Chapter 49
CHAPTER
FORTY-NINE
“You know we can visit any time, right?” Asher murmured beside me in the cockpit.
He tugged my hood down and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. I could only nod as I stared forward at the expanse of free space before us while he navigated us toward the jump point.
We’d said goodbye to the Kuxatana and its crew this morning.
Asher had officially given up his role of captain, handing it over to Hudzon who would take up the mantle.
He hadn’t given much of an explanation as to why we were leaving, but from the way our hands were linked and every pair of eyes moved back and forth between us, it was clear they assumed it was because of our recent… development.
It was common knowledge Asher ended up in my quarters every night, or carried me back to his rooms if he found me elsewhere on the ship.
No one had said much about it, save for Kal who had given Asher the older brother treatment, as he called it, even though Kal and I were barely a quarter cycle apart in age.
Asher didn’t hover per se, but he almost always found a way to touch me if we were in the same room, whether that was a hand on my arm, or shoulder, or even just curling a loose piece of hair around one finger.
I’d been surprised by the ache in my chest and the bittersweetness of saying goodbye to all of them.
The past few days Zoleka had been eyeing us speculatively and I had a feeling she knew more than she was letting on.
After so many cycles studying the mating rituals and traditions of the Akahzyrians, she had to have put two and two together.
Asher and I had spent the last day or so spending as much time learning about each other as we could.
He’d taught me most importantly about his family and his mother’s reign.
She’d been the Valissa, or ruler, of their planet after her mother died when she was fifteen.
I’d worried about what that meant for us, as Asher was her only child, but he reassured me if the Valissa had no female heir, she chose one to train to rule in her stead.
A fierce female called Hazal had been anointed when Asher was in his teens once it was clear his mother would not produce an heir through any of her consorts.
His father had been a high-ranking warrior within his mother’s inner circle and one of her most beloved lovers.
But he’d died in a fight during an off-planet rebellion, one the Federation had asked for Akahzyr’s help to quell.
It was the reason why his mother had been considering pulling out of the alliance in the first place before the stone was taken.
But all I could think now was we were on our way to Asher’s home and I would be an outsider, an unknown.
“They’re going to love you.” Asher wrapped a hand around my nape and drew my worries from my skin.
I couldn’t find the words to tell him I wasn’t so sure.
Not after all he’d explained about their distrust of others, especially after what had happened with the stone.
After twenty cycles away Asher would return the hero, restoring their long-lost and most sacred artifact.
If it was me, I would be distrusting of the female he had in tow, especially one without any family or planet to call her own and covered in Federation brands.
The click of a belt unbuckled and then Asher was leaning over my chair, turning my face toward him. He bracketed my chin, tilting my face up until his lips were barely brushing mine.
“I can waste my breath with pretty words to soothe your panic, but I don’t think they’ll do any good,” he breathed, stroking my hair back from my face. “So know you will not be alone. I will be by your side every moment and I won’t allow anyone to hurt you.”
There was no response I could think of, but his mouth crashed against mine in the next moment, nipping and sucking until I was breathless. My fingers curled into the front of his shirt. The hand bracketing my chin slid lower and the pressure on my throat made a moan slip through my lips.
Asher kissed me until the blue and white lights of the jump faded and the Outer Rim of quadrant four slid into view, an alarm blaring on the console to warn we were near our destination.
I panted as he drew away, only to lean down to kiss me again and again with gentle caresses that made my heart hurt.
Finally, he dropped back into his seat, reaching out to cover my knee while I pressed my fingers to my swollen lips.
His hand flexed, a ripple of energy moving through his spine and down his arms before sliding into my bones.
It was so much emotion at once I struggled to understand it all, but his attention remained fixed to the planet growing steadily larger in front of us.
I covered his hand with mine, interlacing our fingers.
The planet was a myriad of gold and green, with white swirls of what I thought might have been clouds.
I realized with a start that it was very close to the forest planet I’d run to when I’d first gotten the stone, so close, in fact, if I looked out the side view, I could just make it out in the vast distance.
“Cruiser 2457, state your business,” a tinny voice called through the comms.
It took him a few times to find his voice, a few false starts. “This is Asher Kalisya, returning planetside.”
A long silence met his statement and his hand shook in mine.
I rubbed small circles with my thumb, my other palm smoothing up and down his arm.
Then he leaned toward the comm again, the flowing language of Akahzyr slipping from his lips.
Though I hadn’t learned the language, our bond translated the best it could.
“I have heard the song of the universe. It sings to me of peace and stillness. It sings to me of sorrow and laughter. And it is a song…” He paused, waiting.
“Without end,” they answered with heavy emotion in their tone. “Welcome home, Ra’jakan.”
Asher initiated the atmospheric entry sequences with a trembling hand, blinking rapidly. We slipped through the clouds that glittered as if with gemstones, though they evaporated as we sliced through.
My voice came out barely more than a rasp. “It’s beautiful.”
As we descended, the landscape spread out before us.
Gold-tipped trees lined a wide, churning river.
In the distance, white-capped dark blue mountains loomed across the expanse of deep greens and blues, with slices of gold and ripples of silver.
The silver, I realized, was from buildings that grew in number and size as we approached the mountain and the intricately carved building in the face of it.
I chanced a peek over at Asher in time to watch a silvery tear slide down his cheek.
But he didn’t wipe it away, only took a deep, shuddering breath, and clicked on the landing gear.
We passed over an ornate square filling with people before a hatch opened in the side of the mountain and we plunged into darkness for a heartbeat before light bloomed around us.
The hangar was small, only a few crafts parked along the sides of the rough-hewn walls, but a crowd spilled through a side door as he clicked off the engines.
Asher stared at the controls and, when he didn’t move, I unbuckled and stood. I pressed my hip against his shoulder and he turned, arms wrapping around my waist as he buried his face in my chest.
“You’re home,” I whispered, running my hands through his hair. The words set my throat to aching, a burn pooling in the corners of my eyes.
He’d told me there was a time he’d given up any hope of seeing his planet again—accepted his life would be an endless cycle of searching and coming up empty. But now here we were and I couldn’t blame him for the fear trickling through our bond.
“They’re waiting outside.” His voice was muffled against my shirt, but I dipped my head to press a kiss to his hair.
I stroked his temple. “They can wait a little longer.”
A choked laugh rumbled against my chest before he pulled back and wiped a hand over his face.
He took his time standing, cupping my face reverently, and brushed his lips over mine.
Then he tugged me toward the ramp and hit the release beside us.
As it descended, he dropped my hand, but I didn’t have a moment to worry before his arm wrapped around my waist and he pulled me tight to his side.
There were perhaps fifteen waiting at the bottom, spread out in a small semi-circle.
Their long robes fluttered in the breeze of the purging coolants and a few lifted their hands to cover their faces, which were draped with small, intricate metal chains.
No, not draped, I realized as we got closer, the chains were connected to numerous piercings within their flesh.
But standing at the center, silver eyes fixed on Asher, stood a formidable-looking female.
She was as tall as Asher, her dark hair swept up into an intricate design on the top of her head and woven with dark stones and metal.
But it was her face I could not seem to look away from.
Pale blue skin with a familiar-looking mouth that trembled, a petite nose wrinkling with her small sniff.
My stomach clenched, heartbeat spiking, and I tried my best not to send my anxiety through the bond.
Asher took one step forward, then another, keeping me close to his side as we lowered to our knees before her. He released me, reached into the inside of his jacket and withdrew a small black box that shimmered in the lights overhead as he held it up to her with both hands, his head bowed.
She stared at him for another long moment before she took the box from him without inspecting its contents, handing it off to a female beside her. Her hands shook as she cupped his face, crystalline tears like gems sliding down her cheeks.
“My son,” she rasped. “My son.”
Her arms wound around his neck and suddenly he was nothing more than a boy in his mother’s embrace.
I bit the inside of my cheek, the hollow ache in my chest growing deeper.
It was a reunion I would never know, a wound that would never close.
But she drew back with a sparkling laugh and reached a hand in my direction.
I froze when she touched my face and her eyes shimmered with new tears.
“My daughter. After walking with you in dreams, I meet you at last.”
As her skin touched mine, I felt a new sort of bond set.
It was not as deep or consuming as my one with Asher, but it was…
warm. Familial. And I understood what she meant.
She had been dreaming of me since Asher was small: a female with tired eyes who had seen too much of the universe and its cruelty.
Her goddess had sent her visions that Asher would find a mate and his mate would be me.
When she pulled me into her arms, I went willingly.
Her cheek pressed to mine as she stroked my hair, humming.
The song of the universe.
The song of my new people.
The song of home.