Page 5

5

Seven Thousand and One Nights

RIV

I t didn’t take long before they slowed down.

Thrusters kicked in, and Glimmer’s engines whined as the gunship descended through an unseen atmosphere.

Only then did Riv sit up.

Mirage?

With you. We’re heading toward a planetoid, one I’ve never chanced on.

Please send me a live feed.

A few moments later, his neural vision flickered onto the view of a desert-like vista covered in deep rock-hewn fissures and rolling dunes.

Dotted between outcrops of large stones were clusters of scrub and giant brittle dried trees looming over the sagebrush.

Also present were massive ranges, their crags obscured in veils of silver-purple haze that blanketed most of the highlands.

The sun glimmered through the mist, adding a ghost-like lilac hue to the scenery.

Glimmer dropped towards the lower ledge of a lofty mountain surrounded by chasms that meandered and trailed away from it like a skirt.

Mirage patched into Riv’s node. She’s commanded me to hover in stealth mode over that peak and left the bridge—no doubt heading back to her boat.

Silence took over, and after a beat, Mirage gave another update just as the ship Riv was in powered up. S he’s taken control of her rust bucket and is about to maneuver it from Glimmer’s hold.

The Osprey’s quivering take-off vibrated through him, and Riv imagined it flying out of his gunship’s expansive bay.

You’re descending to the surface, came Mirage’s notification.

It was a short flight. A litany of vibrations and the creak of levers told Riv the vessel was moving into position for landing.

They touched down with a shudder of brakes and screeching of a tired engine.

It took another half hour of banging and noises outside before the door opened, and élisa appeared.

Her face was closed off and solemn as she approached. ‘No fokkin ’ nonsense now, stranger. I’ll ask you to place your hands through the shield.’

With the touch of a button on the console beside the compartment, a partition formed in the energy barrier.

Riv tucked his poetry book into his back pocket.

Sauntering to the edge of his cell where she waited, he placed his wrists through the separation, holding them together.

élisa slid a group of laser cuffs over them, and as she played with their settings, she glanced at him for a moment.

Her eyes narrowed as she studied his face up close. ‘There’s something about you.’

They stood so close he breathed in the citrus-like notes in her hair, the musk of her clean skin, and the honeycomb scent of her nape.

His heart skipped a beat as he fought to keep his distinctive rasp out of his manufactured Galician droll. ‘What do you mean?’

Her gaze flicked over his disguised features. ‘It’s like we’ve met before.’

But we have my love, we have.

We’ve more than met.

We’ve made meals together, shared laughs, exchanged memories, and lost ourselves in hours of sensual bliss.

He wanted to shout it out, to release the agony building up inside him. Instead, he curled his lips with disdain and snarled. ‘I have no idea what you’re speaking of, woman. I’d remember a ball buster like you if I’d ever encountered you. Where are we?’

Her lilac eye iced over. ‘You’ll find out soon enough when I’m ready to share. Now freakin’ shut it.’

She withdrew, punching the console once more. The barrier fell away, and she jerked her chin at him. ‘Move.’

His eyes tracked to the door, and she nodded, taking hold of the weapon on the side of her jumpsuit.

She used it to prod him along as he moved past her.

He half-turned and growled at her, even though the touch was gentle.

Their gazes clashed, and he caught a fleeting expression of agitation on her face as if it hurt her to cause him any pain.

Which sealed his suspicion that her bravado was an act.

She was still his sweet, silver-haired angel underneath the swagger. A little more hard-edged and toughened by life, but the woman he’d fallen in love with nonetheless.

‘Walk ahead of me, turn right to the gangway, and keep going until you hit the external doors. Once you’re down the rampart, please wait for me. Don’t try any tricks, or I’ll evaporate your ass.’

‘You’re lucky because I don’t take orders. Not even suggestions.’

Yet he did as commanded, feeling a buzz of respect at her badassery. She’d give any one of the Riders a run for their money.

All thought whipped out of his head when his feet stepped out of her vessel and onto the ramp.

Light, heat, and the bite of flying sand swamped him in an instant.

He lifted a hand to guard his eyes from the glaring shafts of the roiling nebula and star body above. At the same time, his metanoids raced to adjust his sensors and shield him from the glowing intensity.

‘Welcome to Devansi, The Lonely Expanse.’

Riv half turned to peer at élisa. She’d thrown on a contoured transparent plex face mask to protect her from the pebbled projectiles.

He grimaced. ‘Where’s mine?’

With a twitch to her lips, she produced a similar apparatus from the bag she’d slung across her chest, prowled to him, and placed it over his face.

‘ Sante ,’ he murmured, not revealing his own inbuilt high-tech Sable helmet that could appear at his silent command.

She started with a short jerk. ‘You keep speaking fluent Edenite.’ She nailed him with a suspicious glare. ‘Are you from that moon rock?’

Hell, she was relentless. ‘I’m well traveled, fair lady and speak many linguas, so shoot me. Nature of the bounty game. I use the words I find most favorable for my needs.’

She shot him another cold side-eye. ‘Something doesn’t add up about you.’

‘Nothing ever does,’ he quipped.

After a short stare-down, she shrugged and used a sharp chin jerk to suggest he hustle on.

Riv shuffled down the ramp until he was off it.

His eyes fell on a battered cargo air trolley packed with boxes and supplies.

He sliced his eyes to élisa as she camouflaged her ship, which he noted she’d already set as far under the overhanging ledge as possible. It was now well hidden within the shadows of the small mountain.

She dragged a large camo sheet over the Osprey and activated a button on her wrist comm.

The surface shifted, and the craft disappeared from view, merging into the rock finish above and around it, rendering it invisible to the eye.

He raised a brow at her ingenuity, even though Glimmer, hovering overhead, had infinite surpassing tech. ‘Why park here?’

Her eyes skimmed him as she tossed her shoulder bag into the levitating cargo carrier. ‘This area is overrun with sand raiders and looters. They would have clocked our arrival by now. I try to put them off the scent by parking my craft far from my home and taking a circuitous route. There’s also no good place to hide it where I live. That enough of an explanation for you?’

He shrugged.

She peeked up at the sky, where she imagined Glimmer was hovering. ‘Your ship still above us?’

He nodded.

‘Will its AI follow us?’ she went on.

‘It’s tethered to my wrist comm, so naam , it will track us.’

élisa’s eyes narrowed. ‘I noted its weapons cache and guns. Let it know that if it tries to attack me in a misguided attempt to rescue you, I won’t hesitate to evaporate your existence.’

She had no idea he’d never harm a hair on her head.

Her eyes lingered on the sky, and more uncertainty and distress flashed across her face.

Riv studied her in silence. She was an intelligent woman. Surely, she’d worked out the balance of might lay in his hands by virtue of his ship’s power alone.

Whatever she needed it for, she was desperate enough to make a wild shot at having access to it.

He indulged her, going along with the charade. All because she was his silver angel, his malaíka . Anyone else would have, as she put it with such eloquence, had their asses evaporated by now.

He lifted his shackled fists in mock surrender. ‘It’ll never attack unless I tell it to, so don’t give it or me a reason. My incentive is gold and plenty of it, so rest assured that keeping you hale and hearty is in my best interest.’

She twisted her mouth in impatience. ‘Move. Follow the pallet.’

The floating cargo trolley took off, and he followed, his hands still bound in front of him.

élisa’s measured footsteps sounded behind him as they navigated the track down the mountainside.

They traversed rock bridges and salt-lined ravines that told of ancient rivers that had once thundered down these slopes.

The bright star at the centre of the mist-like nebula burned down with a dense heat. He marveled at the lilac tinge of its rays, which bathed the landscape in a kaleidoscope of light.

Devansi was one anomalous brume land, Riv thought.

He reached out to Mirage. Still with me?

Always.

Can you scout around? Get a lay of the land, look out for hostiles, that kind of thing?’

Mirage huffed in disdain. Talk about telling me how to do my job.

Drop the snark, Mirage. Doesn’t suit you. Where’s the compassion and empathy? I’m suffering here.

The AI chuckled. It seems what doesn’t kill you has given you a set of unhealthy coping mechanisms and a dark sense of humor.

Fokk off.

With pleasure.

Riv sensed the AI pull Glimmer away and track off towards the east of the forsaken planet.

Their descent was gentle, allowing Riv to take in his new surroundings.

They were in the midst of a hot desert with uncanny sights and even stranger sounds.

Along with élisa’s footsteps and the soft squeak of the pallet ahead, there was an unfamiliar noise. The unusual braying sound came from a distance as they tracked at a brisk pace past a bank of sand knolls.

élisa caught on to his disquiet. ‘Ignore the groaning dunes. The grating comes from the grains of quartz and feldspar rubbing against each other.’

‘Fascinating.’

‘They intrigued me too when I first got to Devansi.’

He jumped on her slip-up. ‘You’re not from this planet.’

She fell silent for a moment. ‘ Nada , I am not.’

She didn’t offer more, so he let it go, making note of it. Even those many years ago, she’d never shared her heritage, careful never to give away her identity.

Accepting her reticence, he turned his attention to the view.

Riv’s home these last few years was his ship, with an occasional night spent in his mountainside villa on the edge of Eden II’s dark valleys of J’Urg Mihor.

Besides the rare outing to Rhesia or Dunia, he’d not taken long walks on terra-formed land in recent months.

He was often either leading a raid onto a planet or hunting a fugitive through space, which gave him little time to admire any local flora and fauna.

So his eyes drank in the beauty, and he almost enjoyed the view of the freakish world.

He spotted silver-colored feathered birds and metallic critters scurrying about, their fur helping to reflect the harsh light.

Most vegetation had shallow root systems, spines, and thorns, and was chrome-covered, sending shards of illumination bouncing throughout the peculiar vista.

Their path sank towards one of the open fissures, where the rock began to enclose them from above.

It led to an enormous tree bent into an arch over the chasmic entry.

‘ Fokk !’ Riv exclaimed, stunned by its size. ‘It’s over three hundred meters tall. What the hell is it?’

élisa came to his rescue. ‘It’s called the staff of Devansi. The locals believe an entity in the nebula cast out its walking stick in anger at the planet, and this is where it landed.’

Riv’s eyes widened as they strolled under the tree’s gigantic burnished branches, shrouding the walking track.

Once inside the open chasm, the temperature cooled, and the rays streaked more as the cave-like roof overhangs stopped the worst of the roiling star’s beams.

The dappled sunlight here nurtured a rich woodland, and the lush understory overflowed with chrome, emerald trees and mossy ferns beneath.

They hiked past secluded waterfalls, vast tracts of old-growth forest, stands of towering hardwoods, and some of the tallest flowering plants he’d ever seen in all his travels.

Further, they meandered close to several other astonishing examples of the planet’s ancient majesty, including a massive twin-trunked tree and its cavernous trunk big enough for half a dozen people to sit inside.

Riv made sure to negotiate the slippery track with care. Its surface was slick due to the near-constant dampness in the fissured undergrowth, in contrast to the dryness of the desert above.

In a silence broken only by bird calls and the gentle squeak of the cargo pallet, they followed the wide walking trail down to the tannin-stained river.

Small platypus-like creatures romped alongside native water rats, pygmy marsupials, and chrome-furred birds of prey, the latter nesting within the large hollows of the surrounding rocks.

A rustling in the bushes caught Riv’s attention, and he narrowed in on a face peering at them out of a fallen tree hollow before easing back.

‘Someone’s got eyes on us.’

‘Not a surprise,’ came élisa’s dry response from behind. ‘It’s a Devansi local from one of the chasm tribes. They’re timid and, most of the time, harmless and peaceful. They also know me and let me pass at free will.’

She’d relaxed now. Riv sensed maybe because she was at home in this bizarre yet captivating place.

‘It’s the wild desert nomads you must look out for above ground,’ she said. ‘They’re the ones ravenous for food, water, and blood.’

He wondered how she’d survived this desolate world alone. Then, the thought that she might not be solo hit hard, dampening his mood.

Was a man, or a lover, waiting for her? Someone who cared and looked after her? Was it possible that he may have been replaced?

Unwilling to indulge this particular well of sorrow, he cast his wild thoughts aside and kept moving.

At one point, élisa slowed their progress with a command sent to the pallet. She strode to Riv and thrust a pack of dried protein jerky into his hands.

He ate, starving after days of a low appetite. The walk had invigorated his voracity. He drank from the bulb of water, knowing it’d keep his strength, mind, and emotions in check better than anything else.

Moments later, she waved a hand, indicating they should resume their blistering hike.

He demurred. ‘Can’t we halt for a bit to enjoy the view? It’s more suitable for our digestion.’

‘ Nada .’

‘When will we stop?’ He was pushing his luck.

‘When I say so.’

He shrugged, unmoved by her iciness.

Deeper still, they walked through the chasms, moving with agile ease from one track to another.

It was a confusing labyrinth as élisa covered their tracks. This set off a niggling worry in him about who the freak was out there.

At one point, he sensed a steady gaze on them and swiveled his eyes, looking for the first sign of an ambush.

Whatever or whoever it was in the bushes retreated, and their presence vanished. Still, Riv did not relax.

The shadows grew longer as they pressed on through overgrown shoulder-height fern fronds.

élisa didn’t have much say. His ears caught the sound of her breath, which didn’t change cadence much, a testament to her extreme fitness.

As the long hours dragged on, Riv divorced his mind from physical discomfort. He let his noids take the brunt of the relentless pace, concentrating on putting one boot in front of the other.

‘Hey, stranger.’

He glanced back at élisa’s soft command. She’d slowed down beside an enormous, hollowed-out swamp tree, its rough-hewn opening tall enough to walk into.

élisa strode before him and came alongside her now-slowing air-pallet, leading it into the hollow.

Keeping her eyes and laser on him, she used her chin to point. ‘Get in, find a corner and stay still.’

He paused midstep, looking around him at the leafy outlook and hanging vines that shrouded the entrance to the dark space. ‘Are these our lodgings for the night?’

‘ Naam .’

‘I like what you’ve done with the place.’

Her mouth twitched, and the cold, flat frostiness in her eye subsided for a moment. ‘Smart ass.’

Stalking past her into the tree’s centre, she gave him a fierce warning glare. He shied away with a playful grin and preened as her lips turned up.

She pressed them tight in a weak attempt to suppress her humor.

So she wasn’t always dour.

Yet he’d be shaking in his mag boots if he weren’t a Rider.

She’d morphed over the years into a woman with an energy tinged with hawkish wildness. While he still caught flashes of his angel’s sweet nature, he also glimpsed a ferocity in her lilac gaze, in the same way an untamed bird of prey was dangerous.

Despite the play, he sensed she had the power to lash out and kill with as much savagery as a feral predator.

It was as if cut-throat zeal had awoken in her since they’d been apart, almost like a secret that had lain dormant when they’d been lovers so long ago on Eden II.

She unloaded the cargo lift, moving with expedient effort. He couldn’t see her features under the mask, only the faint gleam of her pale violet eye.

‘Need help?’ he drawled.

‘ Nada .’ That’s all she gave him, back to her flat and unrelenting stance.

He noted her slipping into more Edenite phrases, which he grasped onto. Maybe she kept lapsing into it in remembrance of her first lover. Or so he hoped.

He discovered a corner of the hollow tree and settled on a clump of damp moss. He assumed that the moss was wet due to the presence of a nearby groundwater source, evidenced by the burbling sound of water flowing over rocks, which seemed to be coming from behind him.

The crude shelter had vines trailing above, turning into an enclosed space.

An empty hearth dominated its centre, and he guessed this was a popular overnight stop for her and perhaps local Devansi tribes.

He took the time to study her as she fixed a fire using energy sticks.

She retrieved her food stores and, with deft hands, filled a small pan with various ingredients. He recognized packs of reconstituted protein, tofu, beans, and the requisite noodle pack.

She stirred them together, adding water, spices, and condiments. The fragrant stew was heating over the open flames in minutes.

The blaze burned down enough that it wasn’t in danger of scorching. After tipping more water into the pot, she turned her attention to making the place homely, a habit he remembered from their early days.

élisa had always been so particular about cleanliness.

The memory gave him such a pang that he sighed.

She shot him a sharp look but glanced away when their eyes met, and a frisson of electricity arced between them.

Her face showed a fleeting confusion.

Still, feel it now, do you, élisa?

Even though she pulled away somehow, the moment of connection offered Riv some level of joy.

élisa continued to clear away the fallen debris of leaves and branches on the floor. A few furry inhabitants of the hollow scampered out of her way.

To his incredulity, she also rolled out two sleeping pallets and laid them next to each other. Did she intend for them to sleep that close together?

If she did, he had no problem with the concept whatsoever.

She stopped and stretched her back at one point, and he glimpsed her exhaustion. His eyes raked over her muscles, trembling with strain.

A wave of compassion hit him. ‘Allow me to help, woman.’

She ignored him, turning away from him.

He let her be, resigning himself to soaking her in.

After a few moments, the meal was ready.

She found two bowls from her pack and served them both.

Stalking over to him, she handed him his share of the steaming fare, which he suddenly craved.

He lifted his chained hands.

She threw him a look, placing the dish on the rock beside where he sat.

Using a series of quick commands on its control panel, she loosened the tightness of the energy bands on his wrists.

Shoving the chow back in his face, she walked away.

Trying to work around the spoon and bowl was awkward, but he soon got the hang of it.

He wolfed the grub down as his hunger awakened.

It was delicious, confirming she still had the chops to assemble a kickass meal.

They ate in silence, with élisa avoiding his gaze.

After they were done, she set aside her bowl and pulled out an ancient, distinctive pot from her supplies.

Riv almost leaped for joy. ‘ Kahawa ?’

She gave him a quick look and then nodded.

‘Oh, mother of all Galicia, you are an angel.’

His words surprised her, and she tamped back a smile.

Score.

‘I haven’t had a good kahawa in days. I’m dying for it.’

‘Brace yourself. You’re about to go to paradise.’ Her tone was dry, but a light danced in her eyes, not from the flames flickering from the energy sticks.

He’d no doubt he’d savor the promised land because even back then, she’d been ace at brewing a mean mutha of a cup.

His eyes glittered in anticipation as she filled the carafe with water and added the ground beans, making it strong and rich.

His hands trembled for it when she eventually handed him a cup of the thick, dark, fragrant brew.

He drank with thankful appreciation, closing his eyes in rapture.

When he opened them, he found her quizzical silver regard on him.

Her husky tone cracked as she spoke. ‘Someone I once knew long ago also reacted like you did when drinking kahawa .’

He sat back with careful nonchalance. ‘Yeah, who?’

She tore her gaze from him, and he glimpsed a deep sadness on her face.

Who, indeed, élisa?

‘This reminds me of a few wacky camping trips I had as a young lad,’ he murmured, needing to whisk her mind away from sadness.

She turned to him with a raised, skeptical brow. ‘Like what?’ she challenged.

He pulled from his memories of life as a boy in far-off Eden City and his later years in Eden II and Dunia.

‘Once, I sat on a poisonous red ant hill, and my balls paid the price for days. Another time, I drank from a can full of bees and got stung. Then there’s the time I slipped and fell right onto the steaks on the grill that my mates were cooking.’

She didn’t laugh, but her eye glittered. ‘Were you drunk?’

‘Close to it. Sooner after, we stuck a wine spigot in an empty Tansinian whiskey bottle and laid it on the fire ring. It got hot, and the cork flew out and shot my friend in the ass.’

This time, she chuckled, clapping her hands over her mouth as if surprised by her unexpected reaction.

At that moment, he fell in love all over again, struggling to hide a smile at the sight of her unbidden joy.

She battled and strived to pull back on her cold mask and failed miserably, her lips twitching. ‘Sounds like you camped wild, Galician.’

‘Sounds like you haven’t laughed in a while, woman.’

They shared a swift glance packed with heat, and a frown furrowed her brow. Their undeniable attraction was beginning to confound her.

He interrupted her befuddlement. ‘You going to keep calling me The Galician ? I have a name, you know.’

She nailed him with a glare, which softened at the twitch dancing on his weathered face. ‘What is it?’

Riv gave her his alias. ‘Ribau Malone-Philban.’

She grimaced. ‘That’s a mouthful.’

‘I know. Keep it simple, call me Ribau.’

It was the closest name in pronunciation to his, and he used it often because it helped him respond like he would to his real name.

She repeated the moniker, playing with it on her tongue. ‘Ribau.’

‘What’s yours?’

Her gaze skittered around the hollow, and he guessed she was debating what to tell him, giving him a curl of her lip. ‘K’élisa. But I’ve always been called élisa.’

Guilt washed over him. She was being honest with him.

He, on the other hand, was hesitant to do the same.

Too much was at stake if he came clean with her too soon.

He had to find out why she’d gone missing in the first place. Only then would he reveal himself to her once he was confident she was in no danger.

He also wanted to trust her again. Even though he longed for her, the fact that she’d left him of her own volition and at the altar no less had scarred him beyond measure.

He desired her truth above all things.

He pulled into the present. ‘That’s a beautiful name. Evocative.’

Her single eye narrowed at his hoarse utterance, and he realise he’d let his one-of-a-kind rasp through. She cocked her head at him, suspicion clouded her gaze once more.

‘Is your name Ribau?’ she asked, her voice dipping into cold, dangerous territory.

He met her stare, challenging her. ‘’Tis. Who else would I be?’

One thing he’d never revealed to élisa when they’d been together long ago was his meta-shifter abilities. Back then, he’d been unwilling to contemplate them as they’d brought up too many dark memories of his torture by the crats.

It wasn’t until after she’d disappeared that he and his fellow Riders began experimenting more with their metanoid capabilities.

So she had no reason to think it was him except for the hesitancy clouding her gaze, feeling their wild connection even while doubting herself.

She shook her head in disbelief and rose to her feet, confusion furrowing her brow.

During their earlier exchange, she’d moved closer to him. Now, as she eased away, he had to suppress the urge to reach for her and hold her tight to his chest, to ease her fears and doubts with his kisses and soothe her distress with his loving.

Fokk, he’d missed her and was playing a dangerous game to keep a lid on his feelings. While all the time wanting to reveal himself and ravish her.

Common sense told him the way forward would not be clear-cut, so he gritted his teeth and settled in for the long haul.

He took another slug of the drink in his mug, eyes fixed on her as she took great care to clean their empty bowls using a bulb of water and a squirt of sanitary liquid before storing them away.

She turned her energy to piling up rugs on the two pallets, and he again wondered why she’d set them so close together.

It was then that the weariness of the day hit him. His heart and bones ached, his head throbbed, and he began to feel his noids cry out for rest.

He closed his eyes for a moment.

‘Get up, Ribau. You’ll be lying next to me.’ She sounded resigned, as if to a fate she was trying to avoid.

He looked up with a sharp glance at her.

The barrel of her laser was pointing right at him. Above it, her gaze was cold and empty.

He raised a brow. ‘Planning to kill me?’

‘I didn’t say anything about killing you. Not yet, anyway. I still need you and your craft, you know that.’

‘But, you won’t tell me where you’re going?’

He was being churlish and stirring them into a foolish argument, as lovers sometimes did. It pained him in its familiarity and ridiculousness at the same time.

Yet, he couldn’t help himself.

She shook her head in dismay. ‘In time, I’ll share. If you push me, though, I may have to do some damage. I’m freakin’ good with a laser and can fire at will. Which do you prefer, in the arm or thigh?’

‘Damn woman, slow your roll.’

‘Then do as I say.’ She tapped the weapon. ‘You’re going to come over to the pallets. I’m going to tighten your manacles. Before I do so, I will hand you a second set, which you’ll place around your feet and lie down. While I do so, do not dare attack me. I will not hesitate to blitz you.’

Little did she know he’d never harm a silken hair on her head.

‘Don’t try any tricks,’ she warned again. ‘I don’t want to have to hurt you.

He looked at her pale face and rigid frame, poised as if she was ready to fire, and amusement quirked his mouth. ‘Woman, you have no conception how gone I am right now,’ he drawled. ‘No way in hell I’d attempt a getaway. I’m a paltry bounty hunter with zero idea what planet I’m even on. I’d be lost with you.’

The irony of his words was not squandered on him.

His reassurance, however, didn’t work, as her body remained rigid.

‘Hurry,’ she said. ‘We’ve only got a few hours before we need to trek again.’

He sighed. ‘It’s clear you’ve no notion of how fokkin ’ uncomfortable it will be trying to sleep with manacled hands and feet. I won’t be able to rest at all.’

‘I don’t care, Ribau, just do it. The only alternative is for me to knock you out. I don’t want to do that.’

‘Your magnanimity is astounding.’

He grimaced, rose, and handed his cup to her. Impatient, she threw it into the cargo pallet that was now acting as a barrier at the entrance to the hollow.

She then dangled a second pair of energy manacles at him.

He took them from her with a quirk to his lips, bent over, and eased his boots off. Barefoot, he strapped the restraints to his ankles.

He slumped onto one of the sleeping pallets, where he squirmed around until he found some comfort.

All the while, she studied him, gaze narrowed.

He eyed her, wondering how far he’d push her. ‘A blanket, perhaps?’

She gave him a side eye and threw a threadbare quilt at him.

He caught it with his manacled hands and spread it over himself with some difficulty.

He jerked his chin at her. ‘Sleep well, élisa.’

With that, he rotated his back to her.

Even without eyes on her, he sensed her movements.

She turned down the fire sticks, and the light in the hollow dimmed.

Pulling off her sturdy half-boots, she shimmied out of her suit, leaving on its thin inner lining.

Her body fell to the pallet, and her musk swamped Riv. His core responded with a jolt even though he couldn’t see all of her.

She took a while to settle in, squirming as she tried to find her sweet spot. It was a ritual that reminded him of how only his touch and stroking of her back had quietened her at night.

He longed to do the same now, to press his lips to hers and rock her into a passionate orgasm, which was how she’d preferred to fall asleep back then.

His cock swelled and pushed against his suit, and he almost groaned.

She must have discerned his thoughts because her limbs locked on their thin accommodations, and her breath hitched. ‘Don’t get any ideas, Ribau.’

Her voice was hoarse and cracked with weariness, but his heart still lurched at the sound.

‘You’ve nothing to fear from me.’ He tweaked his intonation and made it drowsy, adding a long yawn for good measure.

She went on. ‘The only reason I’m sleeping this close is because the chasms get very cold at night. We get icy winds that can cut through you if you’re not warm enough. I’ve no time to deal with your frostbite in the morning.’

He thought there was no such chance, feeling his body heat up with her being in close proximity.

He wanted to touch élisa, feel her lying naked in his arms, and thrust into her until she screamed for mercy.

After all these years, would their lovemaking still be as intense and wild as it had once been?

The thought of it had him almost cumming.

Damn. He didn’t have to take it this far, but couldn’t stop himself.

He sent a rush of noids to his groin to shut down his unbidden reaction.

What didn’t help was the sound of her breath shallow dips and falls so close behind him it shot electricity down his spine.

It took a few prolonged, torturous moments before she sighed as she gave in to exhaustion, slipping into slumber.

She was most likely so tired that she dropped off as soon as he’d made her forget worrying about his behavior.

He had the hidden advantage of his noids, and he dispatched them a command to scrub out any toxins from his body, circumventing the need for an extended shut-eye.

Now that she was lost in much-needed rest, he turned to face her. He wanted to stay awake to study her in sleep.

To make up for the seven thousand and one nights he’d existed without her by his side.

Even though they weren’t touching, his eyes fell all over her, drinking in the little he could see.

The curve of her shoulder, the nape of her neck, the silvery, silken hair glinting from the low flames of the fire, the rise and fall of her breath.

It had been too long since he’d had her so close, warm, and precious.

This nirvana was what he’d dreamed about for years. While his logic still needed answers, his soul surged with the wild joy of finally lying by her side.

Where he’d always belonged.