Page 73 of Taken to Heimo

“Which one?”

“Pink. You’re pink all over.”

“Burn, probably.”

“Burn?”

“Hexa, sunburn.”

“You can burn in just the sun?” I sit up abruptly. My head spins and I feel my stomach lurch, trying to give up its contents.

“Anand,” she starts and I lose myself to the way she says my name.

Then I remember. “You’re burning alive.”

“Nox, it’s not like that.”

“Come on.”

“Anand!”

“Svera, I am yourhuzzaband, you have to do what I say.”

I chuckle at the rage that spreads across her cheeks, turning the pink to a bright fuchsia. “Youaregoing to need punishing.”

“I look forward to it.” I wink at her and she tenses, but it isn’t arousal this time. It’s surprise.Relief.

“Look. I think…are those gliders?”

I twist to face the direction she’s pointing and exhale, “Thank the xoking stars.”

“Thank the Tri-God.”

“Hexa. Especially him.”

“And Xana,” she says, lips quirked.

I nod, smiling back. “Hexa. Her, too.”

We’re rescued by a group of xcleranx sent to investigate as soon as the shooter hit the colony’s atmosphere and, as the glider powers silently across the dunes, I make the xcleranx find a cloth that Svera can use to shield her sensitive skin from the suns.

“Do you need me to help you fix it so you can conceal your hair?” I ask her as the human settlement appears on the horizon, many squat buildings in the center, the magnificent tower of the birthing center to the left of the jumble, a few prominent dust-colored houses to the right.

“I told you, Anand. I’ve already been had. I don’t need to wear the scarf anymore.”

I huff at that. “Because you aremay’reenow.”

She lifts a brow. “You do know we’re notactuallymarried yet, right? There is a ceremony involved.”

I huff again. “Fine. You don’t need to wear the scarf, but you will call mehuzzaband.”

“In private,” she says under her breath. “My parents will think it an insult if you don’t have their permission first. But don’t worry, I’ll talk to them.”

“Iwill talk to them.”

She gives me a skeptical look. “Maybe I better do it.”

“Nox. I will do it. Have faith in me.”