Page 27 of Stealing Samantha

He didn’t miss a beat. He moved as if he’d always known the notes, as if the melody was as familiar as anything else that she’d played. It wasn’t until he took that last swooping dive that she felt the stirring of the crowd behind them. She held the final note through his landing. Before she could even lower her flute, he was there at her side, one strong arm slipping around her waist to pull her close. Their bodies turned together, the movement slow and sensuous. He had her half off her feet again, ready to fall whenever he willed it.

They held the pose just a count too long to continue. The audience was already clapping loudly, chasing away the echoes of her song. Jaess lowered her back to her feet, his hands firm and steady over her hips. There was a moment when they both could have stopped to face the crowd and bow. When Jaess lowered his face to brush her lips instead, she didn’t even think of turning away.

She could still feel the warmth of their shared breath as they stepped back to take their places for the curtain call. Sam floated on a pleasurable haze that not even Lithi’s most intimidating glare could penetrate. The woman wouldn’t send Jaess away early. Not when he was the poster boy for the troupe.

When they finally stepped into their hotel room that evening, she promised herself she’d say something. Jaess was giving her a sated, pleased smile as he beckoned her over to the bed. Sam knew she should resist, but her legs were already moving, taking her exactly where she wanted to go. She settled over his lap, her knees balanced on either side of his hips as she took his face in her hands.

“What do you want, Jaess?” she asked.

He rubbed his cheek against her shoulder, turning his head to place a kiss in the same spot. “Sam,” he breathed against her skin, before he kissed his way up her neck. “K’lallsa.” Another kiss, softer than the others, against her mouth, stealing the words she’d meant to speak next. “Everything” he said. “I want everything.”

16

Jaess had knownwhat she’d been asking that first night in Bogotá when she’d flouted Lithi’s rules and played for him, ignoring their audience entirely. He just didn’t want to give her an answer. So few days were left to them as it was, and the truth would tear them apart just as surely as the ship that would take him home to Xithilene. If it had to end, he would enjoy every day with her.

So when she pressed her supple lips into that firm, thin line, or she blinked up at him, worry spilling from her lush, dark eyes, Jaess kissed her before she could speak, stealing away the words that would surely come. Once she said them aloud, he would have to answer, and he would never lie to her.

Such cowardly methods worked through the rest of their performances in Bogotá. Now they were disembarking in a new region, the birthplace of the people who had produced their Lady. They had taken a different type of air transport designed for landing and ascending in small spaces. It was too small to hold them all, so half of their group would arrive after them in a second craft and follow with their own guide. The machine’s engine was horribly loud, but the land below had still beckoned to him over the noise. Although he would never regret seeing the wonders of Earth, in general he didn’t crave exploration in the same way as Sam. This place—this place was different.

The jungle below didn’t look like home. The canopy was a dense, rich green, but when they passed patches of developed land, he could tell the trees weren’t as tall as those in the Lisseethi forests. Still, there was something about it that was an echo of the home he’d left behind. When the door to their craft opened and their guide motioned for them to step outside, he was able to articulate it more clearly.

Their arrival had stirred up the creatures of the forest, and their chirps and calls were a welcome, joyful noise. It was like the constant hum of his own territory, that unceasing song of life, only it played in a different key. He walked forward, not waiting for the human guide, his brethren, or even Sam herself. He breathed deeply of the thick, fragrant air that carried a familiar heat. He stood beneath an alien sun, but for this brief moment, it felt like his own, and he ached. A place so akin to home, yet not—it drew tears from his eyes despite himself.

Sam’s graceful hand slid over his arm, and he glanced at her guiltily. How easily could she read his face? Jaess had no talent for deception; he’d never cultivated that skill.

“What do you think?” she asked quietly, her gaze roving over the forest around their clearing. She’d half rotated back towards the group when she let out a little gasp.

“What is it?” he asked, turning quickly to discover what she’d seen.

She smiled as she pointed to a small group of birds roosting in a nearby tree. One had spread its tail, and it fanned out beautifully, rather like his own crown feathers in full display. Jaess admired the shimmering teal and green feathers covering the creature’s body. The spread tail was dull in comparison, gray but for the eye markings of deep blue and burnt orange. So he shared markings with the small animal, too, he thought as he extended a wing in kinship, displaying his own round eyed markings of deeper gold. The birds flapped their small wings and fled.

Sam took his arm again, curling into him until she was pressed against his side as she laughed into his chest. “You scared them.”

“I didn’t intend to,” he replied, still watching the spot where the birds had vanished into the forest.

“We should join the others,” she urged, pulling him forward to where the rest of the dancers waited. Looking ahead, it was hard to imagine that the massive ruins they’d seen from above lay only a short hike away. He wouldn’t have guessed the tree lined path before them led to such structures if he hadn’t seen it for himself.

“Welcome to El Mirador,” said the human male assigned to guide them to the site. “You revere the Lady and her culture, but what you’ll see today was built hundreds of years before her city, well before your people ever found Earth.”

Jaess inclined his head respectfully towards the man. He understood the implied rebuke. The humans had achieved their rich cultures long before the Xithilene—that was what the man meant. The Xithilene might claim the Lady as their goddess, but she and her people had belonged to Earth first. As much as he loved his own people, he couldn’t argue against it. The Xithilene had valued tech, had honed their spacecrafts until they’d been able to travel far beyond the bounds of their own solar system, but there had never been enough of them to create the type of monumental architecture that humans had left all over their planet. The very bones of the land weren’t soaked with the remnants of their lost languages. Maybe their peoples were more different than he wanted to admit.

Jaess took Sam’s hand as they began to hike. It felt strange to stay on the ground this way. He wondered if the others felt it as he did. If he were home, he’d already be among the trees leaving this hard path far below.

He couldn’t help his excitement. The sight of each new Earthan animal made his wing feathers vibrate with delight. As they walked deeper into the forest, he noticed Sam kept glancing at him strangely, and there was a slight trembling to her pretty lips as she tried over and over to fix them into a smile and failed.

“What’s wrong?” he finally asked.

“Nothing.” She stole another furtive look at him before she shook her head. “No. That’s not true.” She tugged his hand and pulled him towards the side of the path so that the others could pass. Then she took a deep breath before she lifted her head and met his eyes. “You miss it, don’t you? No, stop,” she said, placing her free hand between them, “of course you do. I know you miss home.”

“Yes, Sam. I do miss it. Do you feel it too, then?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“This place—it feels like home, or a different version of it, at least. It’s like enough that I can’t pretend anymore how much I want to see my own forest again.”

Sam’s eyes widened as she took a sharp little breath, just as if he’d slid a dagger beneath her ribs. “You want to go back, don’t you?” she whispered.

He’d known he would need to give her the truth. He’d thought he would’ve had just a little bit longer.

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