Page 51 of Taken to Voraxia
Svera scowls. “Rude brute,” she mutters.
Laughter bellows out of me so hard I nearly choke on it. I have never in all my Earth cycles heard Svera comecloseto insulting anyone. Perhaps she really is a new woman.
“I love you,” I tell her.
“I love you more,” she whispers back.
Hugging her one last time, I wish her well and watch as she and Krisxox make their way back to the crowd. Her nose is scrunched and he’s looking down at her with colors flashing in his ridges in pulses. I think they’re annoyed pulses. But I could be wrong.
I turn to Xoran and move to stand directly in front of him. I’m all jittery now as I glance at my package, still lying in my seat where put it. I meet his gaze, watch him inhale, inhale myself and smell his spicy musk on the breeze. It draws me forward in a way that can only be described as an enchantment. I am fully enchanted by him.
“Thank you, Xoran,” I say. I step close enough that his knees are separated from my stomach by just a pinch. We’re so close, I can feel the heat rolling off of him. It feels nice against the delicate chill of the night air, and complements the heat radiating up from the sand beneath us. My feet sink into it, bare, all the way up to the ankles.
“Verax?”
“For Svera. Bringing her here. Why…how?” I don’t even know what to say, my chest is so full at the moment.
Xoran says flatly, “It pleases you to see her.”
“Hexa, it does.”
“You told me as much when we last spoke. It was not a difficult leap to imagine you would like to see her here, and it is my duty as Raku to ensure that my most trusted advisors and warriors are present. It would have been too great a slight not to have Krisxox here and he would not entrust her safety to another for the duration of the event.”
He wouldn’t entrust what now?“Still,” I breathe, tucking away thoughts of Svera and Krisxox for later, “You really don’t know what this means to me. I um…I feel a little silly now, but I have a gift for you. You bring one of my best friends across the planet to see me, meanwhile, all I have for you is this small trinket. It’s silly, really, so I understand if you don’t like it. I just…here.”
I lift the packet from my empty seat and hand it to him.
He looks at the thing with a frown. “You received this from Tri’Herion.”
“Oh yeah. Yourmothertold me about the ceremony, so I asked him to hold it for me until after I was presented.” I smirk, “You could have mentioned your mom would be coming to see me, by the way. She is a lovely woman. Bold and very proud. A little intimidating, if I’m being honest. Will we have her over sometime?”
“Have her over? You will explain what you mean by this.”
“Yeah, like…for a meal.”
“You will explain to me why this is necessary.”
I balk, “She’s yourmom.”
“She is Drakanna. Mother of Raku. She is not Rakukanna and does not merit place at my table, in my private quarters. Those I share only with you.”
I feel my face warm and wonder if there’s any point in arguing.Yes, I decide.There is. “For humans, it’s important to honor our elders. We usually do this by spending time with them, listening to their stories, taking their advice, making them meals and caring for them when they’re too old to care for themselves.
“I never had parents and I would like to spend time with her, and I’m sure she would love to see you. You are her son and she speaks of you with great affection.”
Xoran grunts. “We can discuss this on a later solar. For this solar, we discuss you and your package and why you received it from my Tri'Herion. He has been spending much time in our private quarters.” His ridges flare black, brutally. Black isn’t good. That I know well enough by now.
“I…” My gut clenches as it suddenly occurs to me. His acidic glances, his avoidance, the way he looked at Tri’Herion.Comets!Does he think we…? that I…? “Oh no no no no no. Nox. I…oh stars, you don’t think — nox, I just asked him to hold it because I made you some things. This is one of them. There’s another one at home that he helped me source parts for. And there’s a third one, but I would never have let him help me with that one. It’s for later…for when we go back home and you and I…I was hoping that we would…I’ve…”
Xoran snarls and sits forward. He takes the package from my hands. “Do you mean to tell me that you have given me no reason to tear out Tri’Herion’s tongue through his throat?”
I can’t speak. I’m totally tongue-tied, blazing hot. I shake my head vigorously and finally manage a strangled, “Nox.”
Xoran leans back, testing the package’s weight between his enormous, six-fingered hands. “So you did not bed Tri’Herion.”
I can’t even breathe. I choke, “Nox! How could you think that? I…with you…after what we shared I couldn’t imagine even trying that with anyone else. Could you?”
He doesn’t answer.Oh universe, this is worse than I thought… He thinks Ihatehim. He doesn’t know how much his words meant to me. How much his actions have since. He doesn’t know that Ilikehim. Maybe more than like. That I’m not mad about my position at his side, as his Xiveri mate. Maybe I never had reason to be.But does he like me?
