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The Flower of the Sky, wrought by divine craftsmen.’

‘You are my all,’ he ended, ‘and I will never let you out of my sight again.’

She pressed her lips to his. ‘Neither shall I. That was a beautiful verse, by the way.’

He bent over her, giving her small nips along her nape and neck until he reached her feathers. Herkoya.

‘May we please talk about this now?’

She sighed. ‘Do we have to?’

Riv tugged her hair with a gentle pull. ‘I need to know. For my peace of mind.’

She brushed her lips on the edge of his mouth. ‘Alright. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

‘I think I can manage it,’ he rasped.

Her lips turned up at the ends as she knifed up in bed. ‘The fivekoyasab?rs signify that I am born a daughter of the Katánian king of the K?str?l order. However, my existence as aKintiin a realm of the worst kind of raiders and marauders became too much of a burden to bear. I was ashamed to be a hawkling of the Katáne.’

Élisa sat up and wrapped her arms around her drawn-up knees, her eyes far away and lost in distant memories.

‘My mother never cared for the wars my father waged year after year, and watching her and other K?str?l wives suffer made me see it was for naught. Worse, I was expected to inherit the throne and lead my people into more endless marauding. After my mother died, I was so alone in Katánopolis, in the bleakness of the Winter Palace. I found out through my maid-in-waiting that my father had plans to marry me to aKubaielder. He wanted me to get pregnant and give birth. So he could steal my hawkstone, which loosens in delivery before it affixes itself to whomever it deems as its rightful beneficiary. He was desperate to disrupt the process and claim it back for himself, which had never been done.’

He shot a narrowed look. ‘So you ran away?’

Élisa stood up straight. ‘I did. Fearing for my life, I took my jewels and exchanged my wardrobe for my maid’s. I stole one of the smaller Raptor pinnaces from our spaceport. I headed for the Sarisian jump gate. I sold the craft for schills at the adjacent outpost and bought passage to Rhesia, hopping onto a cruiser to Eden II. '

‘Where we met.’

She gave him a half smile, her lilac eyes flicking to meet his. ‘Where my life changed forever.’

Her face fell into a reflective look mired in worry at the reckoning she sensed was coming.

‘Riv, it was wrong to hide my true nature from you. But I had no choice. I was certain my father would hunt me down to the ends of Pegasi and tear apart anyone who had harbored me. I couldn’t reveal who I was to anyone. So, I lost myself in the tunnels of Eden II, where I could help those in need. Many of those were refugees fleeing the same planet and cities my father’s armies had torn down. If I hadn’t rendered aid, I’d have been as guilty and complicit as he was. I had to assist them.’

He stroked her back, pressing his lips to her shoulder. ‘You came to my aid, too, Élisa. You were my salvation.’

Her eyes flashed with emotion. ‘You were your own redemption. I only supported your recovery.’

Riv’s voice deepened with sadness. ‘But you fell pregnant and didn’t tell me.’

She twisted to face him, her face softening with regret. ‘I’ve tossed and turned many sleepless nights for that reason. It was my fault for leading you on. But you were my first true love, the only touch of joy and affection I’d had in all my life apart from my mother. It was only when I sighted thekhorascouts and Noab Hakim on Eden II a few days before we wed that I knew I had to leave. I saw no other way, my love. While I trusted you, I didn’t trust my father. I did it to protect us. To safeguard you.’

Unable to handle the roiling churn, Riv lowered his head into his hands. ‘It almostfokkin’ killed me.’

The hoarse cry tore from him, taking with it all restraint. The agony of the years apart ripped through him with an unexpected rush.

The storm surge he’d been holding back broke through the channels of his control. Cold, wet tears seeped from his eyes as the outpouring of emotion hit like a tsunami, ripping through his soul.

He fell with a groan to the bed and curled into himself, chest, body, heart, heaving as the pain and suffering of the last twenty-odd years gushed from deep within.

His invincible joker and stoic mask fell away to reveal the real emotion and destructiveness of his lone decades-long quest.

Élisa threw herself over him, she too weeping as the storm roared through them, stroking his hair, head, and skin, murmuring heartfelt apologies.

While outside, the mist-slicked skies of Devansi wept in sympathy, too.

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