Page 31 of Measure of the Stars

“You can usually track the movement of the earth with a sextant,” Delauney said, setting up the telescope with a firm, confident air.“But I wanted to show you my favorite planet, first, and this is the only way we can do it.”

“And there are...eleven planets, right?”Wes asked, trying to remember the endless notes he’d been taking over the last week.

“So far,” Delauney said.“Maybe we’ll discover more one day.Here, look, before the ship jostles it out of position.”

Wes peered into the scope.A small, pale dot wavered in his vision, almost indistinguishable from the stars around it save for a slight shift of the light.

Delauney lay an arm around Wes’ shoulders.“Beautiful, isn’t she?They call her Arwyn.She was discovered by a pirate who insisted on naming her after himself.”

“Sounds like a pirate,” Wes said.He could feel the heat of Delauney’s nearness, and the tingle of his skin as Delauney’s hair fell over his cheek.“Why is she your favorite?”

“I don’t know.”Wes turned to find Delauney smiling dreamily at the stars.“You don’t always need a reason to love something.”

If Wes wanted to make his life more complicated than it needed to be, he would draw away from the telescope.He would look at Delauney—cheerful, clever, sometimes maddening Delauney—and turn his cheek to face him.He’d see the light of the stars in his eyes and wonder if it had always been there.If that was what drove him to save Wes from the military council and care about the fate of rabbits in a ritual hundreds of years ago.And he’d kiss him, softly, gently, trying to taste that inner light on his tongue.Delauney would make a faint sound of surprise, perhaps, before kissing him back, and Wes’ chest would fill with a warmth that he’d never felt before.His early years had been spent trying to run from the life his parents had wanted for him, and his time in the Starian navy had been stagnant and dull.He’d never had the space for soft touches and starlight.

Delauney drew back, his lips parted slightly, and Wes realized that he hadn’t just been dreaming of kissing him.His lips were warm, and a dark blush stained Delauney’s cheeks.

“I’m so sorry,” Wes said, taking a step back.“I shouldn’t have...that was wrong of me.”

“No.”Delauney drew Wes closer to the side of the ship, where a few crates were lashed to the deck.Their shadow fell over Wes as he backed into them.“It’s all right.It was...nice.It was different.”Delauney looked down, then up again, almost sheepish.“Would you like to try again?”

“I shouldn’t,” Wes said.“You’re my captain.”Delauney stepped back, nodding somberly, and a sudden, desperate impulse took hold of Wes’ tongue.“And we’ve done this before.There was an alley in Hekate’s Eye—”

“You knew?”Delauney asked.Wes froze, staring numbly up at him.

“Youknew?”Wes repeated.“When?”

“Right before we left,” Delauney said.“When you were with those...people...the ones who called themselves sirens.”

“You saw that?”Wes had to lower his voice, which was already carrying dangerously.“Yousawthat?”he whispered.

“Through the window,” Delauney said.Wes sank to the deck.Delauney knelt next to him, a hand on his shoulder.“It’s all right, Wes.I know that it was horribly inappropriate of me to, to investigate, but the alley was just a misunderstanding, wasn’t it?”

“Was tonight a misunderstanding?”Wes asked.

Delauney searched his face, his brows pinched together.“Does it have to be?Can’t we just be...friends, Wesley?Friends who might, well, occasionally...well, I’ve had plenty of friends who wanted to slip away for a little fun now and again.Haven’t you?”

Wes wanted to say that none of his brief encounters had ever felt like this, but he didn’t want to break whatever frail, thin illusion Delauney was building.“Right,” he said.“We’re...friends.”

“I’d very much like to be,” Delauney said.“You’re the only person who knows what it’s like.When you look at the stars, it almost seems like...the way I feel when I look at them.I’d like to know you, Wesley.I’d like—”

Wes kissed him again before he could say more.“We’re simply having a moment,” he said, clutching Delauney’s shirt with both hands.

“Yes,” Delauney said.“Yes, yes.”

“It doesn’t have to mean anything,” Wes said.He kissed Delauney one more time, just to prove it.

“There’s nothing wrong with a bit of fun,” Delauney said, sliding his hand down the front of Wes’ trousers.They kissed hungrily, frantically, as though by silencing themselves with their tongues, they could pretend that anything they’d said was true.

“Fuck,” Wes said, as Delauney’s fingers closed around his cock.He licked his own hand and reached down to take Delauney’s cock, which was already half hard.He stroked it as frantically as he’d kissed Delauney, gasping for breath as Delauney set an equally punishing pace.

“You’re so beautiful when you’re under,” Delauney whispered.“The way your legs shook when you came down my throat...”

“I could hear them goading you on,” Wes said.“Was someone fucking you at the same time, or was that all you?”

Delauney groaned.“They weren’t, but they...they had their hands on me.”

“Next time, you should try being taken while you’re fucking me,” Wes said.They moved closer together, Wes’ head on Delauney’s shoulder, both of them breathing hard as they stroked each other.Delauney’s hips jerked as he tried to fuck into Wes’ fist, and Wes caught his mouth in a messy kiss as he came over Delauney’s fingers.Delauney shuddered as he followed mere seconds later, his eyes fluttering closed.When they opened again, the light of the stars was still shining there.He raised his hand to lick Wes’ spend from his fingers.