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Z’leni moves behind, coaxing me to relax against him. He presses soft kisses down my spine, whispering in Urr’ki, words I can’t understand, but feel in my bones. His fingers find slickness and stretch, gentle and careful. I gasp, but it’s not pain—it’s intensity. A deeper fullness, a pleasure mounting like a rising tide. There’s pressure. Closeness.

And then they’re both inside me.

I cry out, the sound half sob, half gasp. They go still.

“Elara,” Ryatuv groans. “Is this?—?”

“Don’t stop,” I breathe. “Please don’t stop.”

They move—slow at first, bodies finding rhythm, balance, and harmony. Ryatuv thrusts upward as Z’leni rolls forward, their hands on my waist, my breasts, my thighs. I ride the waves of them, taken from both sides, surrounded, consumed. I am utterly theirs.

The rhythm builds—faster, deeper. I shatter once, then again, each climax like a sunburst through my body. I scream their names and they hold me through every tremble.

Z’leni presses his forehead to my back as he groans my name, spilling into me.

Ryatuv follows a breath later, growling as he surges up into my heat, his whole body taut with release.

When we collapse into the sand, it isn’t ruin that finds us?—

It’s rebirth.

We are a knot of limbs, slick with sweat and dust and love. Ryatuv’s hand cups my face, his eyes soft. Z’leni’s lips press to my shoulder, then my neck.

“You are everything,” Z’leni whispers.

“My treasure,” Ryatuv murmurs. “Ours. Always.”

I smile, tears slipping free, and kiss them both.

The suns blaze above. The wind whispers across the dunes. Tajss stretches out before us.

And for the first time since I woke up on this world, I feel like I’ve come home.

48

RANI

Ilinger outside the tent, my heart pounding like war drums.

He waits within—silent, still, patient.

The shelter is a simple frame of poles with stretched hides for walls, but it manages to feel different from the others. Somehow permanent and intentional. The flap lifts—a silent invitation, charged like a lightning strike.

“Come to me, Rani,” he says, voice low and absolute.

The command wraps around me like invisible bonds. I step forward without thought, drawn,wanting.

Inside, the world softens. The floor is layered with leathers. The air is thick with the warm, rich scent of him. Spice, smoke, and very, very male. A crude bed sits in the center covered with skins. Crude, but carefully made.

He stands in the center, watching me with those molten amber eyes.

“I had this prepared for us,” he says, gesturing with his hand.

For a moment, my throat tightens, emotion slamming into me like a wave. It nearly knocks me to my knees. No one has ever done somethingfor mebefore. For no more reason than they wanted to. I have been a queen, a leader, a shield, but never... this.

Never someone’s desire.

I sway on my feet. He crosses the space between us in a single stride, so close I feel the heat of his body. His hand lifts, fingers brushing a lock of hair from my cheek. His touch is maddeningly gentle. Reverent.