Reign: A Space Fantasy Romance (Strands of Starfire Book 1)

by May Sage

  He had, again and again.

  Now was probably not the time to tell him he’d been a girl though.

  «Listen to me, Nalini. Whatever they do, they won’t win. They won’t stop me from coming back. If there’s consciousness after life, I’ll find a way.»

  But she didn’t want to lose him… and there was more.

  «Wench. Evi. Park. Ollis. Hart. Star. Kronos. Sky.»

  She just kept on giving him the names of everyone he loved, hurting him, but making him see reason—she hoped.

  «You forget. I am Darkness.»

  He said nothing else, but what he meant was clear.

  Let them all burn, if we must. This was who he was at heart. Who he’d always be. And she loved him nonetheless. So much.

  Loving him enough to come back to life for him hadn’t stopped her from killing him the first time around. Just as Darkness would remain Darkness, she’d always be Light. Always remain on the side of life and peace.

  No wonder the council believed her crap. She’d given them every reason to trust that she’d do what was needed of her to keep the peace.

  But they’d failed in their machinations this time. Failed to manipulate her as they saw fit.

  A year ago, they might have won. If they’d taken her while fear and prejudice had dwelled in her heart, they could have made her theirs again.

  Instead, Ian Krane had dropped her right in the middle of it, where she could take a long, hard look at the world and see the truth.

  Darkness was cold, sometimes even cruel. There were so many words one might use to describe him. If she had to settle on one, however, she would have said that Darkness was good.

  Slavery, to which the Imperials and Council turned a blind eye, was gone in their sector. Children weren’t killed for the simple sin of possessing power.

  But he’d just admitted to a terrible truth: his willingness to forsake everyone else.

  If he had to choose between her and the galaxy, Kai would choose her. This was his one sin. And a sin he wouldn’t need to commit, if she was by his side. Safe.

  The Council, however, never was true, not even to themselves.

  They’d lost their way a long time ago, when they’d condemned that poor innocent woman and forged her into Darkness. They’d been moved by fear. Fear of power. For what proof did they have that she would indeed bring any form of destruction? At that point, she’d only made use of her power to save her people.

  No, they’d seen her power and realized that it surpassed theirs, a thousand times. A trillion times. That she could seize power and take it for herself.

  Their sin was a lust for power. Kai’s sin was love.

  The Council of Wise were the true enemy. They always had been.

  Nalini closed her eyes and saw that vision that had haunted her since she was ten years of age. Kai, hand outstretched, destroying a star. Her, by his side, holding his hand.

  «I know how this ends,» she informed him.

  «Not with your death.» That was no question, but a promise.

  «Nor yours. It ends with theirs. It ends with us destroying their world. It ends in strands of Starfire.»

  «I like the sound of that. What are we doing?»

  So, she told him, as she was taken down to the labs and made into an immortal.

  Ian Krane hovered over her, watching her on the operating table. He took her hand.

  “Not gonna lie. It’s going to hurt for a bit. You’ll sleep through it.”

  She nodded. “Don’t let them start without me. I want to be there. When they go to destroy Darkness, I want to help if I can. And I want to see my enemies burn.”

  He smiled at her.

  “Proud of you, kid. More than you know.”

  He squeezed her hand as the other members of the council circled around their weapon like vultures.

  “Thank you,” she said, as the doctor inserted a needle at the back of her neck.

  Her veins were fire and ice. She screamed until they finally forced her to sleep.

  The dream was peaceful. It shouldn’t have been. She dreamed of fire and death.

  The very ground was falling beneath their feet. The planet had minutes, at most. She needed to get off there. Now. Instead, she ran. To a woman.

  And Nalini knew she was a male in this life. A male called… Elnur.

  It mattered not. Flesh and blood were nothing. The only thing she knew was love.

  He ran to Phne, the female he lived and breathed for, and when her eyes saw him, she gasped in terror. She looked past him and saw a speeder. Exhaling in relief, Phne pointed to it. “Please go. Leave now. This is my doing. My nightmare.”

  Her path had led her here, to his burning world; Elnur’s choices were the opposite. He’d earned peace. He’d earned the right to live, dammit.

  “Come with me,” Elnur countered.

  She shook her head.

  “I need to stay here and keep this furnace from exploding until everyone is evacuated.” Phne strained to speak, desperate to make him understand.

  Elnur knelt next to Phne and took her hand.

  “You need to leave.”

  “I literally can’t without you. I got it all wrong, Phne. From the start. The Council has tricked me and lied. You aren’t going to destroy worlds. You aren’t going to kill gods.” He rolled his eyes, half laughing, half crying. “All along, that was all about us. We’re the Goddess Light. The Goddess of Darkness and her Light. This damn prophecy they used to condemn you was never about war and destruction. It was about us coming together and ruling this world. It was about our race not needing the Council’s bullshit anymore.”

  Phne stared into his eyes, not understanding a word; because if she did understand, it would make everything so much worse.

  She’d believed those words. She’d believed she was Darkness and nothing else. Destruction. And she’d acted accordingly.

  Yet what should have been insane sentiments was resonating in her, somewhere deep down.

  “It’s too late,” she cried. “This planet is going to explode. It’s too close to the star. The entire system is doomed. And every transport leaving right now will blow. I need to save them. And you need to go, El.”

  “Never.”

  Phne started to cry as he took her hand.

  “I’ll come back. We both will. Someday, we’ll meet again. And I’ll save you this time. I should have been there, standing right next to you, against them. Let the universe burn in Starfire if I had to. You saved my life, Phne. And since that day, a part of me has belonged to you. It always will.”

  Elnur’s comm device, still working, came to life and a voice confirmed the evacuation was complete.

  Phne heard it. She smiled.

  The planet was unstable as ever; neither of them could stop the inevitable for much longer. El’s speeder had been destroyed long ago; they hadn’t even looked at it.

  It didn’t matter now, in the end. Nothing mattered anymore. They were together.

  Phne let go of her hold on the planet core as her lips descended on Elnur’s, taking them in one last, desperate, white-hot kiss.

  They’d meet again. And again and again, until the end of time. They were true mates, their souls bound to each other.

  That was his last thought as he prepared himself for death.

  Nalini woke with a start. Her body was disgustingly wet with sweat, her heart beating hard, and her face salted with dry tears.

  «Kai…»

  He needn’t say a word: she felt it. Her dream, he’d seen it all.

  «Mate,» was his one-word confirmation.

  Thirty-Six

  Skies Alight

  They’d waited.

  She sighed in relief, knowing it was no doubt Ian Krane’s doing. The humongous, spherical starship they meant to use as a weapon just so happened to be ready right when she awoke. Having another seer in her corner rocked.

  The Wise all went on board, unwilling to miss their moment of triumph.

 
; “Nalini, dear, you’re certain you’re well enough?” Kovak asked sweetly.

  She smiled and nodded. “I want to see it. I was kidnapped. I want to see it burn.”

  Lie and truth, all wrapped in one, presented with a pretty bow.

  “Very well.” Kovak patted her hand.

  She wasn’t allowed on the deck here. These people meant to coddle her and treat her like a small, breakable object, even after making her indestructible. She had a hard time not rolling her eyes, although being away from them, and mostly left alone with just two guards, certainly served her purpose.

  Feeling that the ship had exited light speed, she moved, quiet, efficient, lethal. Two flips of her wrists, and the guards fell, necks snapped. She moved the bodies into her room, and was on her way.

  Nalini had two missions. One of them she took from their book.

  It was handy to have a traitor aboard, when one wanted to mess with your shields.

  «We’ve arrived in the sector. I don’t have the coordinates yet, bear with me,» she informed Kai.

  She encountered a few enforcers, none of which paid her any mind. Being underestimated at every turn did, in fact, help.

  She got to a computer and pulled up the information she needed, sending it to Kai.

  «Got it. Just find a transport and get out of there. Come to me,» he commanded.

  «Not yet. We don’t know how strong their shield is, but I’d put my money on very. Let me mess with it.»

  «Nalini…»

  «And I need to find Krane. I’m not sure he knows we mean to blow this joint.»

  Kai swore. Then he was resigned, knowing arguing would have been pointless. «Alright. Hurry, and confirm when you’re out of there. We’re coming.»

  She knew the moment they’d jumped to their location; it helped her locate the source of the weapon’s shield, as the Wise engaged them as soon as the Dominion appeared on their radar.

  Following the source of the energy, she ran. It might have been the Imperial uniform she wore, or the Wise orders, but no one stopped her. Finally, she opened a door, and…

  The shot should have killed her. Would have the day before. It was precise. Went right through her heart.

  «Nalini.» Kai’s tone was urgent.

  Kovak laughed. “You’re good, sweetheart. I’ll give you that.”

  Nalini coughed her guts up, struggling to breathe, to stay awake. Tears streamed down her face.

  “Just not good enough.”

  The kicks started, hard, on her flank.

  “Did you really think you could fool me? I’m a thousand, three hundred years old. I was there when you and that filthy shit tried to seize the power the first time. I saw your eyes then. I see them now.”

  Another kick, this time breaking her nose.

  «Nalini!» Kai screamed helplessly through their bond.

  She wanted to tell him she was there still. Holding on. Alive, for now. But any communication now might make things worse. He’d remember her words. Her last words.

  Kovak lifted her blaster again and took aim.

  A blast fired. Nalini looked death in the eyes.

  Kovak fell back, shocked, one word on her lips. “You…”

  Following the direction where the Wise stared, Nalini turned her head and saw a tall figure. A wolf. Salt and pepper hair.

  “Me, you piece of shit. Guess you should have looked at my eyes.”

  Kovak wasn’t dead; the nanocytes inside her body had started to heal her, just like they healed Nalini, so she’d expected Ian to shoot her again. Wanted him to.

  He did no such thing. No, Ian was too much of a sadistic motherfucker for that.

  “Nox. Take care of her, will you?”

  Nox was no dog, he didn’t take orders, unless he felt like it. Right now, he did.

  The wolf pounced on the woman’s head and ripped out her throat.

  Okay. She’d needed killing, badly, but Nalini was going to throw up nonetheless.

  She needed to do one thing. Immediately. Focusing took some effort, but she managed. «I’m alive. Krane. Krane came through.

  «Fuck. Don’t you ever do that again.»

  «Don’t plan to.»

  “Trust me when I say she deserved worse, kiddo,” Ian said, moving to the control platform at the middle of the room, disabling the shield. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. I need you to stay with me, long enough to tell your mate you’re out of here in a few, okay? Then you can pass out.”

  The old male picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder.

  “Okay? Stay awake, stay awake, stay awake,” he chanted. “Want me to sing? My singing is terrible. Should keep you conscious. Don’t answer that. Talking would hurt like hell right now.”

  He spoke to her all the way to the escape pod, making her wish laughing wasn’t so damn painful.

  “We’re out.”

  She repeated the information to Kai, and immediately he deployed his fighters. She saw it through the small window.

  It wouldn’t be enough against this machine. She knew just what it needed. «Where are you?»

  He answered immediately. «The bridge. I’m not fighting. I need to see you.»

  Krane directed the escape pod inside the Dominion and held her up, half carrying her.

  “The bridge. I need—”

  “Sleep. You need to sleep it off. Trust me on this.”

  “Kai. I need…”

  Fast steps approached, and there he was, right in front of her, holding her in his arms; although it hurt, she pulled him tight, crying against his chest. She’d almost died. She’d almost lost him.

  “Never. You’ll never lose me. I thought you’d get that by now. I’d die along with you, and we’d meet again.”

  “Let’s just not do that, though,” she begged through her tears.

  “Seconding that request,” Krane supplied.

  Both she and Kai turned to him. Kai put one hand on his shoulder, and Nalini took his arm.

  “Dude, tell me we’re not doing hugs,” Krane sighed. “I can’t deal with it. Don’t even have tissues.”

  He wasn’t one to show affection. Feeling it, however….

  All of a sudden, the veil was lifted, revealing what he’d hidden behind his wall.

  “You were my father,” she said.

  Or he had been, at the very beginning, when she was Darkness’ male Light. And perhaps he still was her father, in all the ways that mattered. She saw Krane tapping her shoulder in another life, when she’d inhabited another body. “Don’t you take a break, boy!” He’d said that so many times.

  Krane lost his smile.

  “No. No, the last time you saw me, in the shell I gave you, you told me I wasn’t. You told me I was nothing to you. You were right to do so.” The old male sighed. “I voted to kill the love of your life. I knew she was too dangerous. I just couldn’t see past the fear. Took me a while to get past it. Took seeing my son die because of me.”

  Struggling to move, but needing to, she pulled away from Kai and wrapped her arms around her father, old, buried love coming through in waves.

  “A thousand years. A thousand years, you plotted to get me back safe. Exiling yourself. The Nova, those who gave birth to me, gave me away. They had no choice, of course, but when I was five, they had another daughter. A replacement without magic. Then, they stopped visiting at all, pretending I was dead. I truly believed I had no family. But my father was there all along. With my mate, then with me.”

  He awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, and the rest of the world disappeared. Everything, except her father and Kai.

  For a second, anyway.

  Her heart well on its way to healing, she pulled at both of the males’ sleeves. “Come on. We need to destroy that piece of junk.”

  “There’s hundreds of fighters doing just that,” Krane reminded her.

  She turned to Kai. “Call them back.”

  Not questioning it, he gave the order through his comm. Through the translucent
energy door leading out, she saw their ships returning to them.

  “Get out of the hangar, and open the door from the command platform once you’re safely in the contained zone,” she instructed Krane.

  Her father felt compelled to point out, “This is a doorway leading to space. You will get pulled out and die in the cold, dark elements, in endless agony.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Dramatic much? Open the damn door.”

  Krane gave up, muttering as he did what he was told.

  She pushed to her tiptoes, kissing Kai, as the energy door opened. They needed no words; not after all this. They were one single mind. Their feet remained planted on the floor, their power anchoring them, and protecting them.

  “I love you more than life itself. You’re destruction. Darkness. Do what you do best.”

  She put her hands on either side of his head and surrendered all of her power to him.

  Kai lifted his hand and smirked as golden strands of energy manifested, dancing out of his sleeve. They were quite beautiful, really. They gathered in one small ball in his palm. He pushed it out at full speed, straining a little as it transcended space, dividing to avoid their ships, then reforming and growing exponentially.

  It hit the large, round, luminous Imperial StarX at full speed, and the skies were alight as thousands of souls perished, blown to pieces, just like she’d seen they would, long ago.

  How stupid of her, thinking it had been an actual star.

  Her hand was in Kai’s, and she smiled, glad those beasts were gone.

  She was Light, not a freaking saint.

  Epilogue

  How about Evi?”

  “We’re not naming our daughter after you. You’re already named her guardian if anything happens to us.”

  Nothing was going to happen to them. They were the two most powerful creatures in the universe, and they took care of each other, and, if that failed, Krane had managed to steal a full supply of rejuvenation serum before he’d left the Imperials high and dry. One shot went to Kai. The others were mostly given to Elia, head of tech development.

  In her lab, the scientist worked on synthesizing it. Took a few years to manage, but now, those who earned it got a shot. Clera also got a few drops, so she could create a similar serum for animals.