Page 90

“Oh?”

He revealed the blue hand he’d been hiding behind his back. In it was a new necklace made with shiny red and blue scales.

Dani took it, her brow furrowing. It was beautiful, but the scales worried her. She brushed her fingers along them. “Where did these come from?”

Kryxis touched the side of his ribs where she saw a few scales missing.

“Kryxis,” she breathed. “You didn’t have to…”

“I did. My gift in thanks for becoming my mate.”

Her lip trembled. She slipped her arm around him, burying her face in his chest. “Let’s go,” she whispered against him. “Xia Vassalar.”

EPILOGUE

Kryxis

A cry came from afar. Soft at first then shrill. Not a cry of pain or fear but of singing. The creature flew high above him, disappearing past the blood-red leaves, its orange and green wings catching in the light.

He felt the warm earth under his feet, smelled fresh spice in the air. The white sun dropped bright beams along the soft ground. Kryxis moved through them, going from shadow to light.

This place was only one of many worlds he had the pleasure of exploring, filled with sights and sounds and smells he could never have imagined, even in his dreams. And the more he saw, the more he came to understand how closed off he had been on X110. How it had been as much his prison as it had been his home and kingdom.

Climbing up the crest of a hill, he stood on the edge and looked down on the shallow valley below. Their ship was stationed some ways down. Another ship sat next to it, with a cracked wing and broken thruster.

Dani’s crew worked around the other ship along with those who had become stranded. Another team of scientists come to do research, their ship malfunctioning, steering them off course.

They had been passing by, making their way across the belts to a place Dani called Terra Centra, the alliance’s home world. There he could meet other vrisha and possibly visit the vrishan home world. His home world.

Home was not a place for him though, but a person. He didn’t care where he was really. Only that she was always beside him. His den was ever changing, and that was okay. If someday they ever wished to make a permanent place for themselves, he trusted Dani would know where to go.

The breeze picked up and with it her scent, filling his lungs, making his mouth water. He sensed her, close. His hearts hammered in his chest, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He moved swiftly but silently through the forest, following the scent of her which was still mingled with his own.

His beautiful prey was close. As he came to the edge of the tree line, he stepped in the shadows and saw her within a field of tall grass, taking her samples. Poor thing would never see him coming.

He crept toward her, as quiet as the wind, until he was right upon her. As soon as his shadow fell over her, she looked up and gasped as he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her into him.

“I swear I feel you watching me.” She laughed.

“Your instincts don’t deceive you,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.

“And yet I get caught every time.”

“True. But you like it.” He brought her down to the ground, making her yelp as he sat back. She sank into him, resting her head against his chest, gripping the arm across her.

They sat together in the field as the grass swayed around them, the sun warming his back. He took her hands in hisand enclosed his fingers around hers. Small, delicate hands compared to his own.

“Kryxis?” she said as she studied their hands.

“Yes?”

She looked up at him and smiled. “Never stop catching me.”

He squeezed her hands gently, resting his head against hers. A smile grew on his face. “You have my word.”