Page 137 of Saved By the Alien Hybrid

“Stop that,” he murmured, reaching up to swipe away a fresh trail of tears. “You’ll dehydrate yourself.”

Her expression went from despairing to irritated, and he found he preferred it.

“Don’t start that,” she said.

“Start what?”

“Fussing over me, you deranged alien. You’re the one who just—who just—” Her lips thinned, and she swallowed hard, darting her gaze away from him.

“Just returned safely against impossible odds with the great love of my life, whose existence has solved the mystery of why I endured through all of life’s suffering?”

She gaped at him, a flush rising on her cheeks. “When the hell did you get so eloquent?”

“It’s cruel to insult a male on his sickbed,” he said grimly.

She gave him a droll look.

With a groan, he leveraged himself up to sitting. Cordelia slipped an arm behind him to brace him while he found his center of gravity. He felt strange and off balance without his arm. He was sure that the weight of what he had lost would bear down upon him in time, but at that moment, his heart felt lighter than it ever had.

It was over. It was really over. TheGidalanwas no longer in orbit, a looming shadow over the hybrids’ hope of a future. The mistake he’d made during the rebellion could not be undone, but now, no further harm could come from it. They were safe. At least for a while.

Haerune came over to stand at his other side, and together he and Cordelia helped him rise to his feet. He rolled his neck, prompting a little squeak of objection from Cordelia as his horn swung her way.

“How did the others fare?” Rentir asked.

“Yelir will walk with a limp, but otherwise we lost only Thalen,” Haerun answered.

Thalen had been a friend to him when he had least deserved it. A brother in arms. He was gone now, just gone. Forever.

Make it count, he’d said.

He sat back down as his mind reeled. Cordelia petted his cheek, looking at him with mournful understanding.

“He died so I would not lose you,” he rasped. “I owe him a debt that can never be repaid.”

“He was a hero,” she murmured. “We’ll make sure he’s remembered as one.”

“Is that enough?”

She shook her head, smiling sadly. “But it’s all we’ve got.”

A silence fell over them, all of them at a loss for words.

“I’d like to see the others,” he said.

CHAPTER 56

With his sleevepinned up over his missing arm, Rentir trailed behind Haerune to the common area. Cordelia’s hand was in his, squeezing so tight his bones ached.

The room was abuzz with the murmuring of voices.

The group nearest to the door noticed him first, and Nyx’s eyes widened in recognition. “Holy shit, Rentir’s awake!” she announced, pointing at him.

Awareness spread through the crowd like a ripple, a hush falling over them as they turned to stare. Faces jumped out of the crowd at him, but there were many he didn’t recognize—including a few that only came about three feet high. The younglings watched him curiously, their eyes darting up to the grown males in askance.

Someone began to clap. He looked to the source of the sound—Eunha, standing alongside Lidan and a few of the other women. Pandora followed suit, and Seren, and then Lidan experimentally copied the gesture.

Rentir’s gaze drifted over all of them in astonishment as the gesture spread like wildfire, until the room was a roar of applause that he felt wholly undeserving of. His eyes met Ven’sin the crowd, compounding the shame when the male ducked his head and turned away, pushing his way out of the crowd.