20. Zeerah

It takes the entire long sled ride back to the Spiderwasp for me to regain my composure.

Falkion cuts straight into my heart and scrambles up all my feelings.

We're breathing easier hooked to the sled's atmosphere generator. Falkion's also using its small medkit. He sits, back to Juk's, facing behind us and holding me tight. His arms cinch across my chest, and his bent legs contain me on both sides.

"The Spiderwasp is intact?" Falkion asks as his first question. "There's debris."

I never noticed, but he's right. Massive chunks of someone's hull flicker at the edge of my skinsuit's sensors.

Juk's good cheer drains into grimness. "That would be from High Commander Drin's dreadnought."

High Commander Drin went in hot, despite Juk's and the other rebels' warnings, and they got an up-close history lesson in how Harsi ships usually swarm their prey. The destruction was swift and terrible. A hundred spigots unleashed thousands of monsters straight into the dreadnought's heart, more than could possibly be fought off by land cannons.

For the innocent men and women on High Commander Drin's dreadnought, we share a moment of respectful silence. They died, maybe needlessly, and it tastes bitter.

Isn't it strange that our being skewered by a dead ghost ship and then only having two Harsi land on it is the reason we happened to survive?

Others won't have that unlikely advantage.

More will be flooded like High Commander Drin's dreadnought.

And they will all die.

I tip back my head and rest against Falkion's shoulder, suddenly exhausted. "This is what the Harsi will do to the rest of the universe."

"Not necessarily." Juk lightens again. "Right after Drin, we got a fly-by from Xovisans. You know them? Strange little guys. We sent all our Box data. They evaded the Harsi and got away clean."

Then Allie and everybody knows what we know.

My chest lifts with hope.

Across the entire empire, somebody has come up with an effective counterattack. We just have to hold out until reinforcements arrive.

Juk flies us past the evacuated ships, still nested dangerously close to our intact dreadnought, and through the atmosphere veil.

Gravity presses me hard against Falkion.

I'm back.

Finally.

The destruction is, again, sobering. Black marks, flamed wreckage. We pass a small team outfitting the next bait ship. The three workers straighten and stare at us. Falkion is a wall behind me. He's used to respect. I feel hot and squirmy.

Bins of casualties are spread out next to the Harsi attack spigot.

"All loaded with explosives," Juk assures us as he lands behind a line of land cannons barricading the main engineering office. "We got more bins ready to go. And we should get a click's warning when the Harsi start moving down the pipe. The guys are working to amplify the Box's camouflage zone."

Oh, yeah.

The Harsi count was fifteen, but that was clegs ago. I don't want to know what the count is up to now. "You've been busy."

"You were gone a long time." Juk grins. "It's, ah, pretty great to see you. Both, actually."

Aw.

Falkion unhooks us from the sled, and we help each other stand. Behind Juk, engineers and soldiers come out of the engineering office and stare. Some clasp their hands, while others set their feet. All remain silent.

It makes a little shiver go down my spine. I guess they're as happy to see Falkion walking around as I am, but their extended silence is a little funny.

I lean close to Falkion's ear. "I think they're waiting for you to say something."

He tips his head at me. I'm taller than him, but I never notice until a moment like this when he has to look up. "They're not here for me."

"Huh?"

"And you don't have to say anything. They're giving you their honor."

My stomach flips. "Me? Why?"

"Don't you know?" Juk grins as he leads us through the open main doors and into the hall. "You saved our oh-so-superior Arrisan butts."

"You, uh…"

In the massive hall, soldiers rise in a cresting wave, their silver eyes fixed on me. Not hostile, the way they used to be, but still, I feel terribly exposed.

Nerves squiggle like tiny wires carrying too much electricity. "You heard that?"

"Someone on the bridge ‘accidentally' put you on the shipwide PA system."

That would have been Marip, I think. She controls the communications.

"And someone else saved copies of the attack video to every single console in the interior," Juk continues. "Which is good practice if you're worried about something getting erased."

Then Laris wasn't erasing the video after all.

"Never thought I'd see the day the bridge officers broke rank." Juk's grin broadens. "Got a bit of engineer's blood in those two."

Flanked by Juk and a selection of soldiers, Falkion tucks me against him, and we fly through the grav tubes. The few Arrisans nod to me. We pass through unsettled gravity around the Harsi intrusion, then pop off in the bridge hallway.

More soldiers line the halls in the top quartile, farther from the attack spigot, and it's eerie how they all stop what they're doing and stand respectfully as we stride by.

Falkion's officers stand in front of the locked doors of the bridge. Most of the junior officers are here as well. I don't see the two that snuck Falkion onto the bait ship in the casualties bin. But Marip, bruised-up Werrin, Laris, and the others turn in unison toward me. They're stiff, ceremonial.

A lump rises in my throat.

I stand tall, shoulders back, and meet each pair of silver eyes. "I am honored."

"Kollok is inside?" Falkion asks.

The weapons specialist, Yarvi, stands aside. "He is awaiting your judgment."

Falkion turns to me. "Are you prepared to stab him in the face?"

"No."

Falkion's brows lift.

Everyone else seems surprised.

"No?" Falkion repeats.

But, honestly, no. At this exact moment, I'm feeling stretched out. This is so surreal. The hallway behind us is full of Arrisans standing quietly to honor me, and I'm really very tired. I've probably rested only a couple of clegs between shifts of terror.

Plus, my hot anger at Kollok's betrayal has drained away. I'm not a stabby person usually. Even my uncle, the man I've hated longer than anybody, isn't someone I want to kill.

Kollok would probably love to die on Falkion's blade.

I don't want to give him the satisfaction.

"No, I want Kollok to face the consequences of his actions for a long time." I rest my hand on Falkion's shoulder. "I want everyone to know what he did. And I want him to be forced to live with that for the rest of his long, miserable life."

The bridge officers look to Falkion. I think they're a little confused. Walking away from someone who wronged you isn't the Arrisan way.

But he links my hand in his, accepting my answer. Yarvi returns to his self-appointed guard position.

I thank Marip, Laris, and especially Werrin each personally for everything.

And then Falkion leads me down the hall to his chambers.

His room is basically untouched. It's just like we left it about a billion clegs ago.

Falkion goes straight to the sleeping pod. "Rest."

Ah. I seriously do need sleep.

But this can't wait.

I hand him the spray. "Take this."

"What is it?"

"A cure for the Vanadisan lust illness."

He pinches it like a bomb. "Although it was not my original choice to desire you, Zeerah, I do not regret the events that led us to unite."

"I do." I take a deep breath and let it out. "I have to know your proposal wasn't because of the Vanadisans. I have to know it's from you. Because I…"

He sprays himself in the face.

"…can't tell if, uh, you actually like me, or if…uh…"

Huh.

I had more arguments ready.

Falkion doesn't need them, though.

I keep gearing up to defend myself, and he just acts.

I love that about him, though.

The spray makes him flinch. Finer mist wets his soot-smeared cheeks

I watch, my fingers twisting. Honestly, I don't really believe the Vanadisan drug forced his proposal. I think he has real feelings. But, ugh, if I'm wrong, it'll be awful, because I love this man with my whole heart.

He squinches up his face and sneezes.

I brace for the moment of truth.

"Uck," he says, wrinkling his nose.

"What is it?" I ask cautiously.

"Menthol."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Brisk. Chilly." He lifts his hand to wipe his face and pauses. "How fast does it work?"

"Instantly. Or so I'm told."

He sets the bottle on a wall bench and wipes his face, smearing grime in the process. We must both look a mess. He leans against me, and I lean back. We're both holding each other upright.

I don't know when gray skin started to look normal to me, but it does. No, more than that. Falkion looks like hopes and dreams, rugged and brutal, and very beautifully Arrisan.

His silver eyes flick over my face, up to my eyebrows, down to my tense jaw.

I lift my chin. "Well?"

He takes my hand and hooks my index finger in the collar of my skinsuit to pull it off. "May I?"

My heart thumps.

This is a good sign.

I curve my finger.

He draws it down the front. My skinsuit separates. His gaze travels over my curves all the way down to my pubic bone and then back up. He slips my bra strap off my shoulder. "Will you be my Amante?"

"Yes. I…"

I'm going to say something complex, like, I fell in love with you forever ago, and not because of any drugs, but I don't get a chance.

His nostrils flare, his pupils constrict to pinpricks, and his mouth opens. Something dangles in the back of his throat, sharp, like snake fangs behind his normal teeth.

He drags me forward and bites my shoulder.

He buries his demon teeth deep in my flesh.

Tears spill down my cheeks, and I suck in a shaky breath.

He feels… Warm, wet. Shivery.

In a good way.

I don't know how to describe the sensations. His inner teeth flex, ticklish, as they push in their poison. Against my brown skin, vivid red thorns grow outward in a spiral, a fractal, bright crimson like my human blood. And then my womb clenches with pleasure. I gasp. My lips tingle. His mouth-heat fills me.

Falkion chooses me.

I am the orphaned daughter of a minor king on Humana, one of the least important planets and far from the center of the empire.

I have destroyed the unkillable Harsi.

The greatest captain in the empire chooses me.

And I choose him right back.

Falkion pulls back, finally, panting. His inner teeth recede. His eyes fixed on the deep indents in my shoulder, the red pattern needling outward. Satisfaction mixes with his wildness. Despite how deep he injected his essence to bond us, my blood doesn't dot his bruised gray lips.

He finally tears his gaze from the pattern and frowns as he wipes away the wetness from my cheek. "You're sad."

"No." I sniff. "It's the opposite. This isn't what you think. These are allergies."

His frown deepens with concern. "Allergies?"

"I don't cry. Crying doesn't solve anything." I wrap my hand around the back of his neck. "Oh, just kiss me."

He does.

His mouth tastes slightly of menthol, but then it disappears into the flavor that is Falkion, harsh and overbearing and exquisitely male.

Sensual heat throbs into my core, liquefying me for his possession.

We have gone through so much. I tried so hard to save him, and I did.

This is my reward.

He is my reward.

I pull off my bra, and my panties fall away, baring me to him. I claw at him desperately.

He tears off his skinsuit, nudges my thighs apart with his hard knee, and aligns his cock head with my slick entrance.

I dig my fingers into his scalp. "Falkion, yes."

"You want me?"

"I want you."

He glides in, stretching me around his thick, hard cock.

Thisis the reason for living.

As he fills me, he lowers us to the ground, cups my head with the back of his hand, and angles my hips up to take him deep.

And thrusts.

His cock head presses my inner pleasure button.

My orgasm wells up, glowing through my whole body and tingling with sweet welcome.

Falkion is mine.

As always, my orgasm triggers his.

He groans with a broken sound. His release pours into me, hot and foamy, and before I can catch my breath, he thrusts again. Another orgasm swells in my body, causing him to clench.

We lock together in a circle, an ouroboros of pleasure, and every release just makes us more hungry. He turns me over onto my belly, cups my breast as he enters me from behind, grips my hips and arches over my body with a ragged groan. Each hard thrust pulls another sweet orgasm from me. He pounds into me with a feral roar.

I arch and scream his name.

Falkion rolls me onto my back again. He nibbles my tingling lips, bites my jaw, suckles my sensitized nipples.

With every caress, he ties me down and cuts me free, drags me close, releases me. "You are mine, Zeerah."

Yes.

I am owned completely by him.

He knees between my legs and glides his rigid cock in all the way to the hilt.

My orgasm spirals out like my new tattoo, hotter and harder. I cry his name again and shudder.

He hunches over me as he surges. "Mine, for always."

I ride out wave after delicious wave, gooey and sweet. With the back of a trembling finger, I stroke his hard cheek.

He grabs my palm and kisses my bare wrist.

Finally, when I am nothing more than paste in his arms, he carries me to the sleeping pod.

Tangled up in each other, we sleep for two full shifts. Even for me, that's a lot.

We're awakened by Juk's call. Falkion pulls a small communications console from the wall and eases into it, nude. "Go ahead."

"Warships of the empire have arrived." Juk looks ragged. I don't think he's gone to sleep.

"Another dreadnought? Can we warn them?"

"No need." Juk grins tiredly. "You're going to want to see this."