by Anna Zaires
Saret hadn’t lied. When Mia had woken up without her memories, she hadn’t been completely herself. She had indeed been more accepting, more open to new experiences. She could see that now. However, that had been a good thing. In his quest to soften Mia toward him, Saret had inadvertently created the perfect conditions for her to overcome the pain and confusion from her memory loss. Instead of agonizing, Mia had been acclimating. Instead of worrying, she had been learning.
And instead of fearing Korum again, she had been falling in love with him. Really, truly falling in love with the beautiful, tender Krinar who had greeted her upon awakening. Korum of the recent months wasn’t the same person she’d met in the park that day in April; his arrogance had been tempered by caring, his indifference to her wishes turning into a desire to make her happy. He loved her, of that Mia had no doubt now. He loved her with the same intensity, the same desperation as she loved him.
As the present and the past were joined, so too were Mia’s feelings and emotions. Everything she had felt before was magnified now, strengthened by the trials and tribulations of the past couple of months.
Opening her eyes, Mia smiled at her K lover.
Chapter 26
Seeing her smile, Korum shuddered with relief. “Mia, my sweet, are you all right?” For the past ten minutes, she had been as stiff as a board, her face pale and even her lips drained of color. She hadn’t reacted to anything, as though she’d been in a coma.
“She’s fine. Right, Mia?” Laira stepped closer, bending down to peer at Mia’s face, and Korum fought the urge to strangle the apprentice. His charl had obviously been in pain, and he knew he would never forgive Laira for that.
“I’m okay now,” Mia said softly, as though understanding his feelings. Lifting her hand, she stroked his cheek, the tender gesture cooling some of his anger.
“Do you remember anything?” Laira’s voice interrupted them again.
“Yes,” Mia said, looking up at her. “I remember everything. Thank you for that.”
She remembered. She remembered everything. Korum felt like he could breathe again, the terrible guilt inside him easing for the first time since he’d learned of Saret’s betrayal.
“What about the softening procedure?” he asked Laira, his arms unconsciously tightening around the girl on his lap.
“That should be reversed too,” Laira said. “Mia, do you feel any different in that regard?”
“I don’t know,” Mia said, a small frown appearing on her face. “I can see that my reactions were a little off before, when I woke up in Lenkarda, but I don’t feel any differently now.”
“You don’t?” Korum asked, and Mia smiled.
“No,” she said, her gaze warm and soft. “I don’t.”
Another weight lifted off Korum’s shoulders, making him feel lighter than air. Up until that moment, he hadn’t known how much he’d dreaded the answer to that question. Mia had loved him before her memory loss, he’d known that, but some part of him had still been afraid that her feelings after Saret’s procedure hadn’t been as real – and that undoing the procedure would destroy whatever love she thought she felt for him.
Mia made a move to get up, and he forced himself to let her go, even though he wanted to keep holding her forever.
Getting up himself, he turned toward Laira and gave her a cool nod of thanks. Although the procedure had worked, Korum still couldn’t quite forget the tortured expression on Mia’s face during those awful ten minutes. He’d felt helpless, unable to do anything to ease her suffering, and he wouldn’t forget that any time soon.
Not the least bit disturbed by his obvious displeasure, Laira grinned at him. “Looks like you got your charl back, all safe and sound.”
“Yes,” Korum said, putting a supportive arm around Mia, who still looked too pale. “Looks like it indeed.”
Their flight back to Korum’s house took about twenty minutes, since Laira’s lab was located a few thousand miles from his home region of Rolert. Korum could see that Mia was fascinated by the view outside their transport pod, and he directed the aircraft to fly at a lower altitude and with slower speed, to give her a chance to observe more.
He tried to view Krina as she would be seeing it, and he had to admit that his home planet was beautiful. The giant landmass of Tinara was home to a tremendous variety of flora and fauna, and, from the air, the vegetation looked like a colorful carpet of green, with some red and gold tones mixed in. There were large lakes and rivers, some as blue and clear as the Caribbean, and others a rich blue-green.
The Krinar settlements were sparse, mostly clustered around these bodies of water. There were no cities as such, only Centers that served as focal points of commerce and business. The majority of Krinar lived on the outskirts of these Centers, commuting in for work and other activities.
Korum’s own house was next to Banir – a mid-sized Center in the Rolert region, near the middle of the supercontinent and close to the equator. When Korum had brought Mia and her family there earlier in the morning, they’d all commented on how hot the weather was – even hotter than Florida in the summer. The heat didn’t bother Korum, but he knew humans were more sensitive to it, so he had made sure to get them inside quickly. This evening, when the temperature cooled, he planned to take them to the nearby lake to swim and look at some of the local wildlife.
“That’s Viarad,” Korum told Mia as they flew over a particularly large Center. “It’s the closest thing we have to a planetary capital. A lot of research and development happens there, and it’s also where the Arena fights and other major gatherings take place.”
Mia looked up at him, her eyes bright and curious. “Your cities are nothing like our own,” she observed. “I don’t even see a lot of buildings, much less skyscrapers and the like.”
“They are there,” Korum assured her. “Not skyscrapers, but there are plenty of large buildings for various commercial purposes. You don’t really see them from the air because of all the trees. The forest surrounding Viarad has some of the tallest trees on Krina, with many exceeding a twenty-story building in height.”
Her eyes widened. “Twenty stories?”
“At least,” Korum said. “Maybe more. Those trees are ancient; some of them have been there for over a hundred million years.”
“That’s incredible.” Her voice was filled with wonder. “Korum, your planet is amazing.”
He smiled, enjoying her enthusiasm. “It is, isn’t it?”
Even flying at a slower speed, they reached his house just a few minutes later. Korum led Mia inside the house, where her family were relaxing from the journey. “I’ll make us dinner,” he told her. “You can rest for a bit if you want. You’ve been through a lot today.”
“I’m all right,” Mia said, and he could see she wasn’t lying. The color in her cheeks was back, and she seemed fully recovered from her earlier ordeal. “I’ll go hang out with my parents if you don’t mind.”
“No, of course not, go ahead,” Korum said. “I’ll see you soon.”
* * *
The dinner Korum prepared was as unusual as it was delicious, consisting of a bunch of local seeds, fruits, and vegetables prepared in creative ways. Mia and each member of her family discovered something new that they greatly enjoyed.
One of the dishes consisted of a teardrop-shaped vegetable with purple skin that tasted like a cross between tomato and zucchini. It was stuffed with nutty-flavored grain that had a bubble-like texture. Mia’s dad loved that dish, going back for seconds and thirds as soon as he finished. In the meanwhile, Mia and Marisa were both crazy about the kalfani stew, with its rich, hearty flavor, while her mom and Connor kept eating the exotic fruit that was their dessert. “All of this food is safe for human consumption,” Korum told them. “Not everything on Krina is, but I made sure these specific foods would be fine for your digestive system.”
After dinner, Korum took them to the lake that was near his house. The sun was setting, and Mia could see the three moo
ns starting to appear in the sky, despite the fact that there was still plenty of light.
As they walked, he showed them various plants and insects, explaining a little bit about them. “That’s a nooki,” he said, pointing at a large yellow spider-like thing with what looked like hundreds of legs. “They extract nutrients from the soil, almost like plants do. Our children like to play with them because they do some funny stuff when you startle them.” He clapped his hands next to the creature, and it puffed up, each of its legs nearly tripling in thickness and its torso turning bright red. “It’s completely harmless, so you don’t need to be afraid of it.”
Mia smiled and reached for the creature, curious if it would let her touch it. It scurried away, looking like a clumsy bright-colored ball.
Korum grinned at her, and Mia laughed, feeling incredibly happy. Standing up on tiptoes, she placed her hands on his cheeks and brought his face toward her, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. “I love you,” she said, holding his gaze, and her heart squeezed at the naked look of love she saw there.
“Hey, lovebirds, take a look at this!” Connor yelled, and Mia wanted to punch him for interrupting the moment.
Korum gave her a rueful smile, and walked over to see what Connor was talking about. Mia followed, still unhappy with her brother-in-law. As soon as she got there, however, all her displeasure was forgotten. “Oh, wow,” she breathed, “what is that?”
On a tree branch just a few feet off the forest floor, partially hidden by leaves, was a tiny furry creature that looked like a cross between a lemur and a kitten. Brown-colored, it had huge blue eyes and a short fluffy tail.
“That’s a baby fregu,” Korum said softly. “They’re very cute, but they bite sometimes, so don’t try to pet it.”
“Fregu?” The word sounded familiar for some reason. Then Mia remembered. “Hey, you said I reminded you of one of these!” she told Korum accusingly, then burst out laughing because she herself could see the resemblance.
The fregu was only the first of their encounters with Krinar wildlife. There were birds with four wings, insects that were the size of a small bird, and plants that acted more like animals. One time, Connor almost stepped on a snake-like creature that screamed at him and rolled away, its long thin body moving like a rolling pin.
Finally, they reached the lake. It was a sizable body of water, probably a couple of miles wide and several miles long. The shore of the lake was covered with fine grey sand and small black rocks. It made the water itself look dark and mysterious.
“Is it safe to swim?” Marisa asked, kicking off her sandal and dipping a toe in to test the temperature.
“Yes,” Korum told her. “There are some dangerous predators in there, but nothing that comes this close to the shore. This lake is very deep, and there are all kinds of things living there, but they generally don’t go into shallow waters. Just in case, though, wear this.” He handed her a thin clear bracelet that he made just a second ago. “It repels aquatic animals by emitting a sound they find very unpleasant.”
Mia and the others received the same kind of bracelet, and then they all went for a swim, enjoying the refreshing escape from the heat outside.
Chapter 27
Mia woke up the next morning with a nagging feeling of unease in her chest. For some reason, she kept dreaming about Saret and that day in the lab. In her dream, Saret was touching her, making her skin crawl with disgust, and there was nothing Mia could do about it other than scream silently in her head because she was paralyzed and unable to move.
Too wired to sleep more, Mia got up and went to take a shower. Korum was away somewhere, and Mia didn’t know if her family was still sleeping or not. From the sun’s position outside, it had to be very early in the morning.
Standing under the water spray, she yawned, feeling unusually tired. Maybe she shouldn’t have gotten up yet. The stupid dream was still on her mind, and she scrubbed her skin thoroughly, trying to wash it away. In reality, Saret had barely touched her, so she didn’t know why her subconscious even went there this night.
To dispel any lingering impressions from the dream, she mentally went over the actual events of that day, starting from when she ran into Saret on her way out. He had been so happy to talk to her about his plans, to tell her everything he intended to do to humans and his fellow Krinar. Mia guessed it hadn’t been easy for him, never confiding in anyone else, always trying to play a role, to hide his true nature. With her, since he thought she would never remember their conversation, he had felt safe dropping the mask he normally wore.
In hindsight, it was almost funny, all of his crazy ramblings about bringing peace to Earth and acting as a savior to her people. He had even tried to convince her that Korum had some evil plans of taking over her planet. It was so ridiculous that Mia chuckled to herself. Had he really thought that she would be sympathetic to his cause? That because she had been willing to believe the worst of Korum once she would make that same mistake again?
Stepping out of the shower, Mia let the drying technology do its work. Then, feeling marginally better, she went back into the bedroom to find her fabricator and get dressed.
To her surprise, Korum was there, sitting on the bed. He was dressed in a typical Krinar outfit of light-colored shorts and a sleeveless shirt. For some reason, his hair was wet.
“You’re awake,” he said, looking at her naked body with a familiar sensual gleam in his eyes. “I went swimming in the lake because I figured you’d be asleep for quite some time. Why are you up so early?”
“Bad dream.” Mia sat down next to him. His hands immediately went to her breasts and squeezed them lightly, as though he couldn’t resist touching her.
“Why, my sweet? What dream?” There was a concerned look on his beautiful face, even as his hands continued playing with her breasts, his thumbs brushing against her nipples in a way that sent a spear of heat right down to her core.
Mia could hardly think with him doing this to her. “Um . . . just that thing with Saret . . .” Her head fell back, her neck arching as he bent down to nibble on the sensitive spot near her collarbone.
“What thing?” he murmured, one of his hands now slipping between her thighs, stroking her aching sex.
“Just that . . . conversation . . .” Mia gasped as his finger slid inside her, one thumb pressing on her clit while his other hand continued playing with her nipple.
“What about it?” he whispered, his hot breath washing over her neck, giving her goosebumps all over.
“I don’t . . . I don’t know,” Mia managed to say, her inner muscles clenching around his finger as a wave of heat went through her body. She was so close . . . so close . . .
Korum withdrew his finger and pushed her down, so that she was lying flat on her back with her legs hanging off the side of the bed. Kneeling on the floor, he pulled her legs over his shoulders and brought her sex toward his mouth.
At the first touch of his warm, wet tongue on her clit, Mia shattered into a million pieces. The release was so powerful that she arched off the bed, her eyes squeezing shut as waves of pleasure radiated through every part of her body.
Before the waves had a chance to fade, he was already inside her, his shorts ripped open at the crotch area and his thick length buried deep within her small channel. Gasping at his abrupt entry, Mia grabbed his shoulders, holding on tightly as he began to stroke in and out, stimulating the nerve endings that were still sensitive from her orgasm. Panting, she opened her eyes and met his golden gaze.
He was staring at her with an intense look of hunger on his face. Bending his head, he took her mouth in a savage kiss, ravaging her with his tongue even as his cock continued to plunge into her from below. One of his hands held her hair, keeping her head immobile, while his other hand slid down her side and underneath her hips, touching her folds where they were joined. His finger rubbed around her entrance, gathering the moisture there, and then that same finger burrowed between her cheeks and pushed into her other opening.
Overwhelmed by the sensations, Mia moaned helplessly. With the way he was holding her, she couldn’t do anything but feel. He was on top of her, inside her, all over her, and she couldn’t catch her breath, her heartbeat skyrocketing as the tension within her spiraled higher and higher. His finger in her ass seemed impossibly large, invasive, yet there was a dark pleasure there too, an unusual feeling of fullness that added to the sensuality of the moment.
Without any warning, everything inside her tightened and convulsed, and Mia came, her body twisting and shuddering in his arms. He groaned, grinding against her, trying to get even deeper, and she could feel his cock pulsing within her as he found his own release.
After a couple of minutes, he slowly withdrew from her. “All right?” he asked softly, and Mia nodded, too limp and relaxed to move.
He smiled and picked her up, carrying her to the shower for another quick rinse, and then they got dressed and ready for breakfast with her family.
At breakfast, Mia found her attention wandering, her mind again turning to her dream and that conversation with Saret. After a few minutes of dwelling on it, she realized what was bothering her.
Why did Saret try to claim that Korum was the villain? Was he delusional, or did he think Mia would be so gullible as to believe his lies? And why bother lying to her at all, if he was planning to erase her memory shortly afterwards? She tried to think of his exact words, something about Korum wanting to take her planet. What the hell did that even mean? The Krinar were already there, on Earth, sharing it alongside humans – which is what Korum had said was their intention.
Still, Mia couldn’t quite shake an uneasy feeling. She knew her lover had a ruthless streak – and she knew he was loyal to his people. Could that loyalty extend as far as wanting to get rid of an entire rival species to gain a precious resource? Korum had told her himself that Earth was unique, that out of all the planets out there, it came closest to mimicking Krina. And now that Mia was here, she could see that it was indeed the case; if anything ever happened to Earth, humans would be more than happy to live on Krina – and likely vice versa with the Krinar.