Page 19 of 3 Secrets to Love (Romance Tales from the Quadrants #2)

Stay

Seven Star Cycles Later…

I stretched my arms out, bracing myself as the crate rattled and shook.

Had I finally reached Ma’an? Or did I have to stay in my cramped box for longer? I’d been stuck inside for so long, every muscle in my body screamed in pain.

With my mouth so dry, I couldn’t create saliva to alleviate the instinct to cough.

And coughing would alert anyone around that I hid inside.

Plus, I needed to pee, my bladder ready to burst though I hadn’t drunk anything since hours before I’d left home.

Before I had my best friend pack me into the shipping container, I’d taken a sleeping agent to make the trip easier.

Unfortunately, I’d woken too early.

I worried about my location, wondered if I’d been shipped in the right direction.

Whenever I had previously shipped anything to Ma’an, I’d used my unda’s company.

But their services had halted indefinitely upon his death.

Hence, my reason for sneaking back onto the planet.

If all went as planned, only two people would ever know I’d visited Ma’an: my l’sida and Nunki.

If anyone else found out, my chances of returning to Eurebly dwindled.

And I had to return.

I couldn’t stay on a planet where I would be forced to marry someone I didn’t love and have babies regardless of my age or willingness.

Once a woman’s hair turned completely pink, the High Council stole her freedom.

After taking a deep breath into my oxygen mask, I pushed myself toward one side of the crate, hoping to press my ear against it to catch any voices or sounds from outside.

A shuttle hummed somewhere nearby.

But it didn’t sound like I was on a ship.

Just near one.

Then I heard muffled voices.

As much as I tried, I couldn’t make out anything being said.

My crate suddenly shifted, and I slid to the other side.

When it moved again, I tried to brace myself, but I had no strength.

I tumbled around, sure I would end up with bruises all over my body.

Why couldn’t I have slept a little longer?

My crate stopped again.

Where had I ended up, and how much longer did I have to be inside? I’d thought I could endure the voyage but hadn’t expected to wake before reaching my destination.

Someone knocked on the crate.

“What are you?”

a voice asked into one of the small slits near my head.

“And who do I know who would send me something this big? The crate is big enough to hold a body.”

Nunki. His voice was much deeper than I remembered, but his speech pattern remained the same. Thank the universe I landed on Ma’an! But I still needed him to let me out.

My stomach twisted. A few star cycles had passed since I’d last seen the boy I’d once believed I would spend the rest of my life with. And we’d only been in contact with each other a handful of times since then. Nothing recently. Would he be happy to see me?

“I don’t know what you are,”

he whispered.

“but I’m going to take you home and open you up away from prying eyes.”

Good idea. I didn’t need him opening the crate in front of inspectors or anyone else at the spaceport. I’d purposely had a friend fill out paperwork for the crate to avoid inspection upon arrival.

Suddenly, I moved again, into some kind of hover vehicle.

My muscles cried out in pain every time we turned a corner, and especially when we stopped.

But when Nunki finally opened the crate, I couldn’t get out.

Didn’t know if I wanted to. Darkness surrounded me, except for a sliver of light from somewhere in the distance. I couldn’t see my friend at all.

Slowly, I removed my oxygen mask. “Nunki?”

Had I made a mistake shipping myself to him? Was he mad at me for not staying in contact the way I did with Deyal? Stars, maybe I should have used Sakuunu’s address. Though, he would have sent me back to Eurebly without saying hello.

“I’m here. I’m here,”

he muttered.

I heard clinking and clanging nearby but still couldn’t see my childhood friend. And my muscles remained too stiff for me to move.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to convince myself you’re not in that crate.”

He banged something metal.

“Because if I look inside and I realize you’re a figment of my imagination, I will be heartbroken. But it will be easier to understand than any reason you might have for returning to this planet. Especially right now.”

I sighed. While I understood his reservation, I thought he’d be happier to see me.

“Nunki, you know why I came and why I had to do it this way.”

“I do.”

He sniffled before banging something else.

“You’re taking advantage of my feelings for you. Because you know Sakuunu would send you back. Qamar, too, because he would ask Sakuunu what to do.”

Precisely why I’d mailed myself to him.

“Nunki, will you please help me out of this crate? My muscles are so cramped, and I cannot move. Please?”

He sighed heavily before turning on some more light.

Then he finally peeked into my crate.

That’s when I noticed how mature he looked.

His once full cheeks had disappeared, giving way to a wider skull and nose.

His mane of hair, though a little messy, was full and dark, the way my poepa’s had been.

Little wrinkles creased in the outer corners of his golden eyes, showing his disappointment at seeing me.

Though his full lips told a different story, as the corner of one side curved up in a half smile.

Full, kissable lips.

Stars, I’d missed him so much.

“You shouldn’t be here, and I shouldn’t be doing this, but I’ve dreamed of seeing you in person again for a long time. Plus, it’s been over two-star cycles since we actually talked. The occasional message to find out what’s new isn’t quite the same.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.”

As much as I wanted to sit up and hug him, maybe kiss him, I still couldn’t move without help.

“I had a lot of training to complete for the USRA, and our timing was always so different. The planetary rotations and all.”

“That’s why I’m not mad.”

He reached in and pulled me up to a sitting position, holding me tight against his broad chest. His warmth helped to chase away the chill from traveling through space.

A sudden sharp pain ripped down my spine, but I tried not to show it, thankful to get help out of the crate, and to be in Nunki’s arms once again.

“I missed you so much.”

He helped me the rest of the way out, supporting me until the feeling returned to my legs.

“You know, if you get caught here—”

I pressed my lips to his for a quick kiss and to make him stop talking.

Stars, they felt as good as they looked.

Hopefully I’d get the chance to feel them many more times.

On my lips and my body. Besides, I knew the consequences of coming to Ma’an before I’d climbed into the crate, before I put my plan into motion.

When I pulled away, Nunki’s eyes widened, but a smile crept across his lips as his cheeks turned pink.

“If you don’t tell anyone, I won’t get caught.”

I stretched out my arms, legs, and back, trying to regain some range of motion.

“But you won’t be here long. You’re going to leave again and be out of my life.”

His smile quickly turned into a frown as he dug the toe of his boot into the floor. The dirt floor.

I glanced around at the rock walls and rock ceiling.

“You know if I stay, we won’t be together anyway. Leaving here means we still have a chance. And where are we anyway? Is this some kind of workshop?”

I knew Nunki sometimes made deliveries for Unda Cha’ee, but he’d never mentioned what else he did for a living.

“Sure, I guess you could say that. Drink this.”

He handed me a cup of what looked like puos, a concoction the aubaes in my old neighborhood made when someone took sick. It kept the person hydrated while they recovered from their ailment.

“Are you sick?”

I didn’t want him to waste the brew on me.

“No. I drink it to keep from getting sick though.”

He walked over to a workbench on the other side of the space and hammered on a piece of metal as if I wasn’t there.

Not at all the kind of greeting I expected or hoped to get from him.

With the only lighting provided by mirrors placed precisely to catch the sunlight from small holes in the rock, I glanced around his subterranean space a bit more.

A small dining area sat to my left, dirty dishes piled up beside a water basin on the only other counter space.

To the right of the “kitchen,”

an alcove contained a large sleeping pad on top of a woven carpet reaching all three sides.

His bed cubby.

With the sheets tossed haphazardly across the pad, along with some clothing, it proved a stark contrast to the workshop area of his space, where everything he wasn’t using hung on wall hooks or sat on shelves in an orderly fashion.

When Nunki stopped hammering, I heard a familiar sound.

One I hadn’t recognized earlier, but after taking in our surroundings, I recognized it immediately.

“You live near Galsana Falls, don’t you?”

He shrugged.

“I had no choice.”

I stood behind him, hoping to force him to talk to me.

“What do you mean? What happened?”

He shrugged again, not bothering to turn around and face me.

“My poepa died, too. Unlike yours, he didn’t leave us any credits or documents to leave Ma’an. So, after a couple lunar cycles, my moema had to remarry. And her new husband didn’t welcome me into his home. Though our friends wanted to offer me a place to stay, their poepaes said no. But your unda gave me a job and a bed in his shop to sleep in.”

“Deyal never told me.”

My l’sida had assured me many times everyone was fine, that aside from everyone getting older, nothing had changed.

“Probably didn’t want you to worry.”

He quickly glanced over his shoulder.

“You really shouldn’t have returned.”

I ignored the last part.

“So, how’d you end up living here?”

“For some reason, I thought it a good idea to come to the falls to relive past memories.”

He slid past me, walking to the basin to wash his hands.

“Found this cave one of those times. It was long abandoned, so I decided to make it a bit bigger then move in.”

“I…I wish I would have known.”

Maybe I could have sent him some credits to find a small place instead of living near the falls.

He shook his head.

“You couldn’t have changed anything. Besides, I like living here.”

Maybe it was an okay place to live.

He had more space in his bed cubby than I had in my current sleeping pod.

But he had to travel much farther to get to work.

The spaceport where my unda had his shop sat on the other side of the capital, well past the Official Rotunda.

And where did he clean up? Or go to the bathroom? I’d only seen the tiny basin.

Did he simply jump into the pool at the bottom of the falls to wash up?

“Come.”

He motioned me toward him.

“Since you’re here and have traveled a far distance, let me show you the best part. You’re probably going to need it.”

I followed him to the space between his kitchen area and his bed cubby.

From a distance, it had looked like nothing more than a wall.

As I stepped closer, I realized the rock had created an illusion.

Instead of a wall, I saw a recess with a metal door leading…somewhere.

The moment Nunki opened it, I heard the rush of water.

I jumped, expecting it to stream in and pool around my feet.

Instead, Nunki continued past the door and led me into a much larger alcove.

One situated right behind the falls.

As a child, I’d seen the waterfalls from above, below, and along the sides.

Yet, the view from behind the fast-moving wall of water proved much more majestic.

I stood in awe for several moments, simply captivated by the panorama.

Though we had bodies of water on Eurebly and Tanva, where I’d spent my teen years, those planets didn’t have drastic changes in elevation that allowed such landforms.

At least, not in populated areas.

“This is what I use to relieve myself.”

Nunki pointed to a stone seat off to the side.

When I looked closer, I realized it had a hole in the middle and a metal chute to guide the waste from inside the stone downward to join the wall of water.

A great idea, but it made me never want to swim in the pool at the bottom again.