Page 14

Vex

D on’t trash the house. Don’t trash the house. Do not, under any circumstance, trash the house.

I repeat the mantra the entire time I’m walking back toward the house I was hoping to share with Simone—well, Simone and Rallan if he was willing. Surprise, surprise, neither one of them seems to be my biggest fan right now. Why would they be?

I could feel my power source dropping to death levels of low as Rallan told me what happened to Simone when she was brought to this planet.

We knew the storms were causing issues with our technology.

That’s why I advocated for sending Simone and two others early.

I was told multiple times by multiple different Hands in the transportation department that all three females sent were safe.

I was told they were all taking to being in the tribe easily.

I felt like something was off. I could feel it in the way their minds tried to block something from me.

I assumed it was something else that might’ve happened in their life, and to be honest I cared very little for anything in their lives.

I didn’t check the shared consciousness because I didn’t want anyone to see me snooping around thoughts about Simone.

I should’ve done that. I see that now, but even if I did, what was I to do?

No, I know what I would’ve done. I would have broken every single law that the collective mind has.

I would’ve torn the universe in two to get to Simone, and when I did, I would’ve brought about the destruction of this planet.

It would’ve been worth it to hold her in my arms, to be the one who protected her when she was scared and alone.

It wasn’t me, though. I huff with irritation as I throw the door to my house open. I wasn’t there for her. Even worse, I was the reason she was sent here in the first place.

I hate everything right now, and the anger sizzling underneath my human skin is itching for me to grab the nearest piece of furniture and slam it against the wall.

Instead, I flex my hands at my sides and practice the meditative humming of my energy I haven’t had to do since I was a child.

Why couldn’t I have been the one to protect her?

“This is a large house for just one male.”

I spin around to find Rallan standing in the open doorway to my home.

He’s leaning against the frame with his arms crossed in front of his chest. I don’t know why I’m flustered to be speaking with him, considering we just spoke for the last few hours.

I was able to compartmentalize things. That’s why.

Now I’m looking up at the male Simone found after I abandoned her on this planet. I should hate him, but I meant it when I said I was happy she found someone. She deserves happiness. I wish I were a part of that happiness, though.

“Did you not hear me because of the glowing?” Rallan tilts his head to the side, waving a hand in front of my face as though I’m catatonic. “Simone has told me much about you, but I do not know of any hearing impairments. That is something I will need to know.”

“What?” I ask, my mind catching up with what’s happening.

You wouldn’t know that I’m a full-grown male from a species so much more advanced than even Simone’s that it would take a multitude of years to explain it all to her in ways that she probably still wouldn’t understand. I sound like an idiot, and I’m starting to think that I am one.

“Can you hear me?” Rallan asks, his lip ticking up in the corners. I’m almost positive this guy hates me, but I wouldn’t know it from the look on his face or the way I’m pretty sure he’s messing with me.

“Yes,” I answer with a bit more bite than he deserves. He gives me an unimpressed raise of his brows and it makes me even more flustered. “What do you want?”

“Well, I came here to speak with you. Then I saw that you are housed in a large home, and so now I am more curious about why this is the home you chose for yourself.”

I narrow my eyes at him, unsure if he’s genuinely curious or if he knows that I got it for the three of us.

Is he waiting for me to admit it to rub it in my face that Simone wants nothing to do with me?

That must be it. So, instead of answering him, I turn on my heels and make my way to the back of the house to grab some of my things.

“I’ll be leaving, don’t worry,” I call behind me. I’m not surprised that Rallan has invited himself in and is following me the short distance to my room.

“So, is this not your home?”

Rallan peeks his head into one of the other bedrooms that I have outfitted with a plush bed and a dresser filled with as many shirts and shorts as I could manage to create for Simone while planning everything with Ralleth during the storms. There are also a few bonnets tied up on a hook in the wardrobe made out of the closest thing to silk I could get on this planet.

I had to bribe the other Hand here to get for me since I don’t have the ability to transport myself anywhere until I’m given control of this planet’s future.

“It’s not my home anymore,” I say, my words biting as I try to force down the swell of anger surging inside of me.

“You cleaned this home and made it livable, yes?”

This time, he’s right behind me. Way too close to me.

His species is weirdly close to each other.

Not just with their bodies but with their emotions and relationships.

It’s been good for the humans because they’re also an emotional species.

It’s still something I’m getting used to.

I take a step back from Rallan so I can glare up at him.

“Of course I did.”

I push past him and make my way back to the front of the house so I can leave with at least some shreds of dignity. The meager little scraps will be what I use to lick my wounds in the great hall tonight while I try to figure out somewhere else for me to live.

I can probably convince Kal and Brirk to let me bunk with them until I find somewhere else. I don’t even need much, considering I don’t need to sleep. I just need somewhere that isn’t right here in the space that’s soon to be occupied by Simone and Rallan.

“And you are now leaving for what purpose?” Rallan keeps a steady pace behind me. And I’m just about to put my hand on the door when I can’t take the questions he’s not asking but slightly alluding to.

“I made this house for all of us to share!” I shout the words so loud that I know anyone outside can hear.

I should be embarrassed, but I think those shreds of dignity are even smaller than I realized.

“I thought, like an idiot, that when I saw Simone again, she’d understand why I sent her here, and she’d come back to me.

I knew she found you, so I was going to find a way to be okay with you here, too.

I rebuilt this house in my free time and hoped you two would like it. There, are you happy?”

Rallan stares at me with an odd expression on his face before his eyes narrow into small slits.

He leans closer toward me, his eyes tracing over what I’m sure is a very disfigured mask at this point since my emotions are all over the place.

The human skin takes a lot of concentration to keep in place.

“How long were you mated to her?” Rallan asks, as though I didn’t just yell at him. His voice is calm and even with a teasing quality.

“Two years,” I say through clenched teeth, unsure why I’m not leaving the house like I told myself I was going to do.

The longer Rallan stares at me, his eyes softening, I find my troubles easing. He hasn’t started mocking me yet. He hasn’t thrown his head back and laughed at me for thinking Simone might even look at me again. He doesn’t do anything I was scared he’d do.

“We should sit,” Rallan says, turning without giving me a chance to tell him whether or not I want to sit and talk with him.

Do I follow him over to the living area and take a seat on the couch when he takes a plush chair near the fireplace?

Yes. Yes, I do. I also watch Rallan’s reactions to the house.

I didn’t do any decorating because I wasn’t sure what he’d enjoy for decorations.

I did make sure the couch and chairs were all comfortable, and even reworked some of the furniture until it fit what I knew Simone would like.

She told me once that she wished she could live in a giant marshmallow because it would be so comfy.

I knew she was joking, but I’ve also found that she enjoys things that are soft and comforting.

“This is a nice home,” Rallan says after long minutes of just looking around. “How near is it to the brother who is the blacksmith?”

“I was told the male who does that is a little over a novice, so the job is yours if you want,” I say.

I try not to let embarrassment stop me from saying what I need to say.

I planned all of this out in meticulous detail because I wanted it to all be perfect.

The one thing I didn’t take into account was that Simone had almost died and that they both blamed me for it.

Though, Rallan isn’t treating me like someone he thinks tried to kill his mate.

“Ralleth told me about your occupation. I wanted to make sure everything was ready for you and Simone when you got here. So, there’s an open workshop a few houses down.

I went ahead and moved all of Kal’s old blacksmithing stuff and figured if you weren’t interested, we could always move it back to his workshop. ”

Rallan’s eyebrows rise just like they did earlier, and this time, I realize it’s actual astonishment. “You did all of this.” He motions around the house. “And you prepared a workshop for me to work in?”

I grind my teeth against one another, my hand fisting in my lap. “I wanted to make this work.”

Rallan leans forward, elbows on his thighs. “What did you want to make work?”

The humor in his voice is gone, the amusement in his eyes has vanished, and an eerie seriousness has taken over. I don’t realize how comforting Rallan’s carefree attitude is to counteract how high strung I am until it’s gone.

“She loves you,” I say, keeping the words low. I hate how they curdle my stomach because I know what her love means for her relationship with me.

“She does.” Rallan doesn’t deny the statement. Why would he? He can read Simone as easily as me, maybe even better, if he’s already learned how to deal with her when she’s being her difficult and amazing self.

“And I love her.” I straighten in my seat, rolling my shoulders back to sit up straighter.

“I’ll do anything for her. She wants you and me, great.

She wants just you. I’ll learn to deal. I want her happy, and I want her safe.

Think as little of me as you want for how she arrived here, but trust that I didn’t know about it. If I had—“

I don’t need to explain what would’ve happened because the human skin flickers from existence as my energy becomes too much to control.

Tendrils of me spread through the house, energy crackling and sizzling, looking for something to break.

I rein it all in as fast as I can, not wanting to scare Rallan.

I don’t need him going to the others and telling them that I’m dangerous.

It could throw a wrench in this whole thing.

When I seal my energy back up tight and plaster the human skin firmly in place, I turn my gaze back to Rallan. His eyes are wide, and his smile is even wider.

“Oh, I think I would have liked to have known what you would have done for her if you had known,” Rallan says, a hint of awe in his voice.

He shakes his head and then stands from his chair.

He walks over to me, places a hand on my shoulder, and stares down at me with that same carefree look he was wearing when he came into the great hall with Simone. “You wish to woo her again?”

“Do you think I have a chance?” The question is meant more as a deflection, but it sounds desperate for an affirmation.

“Do you know how many times I had to hear, ‘Oh, he is not so bad’?” Rallan rolls his eyes, the hand on my shoulder squeezing softly and then falling to his side. “She has probably already forgiven you, but we both know she is not anywhere near close enough to admitting it to anyone.”

Rallan takes a step passed me, toward the front door before his words really settle over me.

It hits me like a lightning bolt, and I’m scrambling out of my chair and following him to the door.

He looks over his shoulder, smirking slightly as though to say that now I’m the one following him when he was just following me.

Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’ll care once I get some of that dignity I lost a long time ago back.

“She’s forgiven me?” I ask. The feeling in my chest is all-consuming, threatening to engulf me in either despair or pure joy, depending on what Rallan says to me next.

“Of course she has.” He gives me an incredulous look.

“Our mate is prickly, though.” He rubs his chin, thinking about what to say next, and I’m just standing here hanging on his every word.

“You will need to woo her, and with everything you have. It will take much.” He looks down at me, one brow cocked higher than the other. “Do you think you can do that?”

“I was mated to her for two years,” I say defensively. “I can woo her just fine.”

“Good,” Rallan says. He taps the doorframe twice before stepping out. “You will live with us then. It will move faster that way.”

I grit my teeth together to keep myself from blubbering my thanks to him.

So much for me thinking I’m above all of the emotions of this species.

I live here during one storm season, and I’m already about to cry because this male is willing to help me get our shared mate to forgive me and give me another chance.

“If she kills me, it’ll be your fault,” I warn him, knowing Simone might actually have an aneurysm when she realizes that not only does everyone expect her to share a house with Rallan but also with me.

“She has yet to kill me, and I have tried to get her to try for many, many days,” Rallan says, laughing over his shoulder as he walks toward the workshop with his blacksmithing supplies.

“She is with her sisters now, but she will be at the house at some point tonight. Figure out if you want her to know tonight or in the morning that she is living with two males she pretends to hate, okay?”

Rallan doesn’t turn around to see me nod, and I don’t answer loud enough for him to hear. He assumes I’ll do what he says. He assumes he’s my only chance at fixing whatever I broke with Simone. He’s right on both accounts.

At this point, he could tell me to dance naked around the great hall, and I’d do it. I thought he hated me, but I’m pretty sure he’s my only hope of making the woman I love fall back in love with me.