Page 52 of Taken to Voraxia
I take in a breath, and try to clear my mind of the havoc that’s currently running away with my coherency and with my thoughts. I exhale, “Tri’Herion only helped me gather materials to create this for you. Just please…open it.”
Xoran sits still as stone and it’s maddening! I wish his ridges would flare with some kind of color, that he would smile or frown. That he’d even blink! Right now, he just stares mercilessly, and only after another incredible breath of silence, finally begins unwrapping the gift I built for him.
His claws cut swiftly through the twine binding it and in two swift motions, he sends the paper-like wrapping fluttering to the sands below. What’s left in his hand is a construct in metal, one that he stares at just as listlessly.
“It’s the Voraxian solar system,” I offer quietly, “I made it out of chrome parts and each of the planets is a different stone that I sanded and polished into marbles. The sun I filled with water from the xamxin river and that there at the bottom is the solar charger that Tri’Herion helped me source. It’s fitted into the bottom and with some charge, Voraxia’s eight planets will rotate around the sun, even through the night. I managed to outfit the solar charger with a battery just long enough to last a lunar.”
My hands twist together as I continue on, “I know it’s a little silly, but I thought that it might be a nice thing to put in our bedroom, and then maybe even our youngling’s bedroom, if we’re so lucky. You can see here, I attached the human colony to Cxrian,” I say pointing at a little shimmery speckled brown rock mounted on a thin filament to a larger red stone. “This way, our younglings will know where they come from. Both planets.”
I point at the little bits and pieces, coming forward so that I stand directly between Xoran’s knees. He watches intently as I explain all the parts, but his ridges only color once and only for a second. This time orange, and I’m not too sure on what that color means yet. I drop my arms, feeling dumb and nervous as I wait for him to say something — anything! — and shift my weight from hip to hip.
Finally, he sets the contraption aside, next to his goblet and looks at me. “It is skillfully created. You will tell me what type of pact you would like to create in exchange for this.”
Pact? Is he serious?“Nox. You said no more pacts.”
Now his ridges flare again, this time white and I’m gathering by the frown on his face and the way he crosses his arms, that this means either displeasure or confusion. That makes two of us.
“You will explain to me the meaning of this invention.”
“I made it as a gift, for you.”
“This word is not translating properly. I hear something akin to tithe. What a subject brings their ruler.”
“No. That’s not what I mean at all. I mean, like with Svera. You invited Svera here because you knew it would please me. At least that’s part of the reason you invited her here. On the human colony, we sometimes do things for each other or give things to each other to demonstrate our affection. I made this to show you that I…care for you.”
He still doesn’t speak. He just looks between me and the gift, like we’re two pieces of a puzzle that he cannot figure out how to fit together.
I huff, “You said before that I thought I was your slave and your whore. I did then, but I don’t think that anymore. What you said, it really meant a lot to me. I feel like I understand you better now and what it meant to you to find me on the colony. I can’t imagine what it would have been like knowing about the Xanaxana already and not having your mate reciprocate. But things are different now.”
I lean into him, against the seat of the throne and his thighs come together around my body, caging me there. His hand twitches again and I know that it’s hard for him not to touch me but he doesn’t because he’s showing a restraint that I understand. He doesn’t want me unless I want him. And that makes all the difference.
“Now, Iknowthat I am your Rakukanna and your Xiveri mate,” I say softly, “I made you this present as a really small token of how I feel about you and about the Xanaxana that guides us. I am starting to learn Voraxian. I am friends with Tri’Herion and I’m hoping to apprentice with him. I feel like I can really make a life here and you made that possible. You have shown me a whole new world I could only dream of. And pleasures Icouldn’teven dream of.”
I reach out and stroke his cheek with just the tips of my fingers. “You frightened me in the beginning. You frighten me still. And there is a lot we still need to work out between us so that we can learn to live together. But being with you isn’t up for debate. And it isn’t because I promised. It’s because I’m finally starting to understand what you felt, and what my body felt from the beginning. That we’re right for each other.
“And I amhonoredto be here with you now, and I will be honored to be your Rakukanna, and I will be honored to hopefully, when the time comes, carry our young.
“I made you this just to say all of those things that I didn’t think I could. I didn’t realize you all don’t give gifts though. Could have saved me a lot of burns, trialing your gamma torch. We use old fashioned soldering tools on the human colony…”
I’m rambling now, and start to pull my hand back, but he catches it. He’s staring at my face and my hand and the gift balancing on the edge of his chair with eyes wide, nearly haunted. A sudden surge of heavy breaths punches in and out of his lungs.
“Xoran?” I whisper, concerned more than I’m afraid. “Are you okay?”
He shudders all over and nods and opens his mouth as if to speak, but doesn’t. Then his ridges…all at once, theyexplodein color. They take on every hue of the universe and spread quickly to color his entire forehead. The color travels down his neck and when he pulls me in towards him, I can see color bouncing off of the back of the chair from the ridges on his arms.
He wrenches me up onto the seat so that I’m straddling his thighs, but he doesn’ttouchme like he did last time we were in such a position. Instead he bows his head and pulls his arms in to himself and he stays very still and he takes what sound like agonized breaths as the rumbling in his chest gets louder and louder until I have to lift my voice in order to speak over it.
“Xoran, talk to me. What’s happening? Are you okay?” The rumbling surges and my whole body trembles with it. I touch his shoulders and try to force him back so I can see his face, but he stays put. “Xoran, comets, say something…”
“Nox. They cannot see,” he grunts, and I understand completely. He’s using me as ashield.
“Oh stars,” I whisper, sitting up a little taller on my knees. I spread my arms awkwardly so that the hide fixed around my shoulders with the heaviest belt in the world unfolds like wings. I bow my head over his, hoping that from the back it looks like we’re making out…not that they do that here…But still, judging by his reaction, it’s probably a better option than everyone seeing him in this full frontal display, more brilliant than any sunset.
His hair is smooth against my cheek and smells light, accented with the most subtle, earthy fragrance. I whisper against the sharp edge of his ear, “Don’t worry, they can’t see you here. I’ll protect you.”
He barks out a shout as ripples cross the muscles in his back. I fold my arms around him as he slides his own arms beneath my covering and wrenches me to him. His lips meet my chest, in the space just above my heart and he kisses me there, warm and wet and rough.
I comb my fingers through his hair and for what feels like the most beautiful eternity, we just hold each other while the fires crackle and people dance around us.
