Page 48 of Unfinished

Veesha fell asleep tucked between them, her soft feathered head resting against Sienna’s waist. She’d put her arm over the girl’s shoulder, relieved when R’kash had glanced over with a small smile. She didn’t want to overstep, especially not when everything had been going so well.

The glider landed just as silently as it’d ascended. R’kash removed his hands from the control panel and set his palms on his lap. “You are just as patient, just as kind, as I’d expected from your messages. You’ve never said what faith you practice. Do your people believe in fate? That certain things are meant to occur because of the gods’ will?”

Sienna straightened in her seat, pressing her shoulder blades against the cushioned back as she considered his question. When she met his eyes, he was looking very earnest indeed, and she knew she needed to word her answer carefully.

“Humans practice many different religions, although there are a few primary ones across our planet. I’m not always certain what I believe, but do I think fate is real?” She let out a sigh as she paused. “Sometimes. I’m not sure we always recognize it. I don’t think it’s necessarily clear whether something is fate or simply what we hope is meant to be.”

R’kash’s gaze shifted to Veesha’s sleeping head as a faint smile teased his lips. “A wise answer, lady.” When he looked at her again, that intensity had faded from his expression, and his smile broadened. “Will you help me with Veesha? I don’t wish to wake her.”

“Of course,” she replied.

R’kash lifted her up and had Sienna hold Veesha in her arms. “I’ll come around to the side and lift her out,” he told her as he swung his legs over the side of the glider.

It took him only a moment to crouch down and pick her up from Sienna’s arms, but for those brief seconds beforehand, it’d felt good to hold her warm, restful body. Veesha would be so easy to love, and she knew she was already falling for her just as quickly as she had for R’kash. Sienna glanced up at the pale stone tower of Evathi, at the indistinct carvings coiling and crawling their way around the building. Brilliant salmon streaked pink flared bright behind the rooftop, bordered by smoky violet puffs of cloud. It was so beautiful it hurt to swallow.

“Do you need help, Sienna?” asked R’kash, brow pinched with worry, his feathers shifting restlessly.

“No, I’m fine, thanks. I’ll be right behind you.”

Sienna stood and stepped out of the glider. Then she followed them inside, listening to the soothing sway of grass and wind as she let herself dream, as she let her heart whisper that ever-hopefulmaybe.

21

After R’kash had putVeesha to bed and made sure Faseeth was there to watch over her chamber, the rest of the day passed in a rapid blur. He hardly tasted the food served at the evening meal. The others all ate with them except Veesha, who was still sleeping, but all he could focus on was her.Sienna.

Their afternoon by the river hillside had been a revelation. She hadn’t hesitated an instant before throwing herself into Veesha’s games, and earlier, when he’d first seen her there in the field by the temple, it was if she’d always belonged, and he’d just never realized there was a fault in the design, that she was the missing piece that completed this place and made it whole.

He glanced at Jesthi. His second must’ve felt R’kash’s gaze, because his eyes snapped up and he grinned. Jesthi could obviously read him well. He probably already knew that R’kash’s will to tell Sienna the truth was fading. If he couldn’t make himself do it before when she’d been a near stranger outside of the written words he’d read and read again, how much harder would it be now?

Practically impossible, his mind whispered.

He was giving her time, he reminded himself. She had to choose him on her own for this to work. The man she thought she knew wasn’t real, and he wouldn’t bind them together unless he was certain he was the one she truly wanted.

Normally after a meal, he’d enjoy some music or a walk with one of the other priests, but he was even more ready to leave the dining hall than he’d been the night before. She was lingering over the last bit of meat on her plate. He watched her push it around with her knife before she eventually speared it with the tip of the blade. Finally, at last they’d be able to leave.

“Sienna, may I escort you to our chambers? You had no opportunity previously to unpack your belongings.” He figured that was as good an excuse as any for their early departure from the table.

He wasn’t fooling any of his men. The glances they shared were obvious to him, but he hoped Sienna didn’t notice the sly smiles or the good luck gesture H’viss flashed him.

Sienna set the knife down without eating her last bite. “That’d be great. It’ll be nice not to live out of my suitcase any longer—I didn’t bother unpacking on the ship, so it’s been a few days now. Just let me take this to the kitchen.”

Villith set his hand gently over her wrist. “Stop, Sienna. I can take your plate. Go with R’kash.”

“If you’re sure,” she said as if she was waiting for Villith to contradict her. Naturally, he did nothing of the sort.

Sienna stood and attempted to incline her head at the other priests. He closed his eyes briefly to hide the effect it had on him. It was one thing for her to focus on Veesha’s happiness, but that she tried to show his men such courtesy made his rattle thrum with pride, even as the taste of guilt grew ever more bitter on his tongue. She was far too good for a liar like him.

She walked over to his side as if it was the hundredth time she’d taken his arm and not the fourth or fifth. His scales slid the length of her smooth forearm, and it was a supreme act of will to keep his feathers from snapping to attention at the sensation.

“One of these days I won’t be tired so early and we can stay up after dark,” she said with a little laugh. “Sorry. I guess all of the travel and the excitement has taken a lot out of me. I promise I don’t go to bed right after dinner every night.”

“I don’t mind,” he said with a glance down at her lively, pale eyes. “I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be going now or any preferable companion.”

Her face bloomed with color, and he tightened his throat against the impending thrum of his rattle. They were still a ways off from the privacy of his chambers.

“I’ll show you my wardrobe, and if there’s inadequate space for your garments, I’ll have another one brought for you in the morning. There’s plenty of room for additional furniture. I want you to be comfortable here.”

“Thanks. I tried not to bring too much beyond the basics. Do your people dress up for the harvest festival?” she asked.

---