Page 138 of Saved By the Alien Hybrid
When Cordelia dropped his hand, he thought she had seen Ven’s reaction, that she agreed with his disappointment, but he realized she was clapping as well, beaming up at him with tears in her eyes.
Yelir stepped out of the throng, then, and Rentir braced for the aspersions the miner would doubtless cast on him. Instead, he brought all four hands together and joined the others in applauding, his face somber. He stepped forward as someone behind him whooped, sparking a chorus of similar cries. One of his big, red hands clapped behind Rentir’s neck, dragging him forward.
“This is a momentous day,” Yelir called in his booming voice, and the crowd fell quiet to listen. “For today marks the liberation of Yulaira!”
Cheers roared, echoing off the walls.
“Today, we are hybrids no longer,” he continued, releasing Rentir. “Today, as we start our lives as a new people, we take a new name!”
More cheering, a dull roar.
“Today, we are the Lidaron!”
The cheering grew deafening. Despite everything, a smile tugged at Rentir’s lips even as tears pricked in his eyes. Cordelia pressed into his side, frowning up at him as Yelir was reabsorbed by the crowd.
“What does that mean—Lidaron?”
“The people of hope,” he said, and then he cupped the back of her head and kissed her hard, drowning himself in the proof of just how right that name was.
Nyx sidled up to him along the fringes of the crowd, darting sidelong glances over the rim of her glass. “So…”
He blinked down at her in confusion.
“I’m thinking we start a club, right?” She tapped her prosthetic against his boot pointedly.
“A… club?”
Cordelia returned with drinks, shouldering her way between them as she handed a glass off to Rentir. “Ease up on the man, alright? He’s just had a near death experience.”
“I was extending an olive branch!” Nyx declared with indignation. “Renny and I are starting a club for people injured in the line of duty.” She suddenly scrunched up her nose. “Eugh, we’ll have to let Yelir in, won’t we? No, that’s no good. I’ll workshop it.”
Eunha strolled over, stirring a stick in her drink. “These alien margs are the shit.” She licked at the rim of her glass. She’d encrusted it in a thick film of salt, much to the hybrids’ horror. “We should crash more ships. Maybe the next one will have some little umbrellas.”
Nyx guffawed. Rentir shared a look of confusion with Cordelia, but she only rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“She means she likes the booze they pilfered from theGidalan.”
“Hell yeah,” Eunha said, raising her drink in what the humans called a toast.
Nyx clinked their glasses together, then drained hers with alarming speed. “’Nother one,” she muttered, trailing off toward the table where Seren was filling glasses with the Aurillon’s stores.
Sophia trailed over, worrying the rim of her glass with her finger. She hugged Cordelia with one arm and then smiled wanly up at him.
“Hi, Ren,” she said, patting him on his arm. “How are you holding up?”
He shrugged with the shoulder that still moved at his will. “I am here with the great love of my life, celebrating the freedom of my brothers. I cannot think of a complaint.”
Her smile broadened, and she nodded. “That’s what I like to hear.” Her eyes dropped to her glass for a moment. “I, um. I wanted to say that I was sorry about Thalen.” She looked up at him, and her eyes were swimming with unshed tears. “He seemed like a really good man. I only got to talk to him a couple times before he… but I could tell that he was remarkable.”
Did she know that he’d begun to bond to her? He could not tell, and it did not feel right that he should be the one to bring it up.
“Thank you,” he said instead, smiling sadly. “He was that and much more.”
“I wanted to extend my sympathies to Ven, but…” She glanced over the crowded room.
“He left. I believe it was too painful.”
She sighed. “Of course. Well. That’s enough of that for one evening. I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it.”
