Page 30 of Grounded (Convergence #1)

Thax and Liria developed a routine. Despite the way his people had turned against him, Thaxvarien was happy.

He was happy. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so at peace.

He was making new friends among Liria's people, and they accepted him readily.

No suspicion or wariness. Medeans didn't seem to care where he came from.

They judged people by their actions, not their appendages.

Every day, Thax would wake up next to Liria, smelling her honey and rose scent. It was impossible for him to leave her bed without making love to her first. After sex and then a shower together, they'd get dressed and go to work. Nothing could bring him down after such a lofty beginning.

They'd meet for lunch, often joined by some of their friends at one of the common tables, and ignore the glares sent their way by the Aethari.

Although there was one Aethari stare that made him smile—Ader's.

Not that Larocran stared at Thax and Liria.

No, his gaze was reserved for Chief Rinna Jass.

And hers often met it with an equal amount of heat.

Thax hoped they would find what he and Liria had.

It was so easy. Natural. After work, they'd meet at Liria's room, have some reunion sex (the hours apart were grueling), and then they'd either eat in the dining hall or go into Dubar for dinner. Sometimes, they even went dancing.

Like this night.

The pulsing lights and pounding music put Thaxvarien in a dreamlike state as Liria ground and gyrated against him.

Sweet magic above, his woman could move.

He had to bite his cheek to keep his cock from rising.

Not that it mattered if he did respond to her sexually.

Liri loved it. Rubbed harder against him with her plump ass.

She had even felt bold enough to cup him there twice that evening alone.

Thaxvarien used his wings as a natural barrier, keeping the other dancers from getting too close to his destra.

A claimed destru never fully relaxed when out with his destra.

Always looking out for danger. Those protective instincts bred into his bones.

Even if Thax hadn't been taught to use his wings as weapons, he would have known to—sensed it when with her.

Where Liria's safety was concerned, his whole body was a weapon.

His wings also created a false sense of privacy, making it feel as if they had Celestine to themselves.

Not that he needed such a barrier. Liria had a way of making the rest of the world disappear.

Thaxvarien's thick arm wrapped around Liri's waist and pulled her closer. With a spin, he bent her backward and followed her down to kiss the delicate column of her throat. Another spin and he launched Liria upward, grinning when she laughed.

Liria closed her eyes and held out her arms. “I feel as if I'm flying.” Looking down at him, she said, “Don't let me fall.”

“Never.” He brought her back down, into his arms. The feel of her soft body sliding against his made him groan, but the sound was drowned out by the music and his destra's lips.

“Slut!” someone hissed, the voice slicing through Thax's joy.

With a sharp, predatory movement, Thaxvarien's head went up, his stare searching, and then his hand shot out. A woman shrieked as he lifted her off her feet.

The dancers around them backed away.

“What the fuck did you just say to my woman?” Thax snarled in her face.

The woman was Aethari. Of course. One of the soldiers from the fort.

Again, of course. Maybe she thought her training made her strong enough to take on a man of her race because she kicked Thax in the chest. To her credit, it worked.

He dropped her. But he wasn't just an Aethari—he was a destru.

If she had known that, she might not have verbally assaulted his Liri.

Thax could not let any form of attack slide.

It was against the law of nature. Even as the woman gasped and gained her feet, he grabbed her again.

Spinning the Aethari around by her arm, Thax got in her face. “You think I won't drop you because you're a female? You're also a soldier, and you know there are repercussions to slandering an Aethari's lover.”

“Fuck you, freak!” She punched him. Right in the face.

As Thax dropped the Aethari woman yet again, her wings shot out, one of them knocking into Liria and sending his destra onto her ass.

Thaxvarien's vision brightened and sharpened as magic infused his eyes and rage infused the rest of his body.

That Aethari would be lucky to make it out of Celestine alive.

But even though Thaxvarien's destra was an officer and his to protect, she'd been trained to fight, and knocking her down only gave her access to her opponent's legs.

Liria rolled and kicked out, hitting the Aethari woman in her left knee before Thax could rejoin the combat.

A crunch came, followed closely by a scream, loud enough to be heard over the thumping bass.

“Cease!” a large Medean man shouldered his way over to them. “Out! All of you!” He picked up the shrieking Aethari woman by the scruff of her wrap-shirt and tossed her toward the door. “Don't bring this shit in here!”

“Sorry, Klen,” Liria said. “She called me a slut because my boyfriend is Aethari.”

The security guard looked from Liria to the Aethari woman, and then to Thax. Thaxvarien inclined his head.

With a grimace, the man nodded. “You two can stay.

I'll handle this.” Klen strode after the limping woman, reached between her flapping wings to grab the crossed back of her top, and hauled her to her feet again.

“You're banished, blondie. No one disrespects women in my hall. Not even another woman. Get your feathered ass out!” He practically carried her to the door, even though her wingspan made it awkward, and her limp made her dead weight.

Then Klen tossed her through the door that one of the customers opened for him.

As the woman tumbled into the street, feathers everywhere, people applauded.

Thax looked around, his expression blank. Holy shit. Were they clapping for him, Liria, or for the downfall of an Aethari?

Liria took Thax's hand and led him away from the dance floor. Once they were in a quieter corner of the hall, she asked, “What's wrong? He took our side.”

“He took your side,” Thaxvarien said. Although he had learned that Medeans were generally fair-minded, the only ones he knew were military people.

That man was a civilian, and so were a lot of the people in the crowd.

Thax did a scan of the room and then looked back at Liri.

“He also took great delight in kicking out an Aethari.”

“Ah. And then the Medeans cheered.”

Thaxvarien grimaced, guilt rising now that his destru instincts had been assuaged. “I'm still one of them, Liri. They're still my people. She was wrong, but she didn't deserve that.”

“She didn't? She attacked me verbally and you physically.”

Thax hung his head. His guilt wasn't about the woman alone. There was something he had to tell his destra. Something he'd been putting off. “You don't understand how upsetting our relationship is to them. I was . . . shit, Liri. I'm betrothed.”

Chest clenching, Thaxvarien watched Liria back away from him. It felt as if someone had put a boulder on his sternum. From the looks of her, his destra was feeling something similar. He had done that to her. Fuck. He had to explain this shit before she ran off.

“Don't look at me like that.” Thax held a hand out to her. “It's not like that, Liri. It was arranged when I was a child. I barely know her.”

Liria paused. Blinked. “Arranged? You didn't have a say in it?”

“No. And that's yet another thing I protested. Arranged marriages are an ancient tradition. They should be left in the past.”

“So, you're . . . do you have to marry this woman?”

“No, Liri. I'm not a slave. I can choose to break the agreement. It will just offend some people.”

“That's your favorite pastime.”

Thax snorted a laugh. “There's my Liri. I thought I lost you for a second.”

She crushed him again when she said, “You did, darling. You should have told me about your betrothal sooner.”

“I know, and I'm sorry. It was hard for me to talk about. Honestly, I was hoping maybe I could end it before you learned about it. But now I see that you need to know all the reasons why my people are so cruel to us. I've betrayed them and our traditions in more than one way.”

Liria stared at him, sending his heart into wild territory. But then she nodded. “All right. So, you were supposed to marry an Aethari woman and become the next Speaker?”

“That's what my father wants, yes. You know it's not what I want.”

Liria looked around. “This is the wrong place for this conversation. Let's go back to the fortress and talk there.”

Thax nodded, took her hand, and led her out of Celestine even though they were still welcome. It was a shame to leave. They'd been having such a nice time. But Thax wanted to talk to Liria about all the things he'd been holding back. His arranged betrothal was only the start.

Dubar was quiet at that time of night. In such a small town, there were no leystone carriages humming by on glowing rails, breathforges purifying the air with great puffs, or even much traffic.

The only sound came from the skyfire streetlamps—the captured lightning in their globes emitting a thunderous whispering that was oddly comforting.

Thax welcomed the peace, knowing he might be facing an unleashed storm soon.

Hurricane Liri. How would she react to the news that she was his destra?

Liria all but scoffed at the Aethari way of respecting the Source of Magic and its guidance.

She may not even believe him. But surely she wouldn't be angry about it?

Thaxvarien chewed on his lower lip. She often reacted in ways he was unprepared for.

It was one of the things he liked about her.

In this instance, however, it was worrisome.

Right on cue, Liria cut into his thoughts. “Thax, what do you want?”

He looked down at their joined hands and then at Liria's face. Was that a serious question? What was she talking about?

“No, really. I'd like an answer, please. What do you really want for yourself? What do you want to do in the future once your service is completed?”

Thaxvarien considered his words carefully. “Before I came here, I thought I'd be a leader. A different kind of leader than my father. I don't want to speak for Source, Liri. I want to speak for the Aethari.”

“I could see you doing that. Challenging the old traditions and laws. Bringing your race into the future. Forging a new path.”

“Yes, but that dream must change now.”

“Because of me?”

He nodded.

“I'm sorry.”

Oh, sweet magic, no. She was taking his words wrong. Again. He had to tread more carefully.

“I'm not sorry.” Thax lifted Liri's hand and kissed it. “Everything changes. Maybe our relationship is another way of leading my people into the future.”

“Yes, you said something similar once, and my response remains the same—I don't want to be the couple who clears a path for others. The first one always suffers the most. I just want to be happy. With you.”

An image of him dropping to his knees and proposing to her filled Thaxvarien's mind. But he held his composure. Just barely. So much of their relationship had been rushed. He didn't want to rush that.

Instead, he said, “I want that too. And I don't want you to suffer. I don't want to be the first either, Liri. But that is what we are. We can either bravely forge the path or creep through the bushes as if we're criminals. We are not criminals. Nothing about us is a crime.”

Liria grinned and shook her head. “Marrying me is literally against Aethari law.”

Thax was about to tell Liria exactly where his people could shove that law when she was torn away from him.