by Vi Voxley
"Yes."
"How fast is it eating the stone up?" the paladin asked.
Audrey still couldn't get all those people out of her mind. The crew of the Vehement, the paladins they'd abandoned on the Brion ship. They were all dead.
"Audrey."
She pursed her lips, shaking her head clear. That was not the time to mourn. It would come later or wouldn't come at all. Right now, all that mattered was that they prepared for the next attack, which was undeniably coming.
"Fast," she said. "The Fearless had already used it on itself. Now it has to power the engine as well as the guns, but it'll run out soon."
"How soon?" Tieran asked seriously. "The Brion ship is faster. Can we outrun it?"
"I don't know," Audrey said.
"Guess."
She glared at him for taking such a tone with her, but she knew he was furious too. She was just mourning the loss of life, but for him they had been friends and valuable crew. All Tieran was trying to do was make sure no one else died.
"Maybe," she offered. "It's like you told me. The Fearless doesn't care about conservation. It thinks it can get more on Verien, so I think it will leave the stone in the engine. It's coming for the big prize now."
"Can you let me know if they get close enough for it to be a problem?" Tieran asked. "Or if the stone runs out of power."
"Yes," Audrey said. "Tieran?"
The paladin pulled her into a tight embrace, holding her while she drew her own kind of strength from him. Despite all that had happened, he was still standing there, ready to fight. Audrey wasn't going to be worse.
"Don't be afraid," he told her when she moved away, feeling like she'd just charged her inner battery.
"I am," Audrey said, "but that is not what I wanted to say. I have some ideas about how to stop the Fearless."
The look on Tieran's face warred between amusement and love for a long moment, but he settled for a slight grin in the end.
"Paladins are taught never to want anything for themselves," he said in the end. "But I don't think I can let you go."
"I don't want you to," Audrey said quietly, hoping against all reason that they would find a way to make it work, because she felt the same.
And she had realized the same truth, watching Tieran fight the enemy for her without even thinking of giving up. That was the kind of man she'd always wanted and now that Audrey had found him, she refused to go back to the way things had been before.
Tieran smiled.
"Then I won't," he said. "I have fought many enemies in my days and I will fight many more. If I need to fight for you too, I will."
The kiss they shared after that promise was the most tender and loving of their many kisses so far, making Audrey feel like it was the first time they shared true intimacy instead of mere desire. Even the monster on their trail didn't matter in that single, perfect moment.
16
Tieran
Every second brought them closer to Verien and every second brought the Fearless closer to them.
The days of their flight back were the most intense in his life. Neither he nor Audrey slept much, or well, but their closeness helped to ease some of the tension at least.
The Fearless was following them relentlessly, never easing up. The stolen Jorcossi ship was using up all of its reserves to keep the distance between them. They'd channeled almost everything to the engines, but there wasn't much else to draw from if they wanted to keep breathing.
The only thing working in their favor was that the Fearless had to conserve the energy it had and could not go all out, and that the Brion vessel was so large. Moving it at such high speeds, considering the damage it had taken during the Fearless’ rampage, had a high toll.
From time to time, Audrey removed her new protective bracelet. Now that the Fearless had sacrificed the stone to risk everything for the treasure under Verien, it was a bit safer for her to open herself up to the power of the lifestone.
The same trace of touch that made her able to feel it were still in the Fearless, but she said it felt like watching it through fog.
She sensed the stone in the Brion ship's engine much more brightly, but it grew dimmer every day. Tieran could only hope they reached Verien first.
As for the planet, the massive glare of the lifestone reserves there grew more painful in Audrey's vision every time. With the stolen lifestone closer to her now, it meant that the reserves on Verien were able to call on her attention once more.
He would rather have not taken her back there, but they were not given any other choice. Unfortunately, Verien was in the middle of nowhere and he couldn't just leave Audrey floating in space for the Fearless to easily pick her up.
No, she had to go back just as he did and they would try and make a stand together.
Verien was waiting for them, of course. Tieran's orders had been clear from the start and the information Audrey had provided him with were invaluable now.
On the last day of their transit, they finally reached the range of immediate communications with Verien again. The planet's rough atmosphere made it difficult to get a signal to the planet, but through the Evela, they were able to talk to Pelar.
Though they had sent messages through during the transit, this was the first time they could really talk to those on Verien again.
The female was clearly happy to see them both again, although her face dropped when Tieran informed her of the losses straight-out.
"And that thing is coming here?" she asked. "Can't the Evela—"
"No," Audrey was saying. "It can't make a stand against the Brion ship and the Fearless won't care either way. It will find the first way down to the surface and by then it will be too late. Above everything else, we need to protect the mines."
She sighed, looking at Tieran, and he nodded.
"Have you done what the commander asked? Have you collapsed the lower levels?" she asked.
Pelar nodded.
"Yes, governor," she said.
The Terran Franco, next in rank to Audrey, was there for the call as well. The expression on his face was grim.
"It will take us months to dig through it again," he commented.
Tieran left that to Audrey, thinking his response wouldn't be very diplomatic.
But Audrey's voice was poisonous too as she replied: "I would consider that a small sacrifice for saving the world. You have not seen the Fearless, Franco. You say months, but I'm more concerned whether it will take the monster days or hours to get to the bottom.
“I want to make this absolutely clear to everyone even before we arrive. Under no circumstances can anyone get in the mines. The Fearless won't come alone. There will be more Jorcossi. The splitters are a priority."
"Yes, Miss Price," Franco replied, but Tieran sensed reluctance in him. "What about the Fearless?"
"The commander will handle the enemy," Audrey said. "Go on, Tieran."
The Terran male's eyes drifted to him and Tieran had the terrible urge to send him to a scan again, although he knew all of the station's living souls had been through it.
He simply couldn't understand the man. He was the absolute opposite of everything Tieran believed in, so different from Audrey. Terrans were odd in that way. There were no two alike, while all of the Palians thought similarly on the most basic level.
"Set up a perimeter around the mines," Tieran said. "My paladins will join your men and the Palian guards there as soon as we land, though there are not many of us available at the moment.”
It was the nicest way to say ‘most of my brothers in arms have been slaughtered by an ancient evil that’s coming for you next’.
“That is to be the last line of defense, but we hope to kill the enemy sooner. Are the other preparations the governor ordered done?"
Again, the glare.
"Yes," Franco said through gritted teeth. "May I just say that it is a terrible idea? The station hasn't been tested for such conditions. There is a storm on the surface. The station is as cold as
a cave. The casualties might be—"
"Of course it has been tested," Tieran snapped, unable to still his temper.
The things she is doing to me…
With a Terran by his side, getting in touch with his feelings was becoming something that came… naturally. It was odd and disconcerting, but liberating at the same time.
"We are Palians. The station can withstand it and the civilians have been instructed to stay far away from the outer doors. Is the evacuation complete?"
"They have been taken to the southern halls, yes," Pelar said before the Terran could open his mouth. "The walls have been welded and reinforced, but if the Fearless wants to get in—"
"It will," Tieran finished. "I know. We just have to hope it will consider it a needless distraction. The mines are what it wants. I will post paladins there too, but not many."
"Then how do you plan to guarantee the safety of the people in the station?" Franco demanded, crossing the last line.
"I guarantee nothing," Tieran said darkly. "There are no such things in war. I will fight to the death, if need be. That is all a man can do. But I see you do not understand simple truths. Would you feel better if I made empty promises that everyone will emerge unharmed?"
"It would make me feel a lot better, sir," Franco snarled. "If you didn't already prepare for major losses. If you believed in the victory."
"I believe in facts," Tieran replied tersely. "What must happen, will happen. I don't think building illusions helps."
"And that's what I don't—"
"Remove yourself from your position," Tieran cut in. "Pelar will take over your duties."
"You can't…" Franco protested, red with rage, but Audrey spoke up.
"You heard the commander," she said coldly. "You are dismissed. Wait this one out with the civilians."
Franco practically steamed, a storm raging on his face as he turned from the feed. He went, but not quietly. They could hear him stomping away even through the link.
"Do you think he'll be a problem?" Tieran asked Audrey.
She sighed, shaking her head.
"No. Franco is a hothead, but he isn't a traitor. I'm sorry. Terrans can't be universally relied upon, it seems."
"Let us know if anything happens," Tieran told Pelar and cut the link, turning to Audrey.
The little Terran seemed sad all of a sudden, her eyes filled with regret like it was her that was failing.
"You are nothing like him," Tieran said. "You keep amazing me day by day."
She snorted, smiling at him.
"I don't think I am," she said. "Terrans are fine, we really are. I guess it's just spending so much time with Palians. After you guys it's hard to go back to people who don't see further from their own nose."
Tieran kissed the tip of her nose for that, leaving her smiling happily. It steeled his determination even more, knowing he couldn't fail in this task. Not for her sake and not for the sake of the entire galaxy.
She took the hint when he led her away, back to their rooms on the stolen ship. It didn't feel close to the homey feel of his own ship, but it had a bed and it was away from prying eyes.
Audrey's hands were undoing his armor as soon as the door closed behind them. Tieran could have had the nanobots simply fall off him like a cloth, but he liked the ferocity with which she acted when she really wanted him. Their mouths never left the other's lips, kissing deeply, savoring each other's taste.
He loved everything about her body, but especially the way it was revealed to him inch by inch from under the white uniform she wore.
Audrey grinned, seeing him so mesmerized. He knew she loved teasing him, making him pull her hands away and rip the cloth down her shoulders. They had spent quite a few nights like that, unable to sleep, trying new ways to turn the other on while worry kept them up at night.
Tieran felt a shiver go down his spine, imagining Audrey's pink lips around his cock, her green eyes shining up at him.
“My previous little star,” he murmured, finding himself more and more affectionate by the day.
Right then, they couldn't wait that long, had no patience for teasing. As soon as Audrey was out of her clothes, Tieran pushed her to sit on the bed and knelt between her thighs. She squirmed and arched under his hands and tongue after only a minute, pushing herself closer to him, aching for more.
He wanted to give Audrey everything, make sure she had nothing but pleasure in her life.
Tieran pushed his tongue into her, tasting her pussy. He could feel her body tremble under his mouth, the way her pussy pulsed from the stimulation. He dipped a finger into her wetness, running it around her clit then, making her moan long and loud. Her legs closed behind his neck, pulling him face-first between her thighs.
"Tieran, please, I need you—" she pleaded.
He pushed two fingers into her, scissoring them, stretching her wider open for him. He kept licking and kissing her pussy, teasing her in contrast to the rough thrusting of his fingers.
Audrey thrashed under his hands, pulling at his short hair. The sounds she made were driving him absolutely out of his mind.
He stood up, lifting her legs to rest on his shoulders. Her eyes were wide and wild as he thrust into her as deeply as he could. She screamed, fisting her hands into their sheets, and adjusted her hips to give him a better angle.
The change was so sudden that Tieran groaned, low and hard. He kissed her legs as he picked up a ruthless rhythm. She ran her toes over his muscled chest, biting her lip as she watched him pound into her.
Her hair was messed up and the look in her beautiful eyes was the single most erotic thing he'd ever seen. It didn't take either of them long to be very close to the edge, but Tieran didn't want it to end. He needed to hear her scream, to see that stubborn, magnificent creature lose control as he fucked her, just like she was making him lose control.
Her body was starting to tremble slightly, signaling that she was going to cum. Drops of sweat were beading on their skin as he slammed into her faster and harder than before, feeling her delicious body take it all with glee. The walls of her pussy were clamping down on his cock and the sensation was so maddening he nearly cummed right then.
"Mine," he groaned, the word coming over his lips without a second thought, manifesting as the truth. "You are mine, forever."
Her light green eyes were staring into his very soul, it seemed. Audrey laid there, her body willing and pliant for him, gasping. Her lips moved, but he already saw the answer in her gaze.
"Yours," she whispered. "Yes, I'm yours, Tieran…"
He couldn't bear it for much longer, hearing that.
He took a better hold of her hips and started slamming into her, not holding back anymore. Audrey screamed his name, her hands playing with her soft, round breasts.
She slipped one hand between her legs to rub her clit, but he pushed her hand away. He wanted to be the only one giving her pleasure. She gasped when he ran his fingers over her clit, circling around and teasing it.
"So good," she moaned, "oh, fuck that's- Tieran!"
He could feel her cum, crying out again and again as he fucked her senseless, seeing her eyes close in pleasure. Her wet pussy trembled around his cock, pulling his own orgasm from him.
He growled as he spilled his seed into her, feeling her body convulse around his cock. Audrey's eyes were open again now, staring up at him as he thrust a few final times, feeling the wave of pleasure drown out everything else. It was so intense that he could barely breathe, buried to the hilt within her warmth.
They were both left gasping for air, coming down from their mutual high. Tieran stayed in her for a long moment, trying to catch his breath before pulling out of her, seeing his cum slide down her thighs. He sat on the bed, resting against the wall, and pulled Audrey into his arms.
The room around them was damp and dark and in no way romantic, but he hardly cared. With Audrey, any place in the galaxy was good enough. Even the near-organic confines of a Jorcossi vessel. He would have
been glad to be by her side no matter what.
Slowly combing his fingers through her long silver-blonde hair, Tieran felt that he was truly happy for the first time in his life. The emotion had previously eluded him, more to do with satisfaction of a job well done.
Now, he finally understood how good someone you deeply cared for could make you feel.
The phrasing seemed wrong in his head. Caring wasn't the emotion he would have named.
"I love you," he said solemnly, kissing Audrey's hair, holding her in his arms like he never wanted to let go.
Audrey sat up, looking at him with something akin to surprise in her eyes. But that washed away and was instantly replaced by the warmest smile he'd ever seen on her face.
"I love you too," she said, leaning in to kiss him.
Nothing else needed to be said. Tieran thought that with those words, everything else was already clear enough. So he simply held the woman he loved in his embrace, feeling her heart beat next to his, knowing that together they were ready to face everything.
Everything about her had led him to this conclusion. She was brave, relentless, stubborn and beautiful. She could harness her emotions and use them, showing him that they were not something to be avoided, but embraced. And best yet, she was making him be a better person, and a better warrior.
He didn't move a muscle until long hours later when his comm link came to life. They had arrived at Verien. With regret, he woke up Audrey, peacefully asleep until then, with her head rested against his chest.
"We're home," he said.
She smiled brightly, but he didn't miss the flash of pain in her eyes. So close to the mountain, even if the icy planet with its treacherous atmosphere stood between them, Audrey could already feel the bite of the lifestone.
He wondered if she could ever be free of its call.
They dressed for the final battle, knowing that the future of the galaxy was decided by what they did that day. The Fearless would be arriving with its stolen Brion vessel not long after, Tieran was sure of it.
Tieran donned his armor, having it give him room to move, but also protection against the Fearless' terrible claws. Audrey put on her uniform.