Chapter Twenty-Four
The sound of someone banging their fist against the door woke Aphrodite with a start.
She sat up in the bed, clutching the hefty blanket to her chest. The room was frosty.
Air kissed her deep sleep, sweat-coated skin.
She raked her hair back with her fingers.
It needed a wash and brush. Someone fucked my hair into a nest. The heavy knocking stopped, and a voice filled the air. “Xexis, you had better wake!”
“Go away. Quagmor!’ Xexis bellowed from the tangled blankets and pillows.
“You sleeping log! Rise or I shall toss you from the sheets myself.” Quagmor’s jovial laughter bounced off the metal walls.
The room was still drenched in darkness, but only because the window faced the void of space.
Unlike the night before, where the station was facing the planet, they had twisted in their orbit.
Aphrodite blinked the sleep from her eyes.
“Doing that would be unwise, my mating trunk is fully out!” Xexis proclaimed, stretching against the mattress.
“We were raised together, I’ve already seen it.”
“Aphrodite’s naked!”
There was grumbling on the other side of the door.
With a huff, one last knock against the door, Quagmor spoke again, “Fine! But bathe and dress fast. I want plenty of time to talk with your mate before we’re whisked to the Council.
I just got off a ship and not looking forward to being stuffed back inside one again. ”
Silence filled the air. Aphrodite shifted to peer her bleary eyes at Xexis.
He was spread across the bed, muscles trembling from the stretch.
Then he grunted and softened back against the mattress.
Gazing up at her, he warmed her insides.
She put a hand at the center of his chest and stroked down his abdomen.
Xexis took ahold of her by the nape of her neck and pulled her in.
Their foreheads touching, she slipped back down.
Draping herself over him, she groaned at the tight embrace of his arms. He cracked her back then eased his squeeze.
Her head fell to his shoulder. I could go back to sleep.
“If we do not move, he will return and will be louder.”
Aphrodite exhaled, letting her mate whisk them from the bed.
The lights in the room finally extinguished the shadows around them.
She absorbed it from the arms of Xexis as he led them to a room adjacent.
The bedroom had been simple; a bed with a bedside table and many shelves embedded in the walls.
There was a crystal wall encasing a walk-in closet and a lounging couch against the wall across from the window.
Then they passed through a hissing door into a personal bathroom.
Much like the ship, there was a below ground jacuzzi sized tub with slots and about twelve faucet options.
Xexis stepped into the tub and it rushed to life.
Floral scents that were uncannily close to wildflowers but something more citrusy filled the air.
Steam coated the onyx walls full of sensors.
Four bowls were against the walls in varying heights, and a few other devices she’d never seen.
However, she wasn’t able to absorb all of it as she was jostled in his arms and settled into his lap.
Xexis was capable of being a gentle lover, a rough one and many things in between.
What he wasn’t capable of doing was being soft on her human flesh in the steaming water.
Aphrodite snatched the moss from his rough hands and smacked his chest with it after he nearly ripped skin off.
She floated in the water, scrubbing between toes and fingers.
Her hair was foamed and lathered. She was at peace, cleansing her body while Xexis cleaned his like he was caked in mud.
It was a soft silence. Peaceful and lovely.
She enjoyed floating back to his lap and rinsing her hair beneath the faucet beside him.
He held her close, nuzzling his face against her shoulder.
Xexis broke the silent bubble first. “My mate, are you happy here?”
“I am with you, of course I’m happy.” She sat up, eyeing him suspiciously.
“Well, will you be happy staying here? As Kannatch, I will be kept here at court for some time after we handle the Council with Xnasis. I promised we could travel if you liked, and we will also be required to hunt together for requests that require our skill, but I wish to know my mate is fulfilled here.” He cupped her face in his hands, gazing over her face.
She wanted to scoff and joke that being in a massive space station where she was revered as a space princess and she hadn’t even seen the library Reevar spoke of, let alone their tech workspace, it would be such a massive strain on her.
But there was a flicker of vulnerability in his face.
He was genuinely asking. She smiled softly, cupping his jaw in her palms. “As long as we do it together, I’m happy. ”
His shoulders eased as he pulled their foreheads together.
Whatever brought up his worry, I won’t let it get to him.
She meant it. Hunts, seeing the stars, staying here in the capital, she hadn’t thought much about it since she became his mate.
For a long time, she was living it one moment at a time.
But a life of being a space warrior/emergency service princess with endless access to knowledge and a lifetime with Xexis? She liked it.
Who wouldn’t?
She draped herself around him and clung to him as he rose from the water.
The tub began to drain as he stepped out.
He took towels off a shelf in the wall before the air vents above them went off.
Her hair was dry before she’d touched her ankles with a towel.
Xexis left her to brush her hair and relieve herself of the pressure in her bladder.
She could see him through the door opening the closet.
Curiosity got the best of her, and she tiptoed out of the bathroom, fingers breaking up any last few tangles.
She was going to have to make herself a hairbrush.
Xexis was pulling on similar pants to the ones he already wore, but a different wrap around top, this one was less formal.
He slipped the crystal rings up his arms before turning to her.
“Very handsome,” she purred.
“I have had many more outfits made for you to wear here. I would encourage you find something comfy as we will be traveling in it.” His pincers unhappily writhed before he strode to the bed.
He gathered her data pad and Buddy who chirped.
Aphrodite turned to the closet. Walking into a closet full of stylish fabrics and dresses, as the child of two engineers and technicians was in shock.
She’d never had more than working overalls, flight suits, and one pair of decent pajamas in her drawer at the station.
Yet, she ran her hands over silky fabrics of varying shapes and styles.
The choices were almost too overwhelming.
She pulled a matching set of top and bottoms. Xexis said pick comfy.
So, a stiff dress was out of the question.
The top was a cropped wrap top with bell sleeves.
It clipped into place above her breathers.
Stepping into the pants was easy, figuring out how to use the built in belt was not.
Thankfully, she finished strapping it to her waist before Xexis stepped in.
She felt like a pop music dancer with how much of her belly button and hips were showing, but it was comfortable and stretchy. The fabric didn’t bunch or pinch.
He offered her the data pad, Buddy already hovering over her mate’s head. She strapped it to her forearm. “Is there anything I should know before going with you? Any special handshakes, any weird words not to use?”
“On Quagmor or the Council?” Xexis chuckled.
“Both?” She squinted at him suspiciously.
“Quagmor will be fascinated by you no matter what. The Council? Ehhhh,” He cocked his head from one side to the other, as if physically rattling his brain. “Maybe ask Xnasis.”
“But don’t you deal with the Council a lot, answer the calls?” She crossed her arms under her chest but above her breathers.
“The calls come directly to me,” He pulled a smaller cell phone shaped data pad from his pocket before strapping it to his belt. “Or they’re put in writing. I do not speak with the Council, that’s for Xnasis and the Korzavic.”
She eyed him, “And so, you don’t have any clue what customs there are going into the Council?”
“Wear pants?” He grimaced. “I know your mating organs must be covered, and you should not speak out of turn.”
She snorted, “Noted, thanks.”
Stars bless her for her himbo Vroskrowz mate.
She motioned for him to lead the way. Buddy bobbed between them as the doors to his room hissed open.
They stepped into the long hallway and Aphrodite slowed to stare out into the depths of space.
Despite how dark it was and the space between stars, she felt a sweet nostalgia sweep over her.
Gazing out into the windows of her shuttle, wondering what it would be like to just go.
To explore, to see the other places that always seemed beyond her imagination.
Xexis realized she’d been left behind and spun to face her. He addressed her with a soft smile curling her lips. “My mate?”
“I’m just thinking how fate must have heard my wishes.
” She stepped toward the crystal walls and hovered her hand an inch from the surface.
“I used to stare out into the stars when I was really mad or frustrated with my crew and think ‘maybe one day I can just go’. You know? I used to imagine just dropping into an escape pod and running away. I asked anything that could hear me to make this mission go faster so I could just escape them. I guess fate said, you want escape? How about to a completely different end of the stars? Huh?”