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What The Heart Desires

éLISA

‘ I fokkin ’ knew it!’ élisa hissed as his boots touched down. ‘Yet, I second-guessed myself so often that I almost lost my sanity!’

She tracked across the fissured landscape towards the tall, imposing Rider, her lithe legs churning. Then she was on him.

She impacted like an out-of-control maglev train, pounding his chest, kicking, and growling as she did.

Tears flooded her, and raw pain seared her face, mirroring his own.

He let her throw her sorrow against him until he could take it no more.

‘How could you hide your true self from me?’ she cried, rage falling, seeping from under her patch.

‘You left me! You hid away for years!’

His grating cry made her jerk her head to look up into Riv’s chiseled sadness, at his white irised eyes glistening with emotion.

‘I had no choice!’ Her shriek was just as hoarse, pained, and gut-punching as his.

He held her shoulders, gazing deep into her eyes as his chest heaved with emotion. ‘élisa, I had no idea. You said nothing back then. You gave me nada to work with.’

‘Would you have come looking for me if I had?’

He tossed his silver-white hair, freed now from Ribau’s bun. ‘I did come looking for you! I’ve been scouring the entire galaxy, élisa. For you, only you.’

She blew a frustrated breath, pushing away from him, pacing the ground, tears streaming down her face. ‘I couldn’t chance it. If you’d known, even had an inkling of where I was going, they’d have used you to find me. They’d have stripped you to the bone, gouged out your eyes, and discarded your relics for the carrion birds. It’s what they do, and I would not let them do that. Not to the man I loved, with all my heart, soul, and being.’

Her cry echoed across the fissured plain.

It died away against the boulders and seeped into the desert sands, leaving only heartache and regret in its wake.

They stood facing each other, chests in upheaval, hearts thumping, eyes drinking the other in. Unable to chart the way forward.

Until a weak voice cut through the thick tension. ‘What a charming reunion. It’s an honor to see true love at its purest.’

They whipped around to see that the downed pilot had flipped himself somehow onto his back. Blood poured out of his mouth, yet he sported a feeble grin on his dark, bearded face.

‘Noab Hakim at your service,’ he coughed. ‘Never thought this day would come, K’élisa, Kinti of Katánē.’

élisa turned to face him, eyes wide. ‘You are Hakim?’

‘Yours truly. You’ve been a worthy opponent; your ability to slip away and hide in the most obscure places is worth noting. You’ve made my search for you all these years more interesting and lucrative.’

élisa grimaced as she approached the bleeding man, but not before giving Riv a sharp glance that promised their altercation was not yet over. ‘Did I now?’

He gave a slow nod. ‘You did, and seeing as I’m about to pass from this life, there’s something you should know. Your father is unceasing in his desire to possess the hawkstone. He won’t be placated. He’ll tear you apart to get it. But as it’s no longer on your forehead, it has passed on to a progeny. He’ll kill that child, too. All he longs for, dreams of, and obsesses over is reclaiming it and power back on Katánē.’

She flinched. ‘What do you mean?’

The injured man coughed. ‘Dissension abounds in the Kingdom. A few years ago, a rebel offshoot of the K?str?l Hawks’ army split away from the Kiama . They refused to maraud anymore. They said that your father was not their rightful leader, given that the hawkstone was not in his possession. They also were not keen on his old ways. They wanted a new Katánē. He, of course, would not give it to them. Since then, the realm has been in flux. The return of the hawkstone will ensure he can rule the people, both as a symbol and for its powers.’

élisa shook with emotion, her fists clenched by her side. ‘But that is not the way. Only the hawkstone chooses the rightful heir when they’re born, and no one can dispute it.’

‘Your father thinks he can command it by brute force and with the help of the curse makers. He’s been after the hawkstone for years. His plan was hatched when you turned 21, when you would have become the KiaMalkia , Queen of all Katánē. But you left, disappeared without a trace.’

Riv could only watch and listen with incredulity as élisa raised her hands and shook them in frustration. ‘I had to because I was aware of his ploy to control me and thus the hawkstone.’

Noab levered himself up by one elbow, giving élisa a sad smile. ‘Your father would not have been content with just controlling you. He wants the hawkstone in his talons.’

‘Let him try,’ élisa hissed. ‘Let him fokkin ’ try!’

Noab gave her a downcast smile. ‘ Kinti , you need to know that the other two khōras I was with on Neron N13 have your location and are now racing back to him. He’ll return with his entire army, no less. The only thing that will deter them is that nebula. It doesn’t take well to our ships. But we still got through it.’

‘How did you find me?’ the Katánian woman asked.

‘It took us a while to deduce that you left Neron N13 on your companion’s ship,’ Noab coughed once more. ‘It was a process of elimination when we noted your departure coincided with his. We followed the ion trails to the nebula. Where we already suspected you’d been hiding. We hadn’t attempted to breach it until this time, driven by your father’s desperation. I took the chance to attack after you killed Koroi. Twas a mistake.’

The man gurgled, bringing up more blood. ‘I will not survive the night.’

RIV

‘Not if I’ve anything to do with it,’ Riv growled.

While élisa and Hakim spoke, he’d discovered Mirage and Glimmer were now close and asked the AI to hasten.

‘Enough of death for now,’ he snarled. ‘My ship is almost here. Its medbay is one of the best in all Pegasi. You’ll be well in no time.’

The fading Falasian was disbelieving, turning his head to the meta warrior. ‘You’ll do that for me?’

‘I will if you promise to leave élisa alone for the rest of her life. If it’s the Katánē you fear, we Sable Riders have ways of hiding you in places they will never be able to find.’

The Falasian man’s face crumpled as he stared at the white sky. ‘Doing their bidding has been such torment.’

‘Like someone said a long time ago, go and sin no more.’

As Riv spoke, the distinct roar of his gunship racing towards him drowned out his voice. Soon, it came to a throbbing stop, lowering with care until it hovered just above their heads.

At Riv’s command, Mirage sent a stretcher to the waiting pair. élisa and Riv bundled Noab onto the gurney, whisking it back up.

‘ Sante ,’ the man whispered as he vanished into the dark confines of the ship.

Mirage, take good care of the kinai and lock him down until we decide what to do with him.

Noted.

éLISA

élisa’s eyes tracked Noab Hakim as he disappeared into the Galician vessel. Or was it an Edenite ship above?

Its engine exhaust trail whipped up the sand around her as the vessel lifted away.

Then it was gone, and silence filled the air.

Her gaze clouded. She didn’t dare look at him .

If she did, she’d crumble. She closed her eyes as tears threatened, and her shoulders shook with the effort to keep from caving in on herself.

Of course Ribau was Riv. She’d just refused to believe it.

The signs had been plenty, thinking on it now. His stride was the same predatory, lithe prowl of her former lover.

His lips quirked with the familiar maverick energy Riv had always possessed. So, too, his exuberant poetry reading, dry humor, quick wit, and high logic.

Emotion hit her like a cataclysm, and she let out a sob, her limbs threatening to collapse to the ground.

Until strapping arms banded around her and picked her up like she was light, as feathers , she thought through her tears.

He was strong, powerful, and muscled—much more than Ribau.

She turned her tear-soaked face into his rippled chest as he strode along, clutching at him like she’d never let him go.

She breathed in his familiar essence, musk, and scent that had never left her olfactory senses. She’d smelt him day and night in the wind, the desert flowers, the sweet hay she fed her animals. Pure, clean, evocative.

Riv.

It was him.

He was here.

It was bittersweet.

It was heaven, tinged with hell.

It was an ache that hurt to the bone.

She pulled him closer to her, and his arms tightened around her.

He bounded, in giant steps, towards her rock house.

His mag boots activated without effort, and he sailed over her fence.

He landed with ease and stalked, with élisa still in his clasp, into the cool of the house.

Inside, the air was still, waiting, as if breathless for what was about to transpire.

Still, Riv powered on to her bedroom, kicking the door open and turning to strike it closed.

He marched to her bed and lay her down.

She scrambled to sit up, and they stared at each other for a long time.

élisa raked her eyes over him.

Ribau’s grizzled, weathered form in a tattered space suit had transformed into a sleek meta-warrior in a close-fitted black jumpsuit that molded along his ropey, muscled body.

Her gaze took in his magnificent sheath of dead straight silver locks that fell to his back in a smooth sheet.

She luxuriated in the chiseled, sculptural planes of his cheekbones.

Lower still to his carved nose, proud and dominant on his masterpiece of a face, and his lush lips that had given her so much pleasure in their youth.

His skin was still as pale as she recalled. So, too, were his unusually light eyes, his most arresting feature, which gave him the appearance of a ghoul, albeit an incredibly handsome one.

What was even more uncanny was his resemblance to their son, Killen.

Riv turned his white, irised eyes towards élisa, waiting for her.

‘Are you here? Or is my single eye playing tricks on me?’ she whispered.

‘ Naam , love, it is I,’ he growled. He spoke deep, soft, and low in the rasping resonance she remembered.

‘All this time?’

He nodded with a small smile, his silver hair shimmering about his pale, a soft touch against his hard, planed and chiseled face. ‘All this time.’

They stared at each other for a long time before she spoke with longing. ‘Why did you hide yourself from me? Especially these last few days?’

Riv reached a hand to stroke her face, his own mired in sadness. ‘I had to be sure that revealing myself would not harm you. I also wanted to understand the circumstances before I made any rash decisions. But trust me, woman, it was torture every step of the way.’

She flung her arms around him and held him as tightly as possible.

He returned the embrace, yet she sensed a potent emotion in him so moving that she shuddered.

He held her tight until she broke, tears pouring onto her face, and she didn’t try to stop them as they trickled down her cheeks.

The loneliness of the years hit hard, and the rock of pain in her chest throbbed and pushed against her heart.

‘Riv.’

She looked up to find him gazing down at her, his fingers wiping away her pain.

‘I’m here. Keep looking.’

She obeyed, running her hands over his face, chest, and arms, still lost in disbelief.

‘Do you like what you see?’ he rasped, his breath catching.

She nodded, her eye flicking over him in appreciation. ‘I like it a lot. You’re so handsome, bigger, larger than life. More dashing, manly, and mature, too. It’s blowing my mind, and I can’t believe it.’

He took her hands and guided them onto his chest.

‘Feel that? That’s the pulse of my heart. That’s how alive I am; you are why I live. For you and now, our son.’

His eyes danced, and she realise he was caught in euphoria, bracing herself for the pain and accusations yet to come.

Meanwhile, she had so many questions. ‘How did you track me?’

He huffed, and for a moment, she witnessed the weariness of hunting her down etched in the lines of his face. ‘It took years of searching, my love. Working with The Sable Group’s AI, I became Pegasi’s best surveillance operator. I set up my ship, which was programmed to the hilt with facial recognition tech, to try and find you. I uploaded your image to the ship’s hard drive, and when we captured footage, we studied everything at high speed, using the latest programming. Casting just for you.’

His impassioned explanation, his rich, deeper voice, the singular rasp that had haunted her for years and tracked her through the darkest reaches of the galaxy and her soul, chased away all her doubt.

élisa shook her head. ‘I can’t imagine what you went through.’

He shrugged, but she sensed his adrenaline was wearing off. ‘It was arduous, but I never gave up. I also hacked and infiltrated systems and databases across Pegasi with only one goal.’

élisa teared up, reaching for his upper arm. ‘Oh, Riv, my love, I’m so sorry.’

He shot her a half-sad smile. ‘Over time, we found a few weak leads. Neron N13 was one of the last places I had to search in this region of Pegasi. Then your friend, Halima, at the bar let on that she was acquainted with you. It blew my mind, and in that instant, I narrowed down your location. While you, too, were tracking me for your side plan. And so here we are.’

She stroked his face in fascination. ‘For so many years, I wondered if you’d moved on, forgotten about me?’

‘Never,’ he chided her, flicking a finger under her chin. ‘Did you think I’d just let you go without looking for you? After everything we shared? You were hours away from being my wife, for fokk’s sake.’

She caught a flash of the latent anger he was suppressing, and her eyes closed for a moment as sorrow flashed over her face. ‘I did what I thought best. I hoped you’d be angry at me, you wouldn’t want to follow me. If you’d done so, you’d have brought harm to yourself. While exposing our unborn child to a relentless k?st of khōra and even worse, K?str?l Sāb?r Hawks.’

He raised a brow.

She expanded. ‘They are the Katánē’s most imperial warriors who strike at my father’s bidding. They are whom I - and more so Killen - cannot fall captive to.’

‘You won’t if I’ve anything to do with it.’

She gave him a quizzical look. ‘Your abilities have changed over the years.’

He nodded. ‘They have. All of us Riders had meta capacity decades ago, but we only honed it after you left Eden II.’

She ran a hand down his muscled arm. ‘You need to tell me all that you are. I wish you’d told me long ago.’

He caught on to the fierceness laced with fleeting sadness in her voice. ‘Why élisa? Would it have made a difference?’

She looked away. ‘ Naam . I know it’s not fair to have expected you to share your truth when I hid mine, but if I’d known you were able to protect yourself from the K?str?ls, perhaps -’

He shook her head. ‘I was not this strong then, neither did I have the shields, the firepower, or the honed metanoids I now possess. If what you say is true about your people, perhaps you did make the right choice.’

She squeezed her eyes shut as if pushing away old memories. ‘One dipped in a poison chalice.’

He gave her a long look, then inclined his head. ‘Hush, my love, don’t torture yourself. Let me luxuriate in all that you are, all that you have become. It took me so long to find you, and now that I have you, I’ll never let you go.’

He smiled and ran his fingers down her cheek.

She turned her face into his roaming hand. ‘I’m not going anywhere. At least not tonight.’

Eyes glittering, he bent over and kissed her for the first time in over twenty-five years.

The second he touched her, élisa melted.

His lips, firm, pliant and ever sensual, sucked on her own, and she felt a rush of even more emotion as she welcomed her lover, the only man she’d ever given her soul to.

Peace flooded her as she rediscovered her resting place, her stronghold. Cradling his jaw, she returned the passion and intensity, their tongues meeting in an age-old dance, tasting each other’s nectar, bonding over their shared essence.

At one point, he kicked off his boots and fell onto the bed, reaching for her to pull her close. She closed her eyes and let relief wash over her. He was here, and his heart was hopefully still hers.

They stroked and touched. Other than sweet nothings, few words were uttered as they reveled in the unspoken, soothing the contusions of their long separation, melding their hearts once more.

As Devansi’s sun tracked across the skies, they slipped into oblivion, arms wound around each other. Until sleep finally took over, and their weary, wounded souls rested.