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He landed with ease and stalked, with Élisa still in his clasp, into the cool of the house.

Inside, the air was still, waiting, as if breathless for what was about to transpire.

Still, Riv powered on to her bedroom, kicking the door open and turning to strike it closed.

He marched to her bed and lay her down.

She scrambled to sit up, and they stared at each other for a long time.

Élisa raked her eyes over him.

Ribau’s grizzled, weathered form in a tattered space suit had transformed into a sleek meta-warrior in a close-fitted black jumpsuit that molded along his ropey, muscled body.

Her gaze took in his magnificent sheath of dead straight silver locks that fell to his back in a smooth sheet.

She luxuriated in the chiseled, sculptural planes of his cheekbones.

Lower still to his carved nose, proud and dominant on his masterpiece of a face, and his lush lips that had given her so much pleasure in their youth.

His skin was still as pale as she recalled. So, too, were his unusually light eyes, his most arresting feature, which gave him the appearance of a ghoul, albeit an incredibly handsome one.

What was even more uncanny was his resemblance to their son, Killen.

Riv turned his white, irised eyes towards Élisa, waiting for her.

‘Are you here? Or is my single eye playing tricks on me?’ she whispered.

‘Naam, love, it is I,’ he growled. He spoke deep, soft, and low in the rasping resonance she remembered.

‘All this time?’

He nodded with a small smile, his silver hair shimmering about his pale, a soft touch against his hard, planed and chiseled face. ‘All this time.’

They stared at each other for a long time before she spoke with longing. ‘Why did you hide yourself from me? Especially these last few days?’

Riv reached a hand to stroke her face, his own mired in sadness. ‘I had to be sure that revealing myself would not harm you. I also wanted to understand the circumstances before I made any rash decisions. But trust me, woman, it was torture every step of the way.’

She flung her arms around him and held him as tightly as possible.

He returned the embrace, yet she sensed a potent emotion in him so moving that she shuddered.

He held her tight until she broke, tears pouring onto her face, and she didn’t try to stop them as they trickled down her cheeks.

The loneliness of the years hit hard, and the rock of pain in her chest throbbed and pushed against her heart.

‘Riv.’

She looked up to find him gazing down at her, his fingers wiping away her pain.

‘I’m here. Keep looking.’

She obeyed, running her hands over his face, chest, and arms, still lost in disbelief.

‘Do you like what you see?’ he rasped, his breath catching.

She nodded, her eye flicking over him in appreciation. ‘I like it a lot. You’re so handsome, bigger, larger than life. More dashing, manly, and mature, too. It’s blowing my mind, and I can’t believe it.’

He took her hands and guided them onto his chest.