,” my cousin jokes with a smirk.
“Precisely,” I agree. I rest my gaze on the waves gently hitting the white-sands beach. Tara and I are staying in what the locals here call a cabana. We saw many beautiful places together during these rotations, but I must admit to being partial to this continent, especially after lastlight.
“You seem happy, Kai,” Caden murmurs, an ocean of warmth in his voice.
I glance back at Tara, sleeping peacefully in the white-canopy bed. I’m always proud when I sate my female into a dreamless sleep.
“I am, Cade,” I admit to my cousin, my voice husky from emotions tightening my throat. “I never believed such happiness would find me.”
