by Avery Rae
Thundering footsteps in the hallway drew my attention to the doorway.
"Rylos! She's not in the basement. He must've taken her—"
Kolyr stood frozen in the doorway, his eyes on me. He looked rough, cuts and bruises covering his perfect face and strong arms. But he was alive. I tore my focus away from him long enough to give Rylos a wide-eyed look.
"I thought he was dead?!"
"What?" He frowned. "I thought you said Solys told you."
"He told me he'd had Kolyr killed."
"Well, yes, he tried. But I heard he was trying to free Kolyr and had him followed. My men caught his in the act of trying to kill Kolyr. We forwarded everything to the authorities, and Solys's men aren't exactly the most loyal group, so they gave him up."
I looked back to the doorway, where Kolyr was still standing. His focus was now on Solys, who the peacekeepers were still struggling to get control of as he twisted and writhed. Kolyr then strode across the room, cocked his arm back, and punched Solys square in the jaw. As he collapsed, the peacekeepers made quick work of cuffing him, looking both embarrassed, infuriated, and a little bit grateful.
As they hauled him out of the room, Kolyr rushed to my side, falling on his knees with arms outstretched, struggling with whether he should embrace me or not. Just looking at him had me feeling like I was going to burst with happiness. It was hard to believe that only minutes ago, I had thought there was nothing left. That everything had been so hopeless. I couldn't believe he was here. Not just alive, but here when I needed him most. Because of course he was.
Although I wanted to hug him just as badly as he wanted to hug me, I grabbed one of his hands and laughed, my voice hoarse. "I wouldn't risk it. I'm liable to pass out again."
"You do lose consciousness a lot. It's kind of ridiculous." He smiled, tears shimmering in the corners of his bright eyes.
"Hey, you're not about to get weepy on me, are you?" Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Rylos got to his feet and left the room, leaving the two of us alone.
"Soldiers don't cry," Kolyr scoffed as he sat down beside me, his movements slow and careful.
"Then what's going on here?" I brushed the single tear that had slipped over the rim of his eyes and held it up. "Seems to me like soldiers might not cry, but a member of the Defense Force . . . "
The happiness in his expression wavered. "How are you still joking at a time like this?"
"Kolyr, I'm sitting on the floor, naked, and with a broken ankle. Several men I don't and never will know got to see me at my most vulnerable, and it's still a million times better than what could've happened to me." I brushed my fingers over his cheek. "Besides, I've got you here with me. How could I not be happy?"
He went to pull me into his arms for a hug and tensed, growling low in his throat. "This is very frustrating."
"I'd suggest getting me medical attention. But that's just me talking crazy."
"Cute. Medical is already on their way. They'll get you fixed up in no time." As if he needed to touch me in some way, just to feel like he was doing something, he adjusted Rylos's coat so that it covered me a little more.
I looked down at my tingling ankle with a grimace. "I'm not so sure about that. My second attempt at escaping Solys didn't go very well."
"You did everything you could. He didn't look much better."
"Thanks," I replied dryly.
"You're still beautiful . . . ?"
"My hero."
"She finally admits it."
"You've earned it."
Kolyr leaned over to place a soft kiss on my lips, then another on my brow. "I love you, Naomi. Whether it makes sense or not, I love you. I would say I'd do anything for you, but considering things, I'd say I've proven that already."
I smiled. "I'll give you that one. Plus, y'know, I think I love you too."
"Are you the same woman who told me it was a fact that she could never, ever love a Korysti?"
There was humor in his silver eyes as he smiled back at me. My cheeks warmed. Since when do I blush?
"Not really," I mumbled, feeling a little defensive. "A lot has happened since then."
"That's very true," he said with a sigh.
I'd been mooning over him since he first saved me, yet admitting it out loud was strangely embarrassing. Maybe because it was the first time I'd revealed to someone just how quickly I'd fallen for them.
"I'm not going to lie . . ." Kolyr stretched out beside me. "It feels strange having this conversation here."
"I would offer to move, but I can't."
"Understandable."
Silence drifted between us as we waited. I began to notice the numbness in my ankle fading, and soon the sharp aches began. I needed to focus on anything else.
"Tell me what happened out there," I suddenly said.
Kolyr looked at me in surprise. "You mean after Solys got me out?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I don't know how much you know already, but Solys paid a bunch of people off. Got it labeled as an accident." Kolyr shook his head. "Then he had a couple of his guards take me to the forest, around where they'd picked up our signal that day, and they tried to kill me."
I clenched my eyes shut. I should've known it'd been too easy. Solys probably just saw it as a win-win situation. Bed the human, kill the competition.
"Did you . . . ?" I didn't want to say anything more, and thankfully Kolyr understood.
"They're still alive. Rylos apparently knew what was going on and had us followed. They caught everything, and the guards were mouthy, so there's enough evidence to get Solys in some serious trouble."
"Rylos told me as much. But I don't get why this is such a big deal. You're alive, right? It's not like this is the first time he's hurt someone."
Kolyr looked as if he was struggling with what to say next. "This time it was a Korysti instead of a human."
"I see. So it actually matters now."
"I know. I'm sick of this place, too."
I couldn't hide my surprise. "You don't mean that. You told me when we first met. You pledged yourself to defending Korystus. You don't pledge to defend something you hate."
"Just because I love my planet doesn't mean it isn't in need of change. Didn't you ever question why I lived in the middle of nowhere?"
"Not really."
He smiled. "I've always felt like something was off, but even more so after your kind arrived. I'd like to help change it, but I don't know how. Maybe if I saw more of the galaxy, I could figure it out."
"Are you saying you want to go with me when I leave?"
"Of course I do."
"Why didn't you say that days ago?"
"Giving up everything you know isn't easy, even if you want to." He smiled ruefully. "But you might say my perspective has shifted a little lately."
"Was it the beautiful human who captivated you?" I narrowed my eyes playfully. "Or was it the multiple attempts on your life? Getting assaulted with a shock-stick by your governor?"
"Well, if we're talking about my motivation to leave right now, at this point in time, then it's most definitely because of the beautiful human."
"You're really charming sometimes."
He lightly bumped his nose against mine. "Only sometimes?"
"You heard me."
15
"I swear, Kastia, if you don't let me bring in her tray this time, I'm going to—" Solyndi froze as the door to the guest room slid open. Kastia gave her a smug look before beaming at me and stepping inside with a tray of food.
They'd been competing for my affection for the past week as I recovered at the Sonethel household. It was more of a mental recovery than anything, because my broken bone was mended within a day. Plus, Kolyr and I had to wait for Kaz to fly back on his next delivery. We'd missed him last time, what with all the Solys drama.
As for why the maids were competing? I wasn't really sure. I was pretty open with the fact that I tolerated them both equally. But they still tried, stumbling over the
mselves to be the one who brought me food—which was hard to get used to—and who got to pick out my clothes, and so on.
Kolyr thought it was endlessly hilarious, and I had a strong feeling he was egging them on behind the scenes. Especially after Kastia pulled me aside the other day to thank me for telling Kolyr she was the better cook. I never said such a thing. I didn't even know who was cooking unless they made a point of telling me.
The man in question stood in the doorway now, watching us with a wide grin. For a guy who'd lost his job—there was no way they could let him back on the defense force—and nearly lost his life a few times, he was ridiculously happy. But then again, so was I, and I'd been through more in the past year than I could really wrap my head around.
I was still smiling at him when Solyndi flopped down on the bed next to me. "I was reading the news this morning, and it sounds like Governor—err, Solys, isn't going to get out of this one."
"Oh?" I asked, holding my hands up as Kastia primly set the tray across my lap. I'd tried to ask them to stop treating me like some sort of princess, but they refused that one pretty aggressively, so I stopped bringing it up.
Kolyr made his way inside, sitting on the bed on the opposite side of Solyndi, who sighed dreamily at the sight of him. That'd been going on a lot, too. Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought of him as their hero.
"I hope I get my own Rylos or Kolyr someday."
"You shouldn't say that in front of them." Kastia sighed. "Honestly."
Solyndi tossed her long, dark hair over her shoulder and flashed us both a smile. "It's a compliment, Kastia. Calm down."
"I'm perfectly calm," she replied tartly. "Sometimes I simply wonder if you realize how quickly you'd be fired in any other household."
"Obviously. That's why I work here."
"You're both wonderful," I blurted out, narrowing my eyes at Kolyr as he smothered a laugh. "A little pushy, sure, but you both have great qualities. And I really appreciate what you're trying to do for humans."
I'd been hoping they'd finally make amends and stop with the squabbling, but Kastia gasped and ran from the room, shouting, "I almost forgot!"
I looked to Solyndi for an explanation, and she waved a hand through the air. "She's been collecting videos from other maids who have humans in their households. Some little project she and Marion have going on."
"Videos?"
"Yeah-huh."
When I turned to Kolyr, he shrugged. "I don't know either."
Kastia buzzed back into the room a few minutes later with a tablet in hand. I thought she was going to show me something, but she requested that I film something for her, with some very specific requests as to how and what. When I tried to ask her what it was about, she told me I would find out later. I wasn't sure when she planned on showing me, because we were set to leave with Kaz tomorrow.
There was definitely something conspiratorial going on between her and Solyndi though. For all of their disagreeing, they got very quiet and stare-y when I asked more questions, then quickly took off with my breakfast tray.
As the door slid shut behind them, I asked Kolyr, "What do you think they're up to? Why the video?"
When he didn't respond, I turned my head with an arched brow and found him staring at me with the most heartbreaking look I'd ever seen. I shifted around in the bed to get closer to him and rested my head against his chest.
"Hey, what's going on with you?" I asked. "You were in such a good mood earlier."
"All those things you said . . ."
I deflated. The video. I'd gotten started talking and didn't really consider that he hadn't heard the extent of what Solys had done to me. How he'd tried to break me. But that's what Kastia had asked me to talk about. Solys's treatment of me.
"I'm better now, Kolyr. Don't let it get you down. I don't."
"How?" he asked in a soft whisper. "How do you stay so strong?"
"It used to be sheer stubbornness, I think."
"Used to be?"
"I've come so close to giving up. So many times. But I got lucky. Marion, you, Rylos . . . I wouldn't have made it without any of you." I straddled his lap and took his cheeks in my hands. "But especially you. Even in my darkest moments with Solys the other week, it was you that kept me fighting."
"I'm sorry for ever turning you in. I wasn't thinking when I did it, I just—"
I cut him off with a kiss. "Stop apologizing. Even if I blamed you for that, you've more than made up for it."
"One last apology, then I'll be done." He slid his hands along my thighs, fingers gently brushing over the scar on my left thigh. "I'm sorry that I didn't act sooner."
"You're one person, Kolyr."
"So is Rylos."
"But he's a senator, and you people take status way too seriously."
Kolyr cracked a smile and lightly butted his forehead against mine. "Won't you just let me feel bad about what's happened to you?"
"Happened. That's the key word. It's in the past. You should be worrying about how I feel now." I kissed his nose, then his lips, before pulling back slightly. "And I'm the happiest I've been in a long, long time, and it's because of you. I can't believe I'm saying this but—gloat a little, would you?"
"How about you reward me instead?" He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and smiled.
I rolled my eyes. "That was a quick change."
"You're the one rubbing up against me."
"I thought you had some self-control."
"Where you're concerned? Absolutely not."
With a playful growl, he flipped me over and sank his body down against mine, lips taking mine in a deep kiss. He slid his hand beneath the hem of my loose dress. It steadily rode up as he brought his hand up my body, dipping between my thighs. I gasped against his lips, and he smiled against mine.
16
Today was the day I would finally get to leave Korystus. It'd been over a year and several months since we crash-landed here. Although it'd been a year filled with mostly misery, and it had nearly ended with my death, I struggled to hate it as much as I once did. How could I hate the place that had brought me my hunky purple hero, right?
I didn't know when I became such an optimist. Maybe I always kind of was. I didn't know. It was weird. I used to think I'd fly off Korystus with both middle fingers held high, yet as we walked inside Korystus's spaceport, I had this strange, sinking feeling in my stomach. The cars moved too fast on Korystus to really appreciate the sights, but even just the few minutes I'd spent outside had been wondrous.
Korystus was, admittedly, impressive. There were buildings so tall I could've sworn they pierced the stars. And everything was so perfectly planned and manicured, from the trees to the buildings, it was obvious that nothing was done on accident or slap-dash. It was all so carefully done.
And inside the spaceport? I gripped Kolyr's hand a little tighter as we walked through because it was so overwhelming. The building itself was humongous and filled with people—not just Korysti, either. I saw skin of all sorts of colors, from pure inky black to vibrant yellows and pinks. Some had horns, others had cybernetic arms or eyes, and I even saw a few scales and hides.
I leaned close to Kolyr and whispered, "This is unbelievable."
He arched a brow. "Have you never seen a spaceport before?"
"We had them on Earth, you jerk. I'm not a total bumpkin." I batted him lightly on the arm. "It's just that we didn't have aliens—other people, I mean—anywhere nearby. The Adrax were the first we ever met, and that didn't go over well. It's just wild to see so many different species wandering around."
To my surprise, Kolyr frowned. "Now that I really think about it, this really makes my people seem worse for what they did to you. We deal with people all over the universe, and yet . . ."
"You're doing that thing again."
He sighed and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. "I know. Sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Just stop beating yourself up."
Kolyr said nothing, instead giv
ing me a half-smile. His guilt was never-ending. I'd tried to help him in any way I could, but I couldn't find a way to help him more than temporarily.
He suddenly chuckled. "Now you're doing that thing."
I smiled back at him. "We're just so damaged."
"Damaged together."
"Deep."
He slung an arm around my shoulder and pulled me flush against his side. "We're going to be alright, Naomi."
I hugged myself closer and nodded against his chest. "I know."
"I think that's Kaz's ship just up ahead." Kolyr pointed at a small ship that looked as if it had seen better days. It would work for what we needed though. Just a temporary place to stay.
As we approached, Kaz emerged from inside. His light blue skin and pitch-black eyes were even more striking in person.
"Do you know anything about these Versix people?" I asked Kolyr in a whisper. "Anything I shouldn't do if I don't want to offend them?"
"Not really." Kolyr shrugged. "Just don't ever make a bet with one. They'll clean you out without any remorse."
"There goes my gambling habit."
Kolyr snorted. "I didn't realize it was one of your vices."
"There's a lot we don't know about each other still."
"You strike me as someone who'd be terrible at gambling, though."
I lifted my brows. "And why's that?"
"You always go all-in."
I was still laughing as Kaz stopped in front of us with folded arms. "Well, well, don't you two look like the happiest of couples. Good to see you actually made it this time."
"Thank you for agreeing to a second try," Kolyr said with a bow of his head. "We appreciate it."
"Eh, it was on the way. Don't get too flattered. Now, let's hurry up. I got places to be." He turned on his heel and motioned for us to follow. "Quickly now."
Kolyr and I exchanged smiles and followed Kaz onto the ramshackle ship. Once inside, I looked over my shoulder, half-expecting to see Marion there. I wasn't sure why I thought she would be. Things just seemed incomplete somehow. Maybe because we'd said our goodbyes at the Sonethel mansion.