Page 3 of Stars in Umbra (The Sable Riders #8)

A Coupling So Divine

RINA, p resent day

I t was a sun-drenched day, with rays of pure gold illuminating the staggering beauty of the Alsanac Alps in North Dunia.

A lush cacophony of birds and whispering wind danced through an enchanting setting on a verdant farm.

Under billowing, cloud-like white tents, the melodies from a celestial harp blended with the hushed tones of guests and the expectation in the air.

Dr Issa Elari’s parents’ highland property had been transformed into a magical escape for her and Ki’Remi Sable’s fairy-tale nuptials in the Highlands.

This was not just another destination wedding.

The choice of location was personal: This was where Issa’s family had found refuge in the stunning vista after their exile from Sacra.

This alpine landscape was their sanctuary.

Now, with the wedding, they were keen to make new, cherished memories, beneath the canopy of swirling canvas, soft lanterns, and trailing vines, satin-draped tables shimmering with gold-threaded linen.

Rina Mendi stepped into the scene, her lithe body wrapped in bronze silk.

The dress clung to her long legs and teased the swell of her hips, slitted high and cinched just under her breasts.

Her coils were piled on her head in a crown of just tamed rebellion.

Golden beads nestled between the dark strands, as her hazel-brown doe-like eyes scanned the setting before her.

Her close friend, Sheba, sashayed beside her.

She, too, was radiant in deep forest green, her dreadlocks twisted with emerald cords, one brow cocked in subtle delight as she looped their arms together.

Sheba winked at Rina ‘We both look hot, honey. I think we’re equally stunning enough to break some hearts tonight.’

Rina smiled. ‘Problem is, Ki’Remi is the last of the Riders I know of that was single, so I’ll have to look elsewhere for a mate. On that note, why didn’t you ever get in on Ki’Remi action?’

‘What makes you think I didn’t?’ Sheba said with a coy smile.

Rina’s brows shot up. ‘Woman, did you two -?’

Sheba laughed, lowering her voice into a whisper. ‘It’s rude to be discussing what we were at his wedding. All you need to know is that we are better off as friends.’

‘Well, I for one, I’m happy for him,’ Rina said with a quirk to her mouth. ‘Issa is my kinda girl; strong, badass, a warrior, and they deserve every happiness.’

‘Hell yeah, I’m over the moon for them.’

The two women glided together into the wonderland, surrounded by laughter and lilting music.

Past laughing groups and flitting servers, toward a table already thrumming with the heavy scent of love.

The Riders were all here.

Every last one of them, devastating in their way, and all of them, each damned one, partnered and settled down.

A swell of joyful exclamations rose from the gathering as the Rider family welcomed Sheba and Rina with smiles and kisses on the cheek.

The air was charged with the warmth of a long-awaited reunion.

‘Sheba, Rina! You both look stunning, like my wife, took you long enough,’ Kage bellowed with a wide grin, pulling them both into a bear hug.

Katya, Xion’s wife and now a good friend of both women, grinned as she kissed their cheeks. ‘ Fokk finally! This celebration was lacking its two most beautiful hellions.’

Kainan chimed in, his chimeric eyes flashing. ‘We were just about to send out a search party.’

‘We’re here now, aren’t we, kaka ?’ Sheba retorted, laughing.

Selene embraced Rina. ‘Honey! So glad you could make it. We missed you last month at Harlow’s birthday party.’

‘I’da been there if your other half hadn’t sent me to Sartixia on a wild goose chase, girl,’ Rina replied, hugging her best friend tightly.

‘Someone has to stop him,’ Sheba added, grinning.

They mingled, chatting and laughing, giving Rina a chance to study the family she’d been welcomed into with affection.

Each pairing glowed with the obnoxious radiant affection that only came from an untamed shared passion and bone-deep devotion.

Kainan stood imposing, the Sable Khan and Commander, his flame-colored eyes fixed on his wife, Selene, his presence hulking and formidable in a tailored Kwavi ceremonial robe lined with Sable insignia.

Selene, by contrast, was grace incarnate, her gown a spill of silver silk, her wild curls threaded with stardust and soft flowers.

Kage, bearded, scarred, devastatingly handsome, and ever the charmer, whispered sweet nothings to his winsome, lilac-haired Harlow.

She laughed and leaned into him, her eyes alight beneath a fall of her amethyst eyes and a veiled cap of gossamer fabric, her expression one of mischief.

Riv, silver-tressed, lean, lethal, and quiet as winter, rested a hand on the waist of his queen, K’élisa, who wore her crown of wild, hued feathers that trailed her.

She, a Katánian Sovereign in her own right, stood regal, poised, and wrapped in a flowing cerulean gown lined with sacred crests from her homeland.

Zane was his formidable self, tall and contained, his Kwavi wedding suit dark and pristine.

His psionic energy simmered under the surface, with his cobalt eyes penetrating and all-seeing, softening only for Illana, the fierce redhead at his side, who was clad in a backless gold sheath gown.

Xion, sinister and devastating as always, was statuesque in black, his eyes fixed on his woman, Katya.

The lissome, ethereal beauty was almost too beautiful to be real, and held his complete attention, her face, tipped up to his, reverent and adoring.

Then there was Kisan.

The brooding, silent Rider scared most people off with his stern gaze. It only eased when it fell on his partner, Samira.

She stood beside him with the poise of a dancer and the fire of a warrior, draped in obsidian silks and adorned with silver chains that caught the firelight.

Together, the Riders and their partners were living legends, an awe-inspiring fusion of danger and devotion.

Their power and influence are as vast and undeniable as the star-strewn expanse of Pegasi itself.

However, it was their happiness that stirred a longing in Rina.

Though she was content being single most days, on this day she was lost in part wonder, and some yearning, and if she was honest, a sliver of envy.

Wanting what they had.

It was then she felt the heat of a gaze on her.

She tilted her head toward a shadow hidden behind a far pillar of the tent scape.

Her entire being jolted as a man stepped into the half-light.

He was a hulking figure, built like a battering ram forged in iron. His bulging muscles, on the verge of straining against the tailored lines of his formal black suit, his form radiating with a raw, formidable power.

His skin gleamed, honey-dark and cut with pale jewel-toned studs along his temple and cheekbone.

The intensity on his face didn’t fade when his eyes met hers.

Rina forgot to breathe.

Their gazes locked.

His glowing, pulsing orbs, with slow-burning flames, the color of dusky embers behind smoked glass, raked her face, then her body.

It was a bold and unhurried perusal.

A fokk -you kind of once-over that made her stomach drop and her thighs shift.

‘Damn,’ she muttered under her breath.

Sheba leaned closer. ‘What?’

‘Who the hell is that?’

‘What are you talking about?’

Rina gave a subtle nod in her mark’s direction. ‘The mountain of man over there with the ‘ I’ll-end-you ’ face. He’s freakin ’ hot.’

Her throat dried even as she spoke.

Sheba followed her line of sight and whistled before lowering her voice into a whisper.

‘Ah, that’s Mo. He’s with the Riders. He runs venue security and is head bouncer, I believe, at The Osirian .

However, I’ve heard rumors that he also has a host of other terrifying titles.

Please don’t ask me what. They say he can crush bone just by thinking about it. ’

‘Hell on Devansi.’ Rina dragged her gaze away. ‘If I weren’t so shy, I’d want him to ruin me.’

‘Does this mean you’re relaxing your ‘no time for love, too busy with my career, sworn off romance’ rule for him?’

‘I don’t know the man to give him that much power already,’ Rina retorted. ‘Besides, a man like him isn’t the kind who gets interested in me.’

Sheba turned to her friend and waggled a finger in her face. ‘You need therapy for your disturbing lack of confidence when it comes to men, even though you’re one of the most badass women here,’ Sheba replied, deadpan.

‘Confidence is not the issue, it’s practice, I just haven’t had much in recent years.’

‘He would totally be all over you and your disciplined, controlled, galaxy-class military specialist ass, and ruining might be only part of the equation, hon. If only you got over yourself.’

As Sheba spoke, Mirage, the Riders’ Synth-Companion, glided to the raised altar with regal poise.

She shimmered in a gown of layered aqua opal and midnight shimmer, the fabric catching every glint of starlight and refracting it like cut crystal.

Her shoulders were bare, her heels en point and glittering with embedded shards of stardust.

A hush swept the gathered guests as she raised a jeweled hand, tapped the elegant mic in her hand, and kicked off the celebrations.

‘Be seated, friends,’ Mirage purred with an electric smile, her voice chiming like tuned glass. ‘The ceremony is about to begin.’

Sheba dug her elbow into Rina’s ribs as the crowd shifted to the seating area. ‘Park your tush down, as well as your plans to get ruined, until after the reception.’

Along with their friends, the pair found their places in the inner ring of a semicircular amphitheater carved into the forest floor.

They took their seats alongside rows of elegantly dressed guests, diplomats, warriors, and royalty.

Overhead, levitating lanterns bloomed and spun slowly, their blossom-gold petals trailing luminosity.

The sky above the jungle canopy was a velvet vault of stars and twin moons as dusk fell.

A trio of Sacran demi-god harpists stepped onto floating platforms near the altar.