Page 68 of Silver Slayer

I glanced down to find the silver glow of my shawra peeking through the neckline of my kilt-dress. With a sigh, I pulled the fabric back into place, tucking it securely over the mark before raising my hand to knock gently, though I didn't expect an answer. Through the thread of our mingled essence, I could feel Vennox somewhere beyond the city.

The faint echo of Vennox's emotions brushed against mine through our mingled essence, alive with laughter. Whatever he and Vallon were doing, they were enjoying themselves.

I lowered myself to the ground beside the doorway, back against the cool stone, and stretched my legs out in front of me. The jungle beyond the dome had found its rhythm, layered calls rising and answering in the dark, unhurried, ancient. I let it wash over me.

My eyes grew heavy as the quiet warmth of Vennox's presence swirled gently around mine. I'd built my life on self-reliance, convinced the only person I could truly count on was myself. People left. They disappointed. They broke promises. Yet somewhere along the way, without my permission or even my understanding, I'd stopped being alone.

As long as I carried this small piece of Vennox within me, there would always be another soul reaching back across the distance. It was a strange kind of comfort, and tonight, for the first time in longer than I could remember, I was content simply to wait for him.

Chapter Twenty-Four

VENNOX

The twin suns were just breaking the horizon, their first pale light bleeding across the stone pathway, when I finally turned toward my hut.

My body carried the pleasant exhaustion of the previous suns-fall, every muscle in my shoulders and arms ached from the unfamiliar effort of piloting. Vallon had been relentless, drilling me through maneuver after maneuver until every movement became instinct instead of thought, until my palm knew exactly how to guide the smooth control sphere and the craft responded as though it were an extension of my own body.

I flexed my fingers, working out the lingering feel of the Gretolic controls. They’d felt strange at first, too light and responsive under my sword hand. But Vallon hadn’t been wrong. That craft slid through the jungle canopy like a spirit, silent and unseen, even to the wetlocks. I’d held us suspended just above a floratrap as it bloomed, those massive petals unfurling right beneath our hull. It never knew we were there.

The path curved. My hut came into view at the far end, the single solaris orb beside the doorway casting its steady light across the pale stone. And there?—

Quin was asleep at my door.

Her back against the stone, her legs stretched out in front of her, her chin tipped slightly toward her shoulder. The kiltus-dress she wore looked right on her in a way I had not anticipated, and her dark hair had dried in waves that fell across her face, one strand caught at the corner of her mouth.

The silver shawl she wore was pulled carefully across her chest, the fabric tucked neatly at her neckline where I knew the shawra glowed beneath it. Her hands rested in her lap, loose and open, and her breath came in the deep, even rhythm of true sleep. After everything, on her first suns-fall on Valose, she had walked across the city and sat down at my door.

I crouched beside her and stayed there for a long moment, doing nothing, simply committing her face to memory.

She did not stir. Her breath remained deep and even, her face turned slightly toward the warmth of the solaris orb as though it had been keeping watch over her. I hesitated. Part of me wanted to let her sleep. The selfish part. The part that had carried her through a hyper-jump with her hand locked in mine and had not forgotten the weight of her. To sit beside her in the quiet and watch the rise and fall of her chest and pretend, for just a little while, that this was how every suns-fall ended.

I reached out and brushed the strand of hair away from the corner of her mouth. Her breathing shifted, and then she opened her eyes.

The smile came before she was fully awake. Before she'd remembered where she was or gathered her composure or decided how much of herself to offer. Just a smile, wide and unguarded and aimed at me, and for one undefended moment I felt the full weight of what I was going to lose when she left.

She would return to Earth. She had said so, and meant it, and I had promised myself I would not make her carry my grief alongside her own conflict. Whatever time we had, I was going to hold it carefully. Savor it the way you savor the last of a fire before the wood runs out. Let it be enough, because it had to be.

She pushed herself upright against the stone, brushing her hair back from her face with both hands, blinking the last of sleep away. "I was waiting for you. Elise showed me where you live." She looked around, taking in the pathway, the dome's soft glow against the jungle beyond. "I didn't mean to fall asleep on your doorstep."

"I am glad you did." I grinned. “You saved me a walk to the palace, as I was headed there to find you. I have a surprise for you.”

“For me?”

I pushed to my feet in a single smooth motion and extended my hand down to her. “Come with me.”

She looked at my hand, and then took it. “Where?”

“If I tell you, it will ruin the surprise.”

She huffed in exaggerated surrender, though the corners of her mouth betrayed her amusement.

"Fine," she said. "Keep your secrets."

"I intend to."

Still holding her hand, I led her through the awakening city. The pathways were beginning to fill as males headed toward their duties, and the few females who lived in the city emerged from their homes, speaking with neighbors in the soft luminescence of solaris rocks that had not yet surrendered completely to the growing light of the twin suns. Greetings followed us wherever we walked.

The training field came into view beyond the last row of huts. We followed the path as it straightened, a row of solaris orbs set apart at even, regular intervals leading toward the field's northern edge.