Page 138 of Starborn Husbands

Yeah, he said that. I nodded my head, but I didn’t agree. Zhang thinks he and Treyu can’t go home. He’s ready to give up being an angel so quickly for my brother, too. Treyu argued—because that’s what he does—that they were fine to return to the Tauri Nebula so that Zhang could return to his duties. He’s sure the angels were merely involved in a domestic dispute.

Zhang thinks we all need to run.

“Unauthorized travel by stargate onto Alcyone is forbidden,” he reminds me.

That means we have to land. I won’t be able to hide. “Then you three had better be quick.”

Gemini doesn’t think there will be reason for them to search our ship, which means that I could remain behind. The hawthors aren’t paranoid, only precautious.

“Or you can stay somewhere else until we finish our business.”

“Forget it, Centaurus.” I won’t be where I can’t protect Gemini and my brother if need be.

He lets go of a frustrated exhale. “Bull-headed Orions.”

I shrug. We are. That’s not likely to change. “Were the roles reversed, you wouldn’t leave them either, so stuff it, Zhang. We’ll land as close to the temple as possible, in the mountains.” That way we’ll hopefully avoid their sentries altogether.

Alcyone is a planet of intuition. They’re not known for unprovoked aggression, and they allow free access. It’s something they have the luxury to offer. It’s hard to sneak up on the hawthors with ill intent since they speak directly with the Goddesses and their entire planet is a powerful force. We’re talking giant female warriors and other creatures with divine gifts. If you’re going there to cause shit, you’d better bring a lot more than two Centauruses and your younger brother.

“What’s going to happen to them in the Alcyone?” Zhang says.

“Don’t give me that horseshit, Centaurus.”

“They’re a peaceful planet. The likelihood that we’ll be attacked while in the Alcyone is about the same as Treyu remembering what he needs to from his enlightenment,” he counters.

“So little faith in your husband, Centaurus.”

“Two hundred years. It’s been two hundred years of waiting and hoping. I’ve stopped hoping.”

“Good. Hope is for fools. But back to the Alcyone, if it’s so safe, I have nothing to worry about,” I say. I’m not worried about what inhabits Alcyone so much as what could show up.

“You don’t have to worry about an attack, you just refuse to be parted from your security blanket. If the hawthors discover you’ve returned to the Pleiades illegally, they might take issue with that.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

Zhang glares at the empty galaxy. “I don’t know why I bothered. Gemini’s the only one who can talk sense into you.”

“Not when it comes to his safety.”

“Fine. I’m going to engage the portal,” he says, reaching for the thin white headband we use to conjure such stargates. The ship uses different technology than a stargate, and it’s limited, but it makes it easier to find the prominent nodes of time. Finding those nodes and latching onto them is what makes the bending of time space possible, so you can pull yourself through the wormhole.

“Get the timeline right, eh?” I say, just to grind his gears a little for caring about me more than he needs to. He was so fussed about Treyu when we were entering Atlantis, he almost sent us into a timeline thousands of years off our mark.

He grumbles as he fiddles with the touchpad. He doesn’t place the band on his head, and I wish he would. Being out here unprotected is making me uneasy. We should have brought an army with us, but it would have been harder to remain inconspicuous.

“Have you tried making his body remember?”

“Of course I have.”

“I don’t mean through sex. Words aren’t everything.”

“Good thing for you or no one would understand you.”

“Fuck off, Zhang.” There, used my words and everything.

Softer boots patter across the deck, and I spin in my chair, opening my arms. Gem’s red hair wisps behind him and his robe flows like water. “Are you antagonizing my brother?” he asks.

I rise out of my chair in time to spin him and press him to me by the small of his back. “I was giving helpful advice.”