Page 67 of When the Universe Sings

Asher’s expression was so soft it rendered him almost unrecognizable. Why did my body warm as if I was lying in the heat of the suns—why did my heart suddenly feel three sizes too large? The longing, there was such longing it made my eyes prick.

Maker, was that… “Is that you?”

A sad smile slashed across his face, pulling at the silver markings on his cheeks, and he nodded. “I’m sorry. I know it’s overwhelming at first. But it’ll get easier. You can learn to turn it down or even push it back altogether. I promise I?—”

“I don’t understand,” I repeated, shaking my head again.

After a pause, he let go, sitting back in the chair with his hands clasped tightly in his lap like he was trying to restrain himself. His hair was messy around his face, waves trailing down his shoulders and streaming over his chest, and it hit me then he hadn’t changed in three days. He’d stayed by my side the entire time.

“I guess I should start at the beginning,” he said, leaning forward until his elbows rested on his thighs. “My name is Asher Kalisya and I am the last remaining Ra’jakan,or prince, of Akahzyr.”

CHAPTER

FORTY-SIX

“You saidyour name was Asher Ruciyah. That you were from Quinzyr.”

Asher nodded, rubbing his hands together. “I lied. You’re the first I’ve spoken my real name to in over twenty cycles.”

Who are you?I’d demanded of him. This was why he hadn’t answered. Because he was a Maker-damned prince of Akahzyr. Which meant… “You weren’t going to sell the stone to the highest bidder.”

“No…I wasn’t.” I rolled my lips together, but when I didn’t say anything else he sighed, head drooping. “When I was seventeen an emissary of high-level Federation senators, including Senate Leader Antares, visited our planet to discuss trade with my mother. At the time, Akahzyr was a tenuous Class Two member of the Federation, though my mother had been considering pulling out of the alliance completely. While we hosted the delegation, we had no idea they wouldn’t stick to the rules of hospitality. In the middle of the night, a select crew hired by one of the senators broke into our temple and stole our most powerful and sacred stone. Trusting them was our downfall. A mistake I’m sure my people will never make again.”

My hands clenched into fists, pain blossoming across my palms. I’d read an account of the betrayal in one of the texts Zoleka had given me. One of the soldiers had died when he touched the stone with his bare hands but the rest were able to smuggle it out in an ammunition box.

“Once we realized what happened, any travel in or out of the planet was halted. And when it was confirmed that the stone had been taken off world, the responsibility fell on my shoulders to retrieve it.”

Shaking my head, I pressed my fingers to my lids. “Why you? Don’t you have…I don’t know—soldiers? Warriors?”

Asher’s exhale was loud. “They would expect an army of Akahzyrian warriors. We’re a small planet. My mother had to choose between protecting our home or retrieving the stone. I was honored by the mission, even with the understanding that to do so I would have to forsake my people, our traditions and beliefs, and even my family name.”

Twenty cycles since he’d seen his home. Twenty cycles of pretending to be someone else. I could only stare at him as if it was the first time I’d trulyseenhim, unable to fathom what that must have been like. My planet had been ripped from me, my people destroyed, but Asher? Asher had accepted he might never return to his planet and see his family again, all for the sake of duty.

“I joined a mercenary crew and met a Quinzyr male who took me under his wing. Endron Ruciyah was a good male, for all his faults. He taught me the ways of the Quinzyr, believing me to be yet another orphan desperate for a path. And when I was twenty-five, I took the marks of his people and donned the mask, knowing it would help divert any suspicion of who I might truly be.” He laughed bitterly and shook his head before gathering his hair up and twisting it into a bun on the back of his head. “Do you remember Senator Jucinda, who was with Lucien on Louxuria?”

I nodded.

“She was one of the officials, though at the time she was a councilwoman and her late husband had been senator. Both of them had come to my planet with the delegation. I was sure shewould recognize me even after all these cycles. But no one ever sees past the markings. It’s a mask in and of itself.”

Another mask, another lie. “So where do I fit in to this?”

His throat clicked with a swallow. He regarded me almost like he was memorizing my face. “The most cherished story of my people is one that says the universe was created by a great explosion and in its cataclysm the first atoms were made, the first particles, the first pieces of stardust. As time began and the universe expanded, those atoms spread out far and wide. They created stars and planets, trees and creatures, and beings like us.”

Asher took a deep breath, sliding his chair forward a little. I didn’t understand what this story had to do with me, but before I could say anything, he raised one of those hands to stop me. “My people believe some of those atoms bonded at the start of the universe, sharing a…connectionthat spans throughout time and space, through fire and ice and everything in between. Those atoms live in our cells, in our bodies, in our souls, and very rarely we find our mates. The ones our atoms were with at the very beginning of time.”

I froze as his hand reached out to cover mine. My heart skipped at the fear suddenly flickering through my veins, the uncertainty, the ache in my chest.

“When that happens, we can experience what the other is feeling through physical touch. And when our blood is exchanged, there is a mental link between mates allowing us to share our innermost thoughts. That link helps us to find each other no matter how far apart we might be, to share our strength, our power, and our abilities.”

I blinked at him, finally understanding what he was saying. I’d read about it in the book Zoleka gave me. The mating bond was such a powerful force it even rewrote their biology. Once an Akahzyrian found their mate and the bond set, their strengthgrew tenfold, their ability to manipulate matter exponentially increased. That was nothing to say of their ability to influence others, the intense power of persuasion they had.

Asher had torn a two-foot-thick metal door to get to me.

He’d crushed a fighter into pieces.

The laugh that burst from my chest was bitter, but it was a laugh all the same. I laughed until tears sprang at the corners of my eyes, until I was choking. And all the while Asher watched with a mix of heartbreak and longing on his face.

“I’m your mate.”