He feeds her this time, while I fill Elvis’s new nectar reservoir. Lyro made a garden of metal flowers for him while we were apart. They’re extraordinary.He’sextraordinary.
“Is there anything you can’t do?”
He snorts. “Many things.”
“You should have been a king,” I add. He would be a good one, strong and compassionate and intelligent, if a little bit murderous toward those who cross him.
“If I had been given a planet, I’d be a different male now,” he says, watching Lele’s face as she eats. “The goddess was right to deny me one until I learned what I’m willing to give up to protect those I love.”
“What’s the answer?” I can’t help asking, even though I know.
He looks at Lele and then at me, his skin full of brown contentment. “Everything. I wouldn’t trade this.”
Lyro
AS WE NEAR USURI ANDour inevitable confrontation with our siblings, my possessive impulses double. My nightmare is that they harm her, but more likely, they’ll just convince her to leave me. I find myself lying atop her in the furs so she can’t leave the bed.
“Just for a second,” Lena begs. “I need to use the unit so I don’t get ayu-tee-i.”
My translator doesn’t have a word for it, so whatever terrakin nonsense she’s spewing is not as important as keeping her for myself. I bury my face in her hair. It smells a little like my seed from our last round. Perfect. “It can wait.”
“I need to peeeeee,” she wails.
Reluctantly, I let her up, mostly to preserve the furs, but I follow her into the cleansing unit. She giggles and tries to push me out but settles for me turning my back while she cleans herself.
“Why are you feeling so clingy?” she asks behind me. “You weren’t like this earlier.”
“I want you to take my crown before we land on Usuri,” I finally admit. I need the goddess’s blessing blazed across her forehead. If Lothan’s Alara had worn the crown then, Zomah could not have denied her. Could not have tortured her and ordered her death.
“Oh, sure!” she says cheerfully. “Where is it?”
“Your sister has the crown that belonged to my grandmother. There has only ever been one Alara, so there’s only one crown. But your friends who are mated to my other brothers...they have crowns they chose.”
“Like what?”
“Thren’s mate has a plant from his planet. Kyaal’s has epylium crystals. The others, I don’t know. I haven’t seen them. But I think the goddess will use any crown you choose.” Lena wraps her arms around my waist, pressing against my back to let me know she’s done, so I turn to face her. I trace across her pale, unmarked forehead. “Alioth will turn it gold, and it will be part of you, forever. Your connection to the divine.”
“So like a sash?” she asks, tilting her head mischievously a split second before she unties the knot of the one around my waist, and my trousers fall to the floor. She laughs and holds it up to her forehead, where the fabric covers her forehead entirely.
“Something narrow,” I suggest, knowing it will hurt wherever it touches when it bonds with her flesh.
“Like...that?” She raises an eyebrow and points at the leather strap around my thigh.
“My Alara is not wearing a cock strap on her forehead for the rest of time.”
She giggles. “What, then?”
“Something fine,” I tell her. I don’t want her to feel any more pain than necessary. Loving me will be enough. “As fine as possible. A thread. A hair.”
Her eyes widen. “I know!” She hurries out of the unit. I follow her out and watch as she retrieves some of Elvis’s web from his makeshift enclosure.
The sight of it softens me. His home wherever he spins it, just as she’s my home wherever she dwells. It’s perfect. I take the nearly invisible silk from her and draw her into my lap in the pilot’s chair.
“This will hurt, Alara,” I warn her. “The crown itself, but also our life together afterward. Even if we find sanctuary with your sister, we’ll face rejection and censure. I have not been a hero. Few will sympathize with us, and there is little I can do to redeem myself. Your life will be difficult if you choose to bind yourself to me. You will be hated because I’m hated.”
“That’s okay,” she says, leaning into me, kissing my shoulder and neck and everywhere she can reach. “You’re worth it.”
My mouth twists as I return a kiss of my own. “I’m not. But I’m selfish enough to take what you offer me anyway.”
