The next painting had an outburst of laughter wrenched from me.
“Oh my god, why did you paint this? When did this even happen?” I said, giggling at it.
It was Jack, but her strong features were twisted in horror and disgust, her face pale.
“Ohem sent me the video of her first transitional jump,” he said with a grin. “I plan to frame it and send it to her.”
I laughed harder, bumping his shoulder with mine. “She’s going to kill you, you know that right?”
He shrugged, his smile unwavering, and turned the page.
The next painting had my laughter dying, and pressure building behind my eyes.
“She was so excited for the chance to show off her skill,” I said, fingering the painting of Callie grinning from inside a flight simulator on the Solus. Rema had captured the dancing light in her brown eyes perfectly.
“She is an exceptional pilot, and a hard fighter,” he said softly, leaning over to kiss my temple. “I will have the opportunity to paint her many more times.”
His confident reassurance had the tears stuck in my throat loosening. “Yeah, I’m sure you will.”
We looked through the rest of the pictures, some of them heartbreaking, like the solemn one of graves standing silent in the rain, with a gray jungle in the background. There were battle scenes so vivid they made my heart pound, and one really badass painting of Jack in full berserker form, covered in blood with a severed head in her claws, her eyes raging at us. And then others were hilarious, like the one of Sam where he’d captured the obsessive, needy, covetous expression as she’d gazed at all the science stuff in Ghix’s lab, or the one with Aga grinning down at me sprawled on the mat of the sparing room, my face red with indignation.
“Rema, these are truly amazing. Have you ever thought of doing this professionally?”
He smiled at me, closing the book and setting it aside on the coffee table. “Yes, actually. When I retire from the military, I plan on it. Perhaps a certain enterprising female could help me with the business aspect of running a gallery?”
I snorted, bumping him again with my shoulder. “Me? Run a business all legal like and above board? Sure. I can do that.”
He chuckled at me, shaking his head. “Ready for some rest?” he asked me, coming to his feet. I yawned in answer, covering my mouth with a nod of agreement.
I took his lower hand when he offered it, letting him lead me into his room which had a large four poster bed with a burnt orange gauzy canopy occupying most of the space. The covers were already pulled back, and unlike me, he’d left four plush pillows instead of only two. The door to the balcony on this side was closed and the curtains drawn to block the daylight, with the lights dimmed just enough to create a cozy nap atmosphere.
I dropped his hand to crawl across the bed on all fours, plopping down on the left side of the bed and snuggling into the pillow to watch how Rema managed to get into bed with wings.
He pulled them back so that they were folded nearly together behind him and got into bed hip first, then laid down on his side so that he was facing me with his wings hanging off the bed. It looked uncomfortable.
“Is this how you usually sleep?”
Rema gave me a small smile. “No, usually I sleep on my back with my wings spread out on either side. I didn’t want to impose upon your space.”
Pfft.Impose upon my space.How did I ask politely for him to take upallmy space… or spaces. Holes, whatever. I sat up. “Does it hurt to lay on them? I mean, would it be more comfortable foryou to sleep like you usually do, and I can scoot in close to your body. I’d be partially on your wings though.”
He all but scrambled to get out of bed in answer, shooting up straight next to the bed, and waiting not so patiently for me to get out of his way. I did so with a grin, waiting until he was situated in the center, his wings spread eagle across the tops of the pillows, the long feathers taking up most of the upper half of the mattress. He held out his two left arms to me and I put a knee on the mattress.
“I guess it doesn’t hurt then?” I said, chuckling as I crawled over top of his feathers to get in close to him, still being careful not to rush and risk pulling something I shouldn’t.
Rema blushed, clearing his throat. “Uh, no. No it doesn’t hurt. I am very sensitive to touch, my feathers act almost like the fine hairs on your body would, as feelers. It feels good to have them touched.”
I laid on my side, draping a leg over his and plastered myself as close as I could to him, my head on his shoulder, and my arm across his naked chest. He was warm, and the feathers beneath me were soft, almost velvety. They were better than any Egyptian cotton.
I heard him swallow hard, and then his arms wrapped around my body, one over my shoulders and the other resting on my waist before he pulled the covers over us with his other hands. Once done with that task, his free hands came to rest across his chest and stomach, so I moved my hand to hold his primary one on his chest.
We lay still, breathing each other in. He smelled like chai, all sweet spices with a hint of peppercorn, his emotions blending with his natural scent to add extra spice. He was content, which was a hint of vanilla or maybe honeysuckle, and aroused. There was also a warmth there, underneath the desire, a deep well of emotion that burned the back of my tongue both white hotand soothing at the same time. It tasted like warm caramel and summer mornings, like fresh spring rain and coffee.
I wanted to fall into the well, to stay there forever. I pressed myself harder against him and was rewarded with a tightening of his arms around me. I sighed, breathing in and out through my parted lips to catch all the flavors that he was putting out and drifted into semi unconsciousness, my body lax and warm.
His lips touched my forehead softly. “Sleep well, Little Goddess. I will be here when you wake, always.”
Chapter 13
