79. Epilogue
Zoey
“Earth to Zoey. Let me rephrase that, space to Zoey,” Savannah scolds when she takes the final pin out of her mouth. Poor woman. She’s the resident seamstress and has made more alterations to the ship’s wedding dress than you would think possible. It was constructed in a hurry for the ship’s first mating and has been taken in and out many times for every happy mating since then.
She rotates her hand and says, “Twirl.”
“Ahhh,” all my female friends sigh in unison.
“The prettiest bride yet,” Brianna says. Every wedding one of us has to say it. It’s tradition. I’m so glad I didn’t get mated two years ago. I never would have allowed myself to believe those words. Today I let them seep into my skin and then melt into my heart.
It’s hard to believe it’s only been two days since we walked back onto the Fool and flew away from Fairea on our way to Hyperion for a match. Steele was supposed to fight, but we had Aerie, a former entertainment lawyer on Earth and current galaxy negotiator extraordinaire, negotiate a better contract for Shadow to come out of retirement so Steele and I could have a honeymoon.
I think losing so ignominiously at the obstacle course competition when he was reduced to a tight ball of giggles spurred Shadow to want to fight again. He and Petra are happy about it. After all, none of our males fight anything but the non-lethal cestus games, and Shadow is pumped to strut his stuff.
Nothing has changed, yet everything is different since we’ve been back on board. The jobs I do around the ship, helping where and when I’m needed? I used to feel like I was always in the way, not really pulling my weight. What Ar’Tok said at the Entertainment Show really sunk in.
Not everyone can be as talented as Grace or can pilot our ship like our silver and gold twins. Some of us just do what’s necessary day after day. That’s me. Everyone knows they can count on me, and they appreciate me. Isn’t that enough?
It’s been too few days for me to make a laundry list of what’s better between Steele and me, although I can. I can sum it up in one word—everything!
It’s just… easy between us now. Believe it or not, we haven’t had sex since we’ve been back on board the ship. We’ve been busy basking in our renewed love and preparing for our ceremony. But tonight will be the night.
Steele and I wanted something visible that said to everyone that we are mated, more than rings. Steele told me that it is a tradition on his planet for couples to get matching tattoos. That was another taboo from my father. We were not allowed to get piercings or tattoos as they desecrated the body that God gave us. Since all of that propaganda is history, I immediately agreed to get a tat.
After pouring over pictures on the Intergalactic Database, we chose a spiral. It symbolizes the never-ending nature of our love. Dr. Drayke used a painless laser light to tattoo a blue spiral on Steele’s left shoulder and a silver one on mine. I love them.
The krannock the Zinns and their mates delivered after the Blessed Peace Day feast has been staring at me since we arrived back on board. It’s obviously… sex furniture. I get sexy tingles just thinking about using it, although I’m not sure what it’s capable of. I guess I’ll find out tonight.
“Ready Zoey?” Anya asks. By the tone of her voice, I think this might not be the first time she’s asked.
“I should have been ready two years ago. I’m certainly ready now.”
As I stand at the door of the solarium with Anya to my right and Savannah on my left, I take a deep breath. They open the doors and I see my beloved mate standing near the wall of windows that gives us a bird’s eye view of the galaxy. How lucky we’re in a part of the sector where we can see three nebulas: a purple straight ahead as well as to the right, and a blue/green off to our left.
For one moment, a thought arrows into my brain as I yearn for my parents to be in the audience. I glance down in sadness for the briefest moment. I can pretend that my parents would be happy for me if somehow I could get word to them, but that’s a big, fat lie. It’s better that we’re a million miles apart. They’d never accept the male I love, and if they made me choose, the outcome would be the same as it is now—we’d be separated forever.
I focus on the joy I feel as everyone in this room is love bombing Steele and me. It feels amazing.
Zar and Steele are in front of the windows. Steele’s staring at me as if I’m the most beautiful female in the galaxy, and I truly believe that to him, I am.
At some point in the scurrying that last day on Fairea, Steele asked Dhoom to make me a ring. It’s a simple creation made of gold wire looped together. He’s the one who made one of the sygnets on Abraxx’s brill and was happy to construct this for me.
Even though it isn’t fancy or expensive, it’s perfect. Funny thing, the cheap present I bought for Steele at the fair, the one I was certain he would throw away as soon as the Fool left atmo without me? I bought him a silly mood ring made out of Ibisian lodestone.
He’s going to love it, because it’s going to proclaim his mood, which will always be happy every minute of the day if I have anything to say about it.
Zar welcomes everyone and says, “I don’t have to consult any notes for this service. This one I will do by heart because this ceremony is only about the heart. You may hold hands, speak your vows, then exchange rings. Zoey?”
“Years ago, I proposed we call our ship the battle-scarred warrior because we were all scarred from our battles with life. Today, I proclaim my days of being battle-scarred are over. I’m here, Steele. I’m fully present and accounted for, and I love you more than life itself. I promise my heart will be open to you from now to forever.”
I place the mood ring on his finger and it gleams a brilliant blue, the color of his eyes, the color the brochure said proclaimed happiness.
“Zoey,” Steele squeezes my hands as his gaze pierces to my soul. “I love you more than life itself and will spend the rest of my life proving it.”
That’s all he needs to say because it’s the truth.
After he places the simple gold circlet on my finger, I say, “And you have, my beloved. You have since the first moment we met.”
“My words to share for all our mated couples?” Zar asks as he looks out at the audience. “Love as if your life depends on it. In many ways, it does. Speak your thoughts, share your concerns, and most of all, tell your beloved how important they are daily. I now pronounce you a happily mated couple.”
Our reception is amazing. There’s Paragon cake, of course, but the most wonderful thing is that I sing—more than once—and I dance. I don’t take my clothes off like I did on Fairea, but I don’t have to. Those struggles are over.
“Should we sneak off, Love?” Steele asks, his lips at my ear.
“Let’s enjoy our friends for a few more minutes, Love. Then I want to see what that krannock will do,” I answer with a smile.
“We’re going to put it through its paces. More than once, Love.”