“Tonight they have their guns back.” He rubbed his wound. “And a stable barrier to shoot behind. If they haven’t already left.” If he knew anything about Earth and its weapons, it was that they were beyond dangerous. It made him all the more aware of the gun pressing into his back.
They sat together in silence until dusk vanished and a bright stone formed over her chest. His eyes caught the translucent edges before it solidified into a real shape. Galan had never seen the like of it anywhere on Sonhadra and he knew, instantly, that it was Lusheenn’s heartstone. His eyes couldn’t grow wide enough to take in its brilliance.
He longed to touch it, cup it in his palm, and feel the power of his Creator again, but was more concerned for Yahiro’s well-being. The light flared over him and strengthened as the city went dark and the shadows appeared.
He finally realized what had drawn him and his brothers so strongly to it, to her. Somehow, this female had not only found the fabled stone but had also activated it.
She caught him staring and picked the stone up between them. “I came across it the first night here,” she whispered, “before Quist found me. It was in a swamp and I cut my foot on it while I was running. It was so black out that I couldn’t see anything, but then this started to glow under the water. I think it knew I was afraid of the dark and that I needed light.” She squeezed the stone before letting it drop on her chest.
“I’m glad you found it.” He swallowed before lifting his gaze to her face.
“Or it found me. Galan...” She moved to stand up, using his body to right herself. “Why is your city empty?”
Absently, Galen picked up the file, rolled it up, and stuck it in his belt. “Once Lusheenn vanished, one by one, from the newest created to oldest, the light valos turned back to clay and their spirits forced into the abyss. When one died, the next in line began. Annahs, the fourth valos, recently bowed below a ray of sunlight and... never got back up.”
She trembled on her feet and he lifted her in his arms, carrying her the rest of the way through the city.
“Does that mean...?”
“Quist is next.”
“We need to find Lusheenn and bring him back,” she said quickly. “Or kill him. We can’t let Quist die! I can’t go through that again.”
Galan squeezed her softly, knowing the pain of loss would eventually happen, regardless, still feeling the loss of their fourth, fifth, even their sixth brother in his soul.
“He may not die... now that he has a reason to live.”
Throughout the city, statues of past light valos littered the streets and buildings, most solidified into final poses and many, especially the older ones, crumbling to dust. He led them through the worst of it, the bowed dozens before a crystal and gold statue of Lusheenn before he carried her to the throne room. They walked by Annahs, and his heart sank when the heartstone illuminated his lifelike features.
But he didn’t awaken.
“What happens now?” Yahiro asked him, her head turned to his chest and half buried in his shirt.
“I take care of you.”
“And the file? My past?”
“Yours to keep to yourself, between us, or to share.” He nuzzled her hair, breathing in her scent.
They entered the bathing pools and he set her down on a cushioned bench. The stars of the night sky reflected off the mirror-still waters. There were few ceilings in the City of Dawn, and those that had them were strewn with diamonds and star-like gaps.
He stripped off his buckles, weapons, and clothes, and when he set aside her file, she picked it up and looked at him shyly. The joints of her fingers turned white with strain. Without a word, she placed it in the water until it was thoroughly soaked and the ink bled throughout the pages, and then she lifted it back up to tear into pieces. What was once a file was now only a pile of wet mush.
They discarded her past silently, just the two of them, and watched the soggy pieces fall like dead-weight off the side of the molo.
Galan pulled Yahiro into his arms and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Never think of him again.” She slowly nodded and he brushed his lips across the curve of her lobe, and down to her cheek where he lowered his mouth and shared his breath with hers.
She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. His pulse thumped and he pulled her to him, running his hands everywhere he could touch, anywhere he could get to on her body. Her feet lifted off the ground and she hooked them over his hips, his hands pulling her farther up his body. The floor shook as Dawn flowed through the sky as its monstrous support made its way back to its rightful track.
He walked them to the water, and with his pants on, her clothes still in place, dipped them into the pool. Her eyes shut while his remained opened, not wanting to miss a moment of the starfields swaying in rivulets over the surface.
Their lips touched. The wordkissappeared bold and hot in his head.
Galan tore off her clothes, ripping the dirty and frayed material down her chest, dragging her cut up pants off next.
She released him and leaned back into the crystalline water until her hair flowed out like black silk, ashen obsidian around her head. He leaned over her and dipped them both under the chill water, taking her lips again for his own.
They came back up for air sputtering and a soft, subtle, beautiful sound filled his ears. His mouth twisted into a grin when he realized she was laughing. It was low but it was there and unmistakable. But he wasn’t about to point it out.
