Page 52

The stars around us crackle and flashe with lightning amid clouds of blues, grays, violets, and greens. Allele moves slowly as she leads the other ships through the nebula around Amphir with confidence. I can see their flashing marker lights through the windows.

“How does she know where we are?” Tal whispers to Aura.

“I feel home just as you feel the heart in your chests. You know where it is because it is the pulse. It is a beacon to your soul.”

“When did she get so deep?” Blaize asks.

Aura spares him a glance but nothing more. I think he’s worried we won’t make it, but he’s trusting Allele.

“Are you okay?” I ask from the seat beside him.

“Just remembering the fall in my Hellion suit, getting kicked out here. Following Allele’s humming pulse.

“She was a beacon for me. Saved my life. Used nearly all of her power to launch an escape pod to catch me as I fell to the surface. My suit was busted. Rocket boots were down. Hull integrity was failing.”

He sighs. “Denarso battle gone sideways. Novarks got involved. I couldn’t tell what side they were on when the Nebs arrived. Sol Forces crumbled. Allele took me in, healed me, then brought me back to my people. Now, I know why.”

Ephinium sits in the copilot’s seat beside Fieri. I have no doubt she is Aura’s mother. It’s in their eyes, their shared light, and the way they carry themselves. Not to mention the same cheekbones. She glows as he does—a soft, faint green, wispy light over her skin.

The nebula slips from Allele like a fading cloak. Inside the nebula is a large internal cavity and an angry gray planet.

“That’s her.” Ephinium whispers a quiet prayer and touches the Mark of Viestria on her forehead. “Thank you, Allele.”

“I am honored to serve a Torchbearer again,” Allele replies.

Ephinium is quieter than Aura. But there are moments he is tender, and I know he will be a good father.

Allele guides us into the storm clouds, absorbing arcs from the sky like they’re her fuel. She flies faster the more she collects.

“Happy?” Aura asks.

“Very.” The navigation screens flash. “Fieri, please assess topography for appropriate landing space for the ships. I am not as qualified with Terran landings as you are.”

“I appreciate the hand-off.” Fieri takes control, selects a large, green valley, and sends the target to the other ships. “Castle is just up the hill.”

He hovers us lower and sets us down with a gentle bump.

We gear up with the survival packs we can carry and exit the ramp. Ephinium’s light swells until I cannot look directly at her.

“Everyone follow me, please.” She leads us to a narrow, overgrown path among fields of tall grass as thunderstorms roar overhead. Aura stays beside her, tugging me along by my hand.

“Aura,” I call to him, steadying the pack on my shoulders with my other hand. “Let me go.”

He wheels around. “What? No.”

I smile, hoping he knows I mean well. “This is something you need to do with your mother, not me. I am not a Torchbearer. You two are. You need to lead us. Please. I do not deserve this honor. And I don’t want to take it from you.”

“But you carry a Torchbearer,” he says, resting a hand on my belly. “In a way, you are.”

“I will follow you.” When he struggles to accept it, I slump. “Stars, Aura. Just let me look at your ass all the way up there. That’s what I want!”

“Oh.” He kisses me, grins, then hustles up to where his mother stands, waiting for others to file out of the ships.

Some motherships are still landing in the distance.

It will take hours to unload everyone. As they talk, Aura’s glow strengthens until he is as bright as his mother.

They light up the trail even between strikes, guiding us to the castle as night falls heavy like the rain.

“Anything you need, Jovie. You tell me.” Eluni says, staying beside me the whole way. Her body shimmers with symbols as we climb.

“I’m fine.”

Eluni grumbles. “I would not have taken you with me into that battle if I had known.”

I gently elbow her. “Stop. I didn’t know. But I guess when Allele did her thing, she must’ve detected it.”

That’s correct.

“She just confirmed it,” I add, motioning to my head. “Still weird hearing her like that.”

“So it’s Allele’s fault?” Eluni growls. “Risking a Torchbearer’s mate and offspring is a big offense!”

“Easy. Let’s just focus on the future. Allele got us all here. She saved all of us. I’m not about to get upset over something in the past.”

“As long as she doesn’t do it again,” Eluni growls, her symbols brightening.

A bolt of electricity pours down on Eluni from the sky, turning so bright and hot that I have to turn away. “Eluni!”

The light vanishes, and I hesitantly peek back at where she stood.

Eluni’s body is covered in electric spiders. Her gear and clothes steam. “Oh, fuck. That was awesome !”

She throws her fists in the air and belts out a triumphant yell that riles up the crowd on the trail behind us.

Tal rushes up to Eluni, eyes on her like she’s an angel sent from Heaven, then seems to think otherwise of touching her.

“You’re insane,” I laugh. “How the hell—”

“We were born here, Jovie,” Ephinium says with calm words. “We adapted to this place, to feed on what it offers just as you do on Earth. Our methods may be different, but our needs are the same: fuel, rest, love, hope.”

Eluni dips her head, so I do as she does.

Ephinium and Aura continue up the trail as others behind us get lovezaps from the sky.

I worry what a strike might do to me and to Aura’s child.

“Do not fear, Jovie. Your power is still much lower than most here,” Ephinium adds. “The strikes will follow the easiest paths to ground. That is not you. Not here. But someday, maybe. If you live here long enough with us, Amphir will change you, too.”

The castle is a massive structure of metal and stone, clearly meant to house thousands. It’s difficult to define in the darkness until a flash of lightning exposes a wall, a doorway, a tower, or a symbol of Viestria.

Aura pushes on the doors, but years of rain and lack of use have rusted metal hinges and latches. He backs up, winks at me, lights up his Storm, and body-slams his way through.

Stars, I love that muscled hunk.

Inside, Ephinium lights the torches with a wave of her hand. Arcs ripple through the metal veins in the stone walls, igniting fireplaces and pedestals with technology still more advanced than I’ve encountered on Earth.

“Come on. Let’s pick out a room.” Aura scoops me up in his arms. “My beautiful bride.”

As we walk the halls, I ask, “What did your mother tell you that made you suddenly so bright?”

“I didn’t want to walk with her. Didn’t think I’d earned it.

” Aura leans into another room and backs out.

“She said Torchbearers are chosen by some force we do not understand, but they are always deserving of the light they carry because it is in our blood to protect and guide. It is who I am. Torchbearer genes always dominate the others. So I cannot be like my father was, even if I was his son. It is the same with Keepers.”

“But Eluni—”

He kisses my cheek. “It is kind that you worry. But I think Allele can help. Allele requested extra serum from Elix when he came to visit. We can’t let the Keepers die off. They protect our history like we stand guard and guide our people.”

“What is my purpose as a Lightbringer? I’m not Amphiran.”

“My mother told me that you are created at the will of the universe to be the last hope. When there is an imbalance, it finds a soul and gives it a special spark. How did you do what you did to save me from the kings?”

“When I saw the destruction, the people and Denarsoans on the floor and the others still fighting, anger took over. Allele said to just focus on what I wanted, and that’s what I did.”

He chews a lip and laughs nervously. “Guess I better make sure I stay on your good side.”

Aura finally finds a room he likes and carries me inside. He circles the large four-post bed and passes the raging fireplace to peer out the window. “Pathway is lit up, that’s good.”

“Oh?” I look and find the string of Amphirans climbing the walkway between glowing stones.

“That means I can spend some time with you.”

Eluni knocks and cracks the door open. “Packed you a heavy blanket that’s not crusty and old. Bedding crates will be brought up in about an hour.”

Aura walks to the door. “Thank you, Eluni.”

Then he locks it, grins at me, snags the blanket, and walks to the fireplace that arcs and snaps with electric flames. He spreads out the blanket, lays me back, strips out of his armor, and then kisses me with tenderness.

“Stop me if you think I’m hurting you or the baby.”

“I will.”

Aura inhales against my neck and hums as he begins working my armor off of my shoulders. With every inch of skin he exposes, he finds each Vybrance node and kisses it. With every touch of our skin, I feel another lovezap and see a little flash of light.

The light of the fire casts shadows on Aura in all the right ways. My chiseled mate slips my armor over my hips and tosses it aside. As the heat of his skin slides over mine and I feel him push inside, our bodies form their own Storm. It is electric, fiery, gentle, and then almost violent.

Aura’s body glistens with sweat as he thrusts into me again. Deeper, harder. I slick around him from the delicious pressure and the stimulating tingle of his body and mine, united.

He suckles my nipples, withdraws, leans back, and drags his tongue up my pussy, giving my nub an extra swirl of affection, then reinserts himself. But it is the way he gasps when I clench around him that sends me over the edge.

I never thought anyone could love me like he does or find such pleasure in my body.

He stiffens inside of me and maxes our bond, making my ecstasy rise, my thoughts blur, and my skin a field of hot white light.

Aura is there with me, electric green eyes drinking me in as he fills me, caresses me, and folds his light around me.

After our bodies are calm again, he holds me by the fire and wraps the blanket around us as the castle rooms warm.

“We will make this a bustling planet again. I will give you two a good life here.” Aura stretches his legs to either side of mine and guides me to rest against his chest. “But I have been considering what jobs I might take after this.”

“Oh?”

He presses his mouth to the side of my head where he draws in breaths of me.

“I think there are other Amphirans out there who have yet to find their way home. I want to help them. Just figured I might pick up a private security job or two along the way. Visit Jorusk, Sa’Tai, Vitus, Elix, maybe even General Viriden of Isonia. ”

I sigh and nestle myself deeper in his arms. “As long as you take me with you.”

“Not while you’re pregnant.”

“Who’s going to fix Allele’s engines? You’re too fat.”

He scoffs, then grins.

Aura picks me up, turns me around, and guides me down over his rigid length. I can’t comprehend how he recovers so fast. Even though I am spent, the way his girth stretches me still gives me a euphoric rush.

“Only in all the right places,” he whispers into my ear.

“Stars, I love you,” I pant, looping my arms around his neck. “Just promise me that if you leave, you take me with you. I don’t want to go another day without—”

“This?” Aura flexes his cock and smirks.

“Oh!” The surge of electricity makes me tense. When I regain my wits, I punch him in the chest.

“Ow.” Aura falls back, laughing.

I lean over him and admire the smile that’s not just on his lips but in his eyes, and I know I’m right where I want and need to be. “Love you, amamora.”

Aura draws me down to his lips. “ Forever , amamora.”