“Maybe you're right,” I said, pondering his words and thinking back on my few failed relationships. “But there’s something truly special about sharing a piece of your soul with another.”
I’d heard the mated girls explain to the others how they could feel an echo of their mate within them. That their matching shawras were some kind of portal where their souls would coalesce during sex. It was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard, and if my sister, Breena, were here, we would have a good, hard laugh at the hopeless romantics.
But she wasn’t here, and the hopeless romantics were as serious as they came.
“Are you unwell?”
Zikkar’s too perfect face was suddenly inches away from mine. I’d stopped in my tracks, just stood there before the grand doors of the palace, frozen in place and unable to take another step.
“I…I don’t…want to.” I backed away slowly. “It’s too much.” I had no words to explain my trepidation about going inside. Just knowing I’d been kept unconscious and caged two stories below ground made me nervous. I had no memory of the little gray aliens who had abducted me from my bed, and I wanted to keep it that way. “Better if I don’t remember.”
“I understand,” Zikkar empathized with my vagueness, an understanding and patient smile curving his sculpted lips. LipsI wanted to press to mine, to know the feel of, the taste of, but I was too afraid to act.
I wasn’t of his world. If I grew attached and he found his spirit mate in another, I don’t think I would be as graceful about it as he had been with Rose, and where would that leave me? More alone than I was now.
“Maybe I could sleep inside one of these smaller buildings.”
“My hut is just this way,” Zikkar said, gesturing with a wave of his hand. “There’s an empty hut nearby if you’d like it, and if you need something, I am within shouting distance.”
Close, but not too close. How did he always seem to know exactly what I needed? My fingers caressed a circle over my breastbone, warmth welling within me. “Sounds perfect.”
Chapter Two
ZIKKAR
The following suns-set, I led the way through Huren's winding paths, the silence between us as thick as the vines that clung to the palace’s outbuildings. Rowan strolled beside me, her presence a quiet tide of strength and fragility. The faint echo of her ever-present sadness pressed against my sternum, a subtle undercurrent I'd felt ever since the first time I laid eyes upon her pale, human complexion. Ever since the first beat of my ancillary heart.
The warm air within the dome hung heavy with the scent of zyphora blossoms, their luminescence flickering to life and mimicking the distant stars sprinkled across the darkening sky as the twin suns began their descent below the horizon. Light danced across Rowan's perfect features as we ambled past rows of glowing flora, casting shadows that seemed to accentuate the weight she carried within.
I had promised her a suns-set stroll through the city as soon as I found a break in my work helping Zaku and Hexxus amplify the strength of the dome’s shielding. Our destination, the NassibianCliffs behind the palace for a shared meal overlooking the churning waves of the Caspeen Sea.
Though I cared little for the view or for the random squidlin tentacles emerging from the dark depths to wave menacingly through the air— a fearsome reminder not to be within grabbing distance of the shore— Rowan found solace in its wild beauty.
She liked the crashing waves. I had often found her sitting alone, staring out at the sea on the island where we had made a temporary home in the stacked caves overlooking the dark blue waters. And every time she had looked out into those waves, it seemed as though a sense of calm washed over her troubled spirit.
“Rowan,” I began, my voice breaking the thickening silence between us, “you’ve never seen the first Huren settlement, but all that lay between us and the jungle’s beasts was a twenty fates tall wooden wall.”
I paused, hoping for a response from her as I guided us along a curving path around the base of the palace. “But now, with this dome, we are protected from all that lies beyond it. It's more than just a technological wonder, it's our silent guardian. And without it, we would be at the mercy of the jungle's creatures.”
Her steps slowed, and I matched my pace to hers. I wanted to keep her from slipping deeper into her melancholy. I could sense her falling further into the abyss of her solitude, and staying quiet only added to her self-isolation. In these moments of quiet companionship, the connection I felt with her was stronger. We both knew the pain of loss and the ache of emptiness it left behind.
“We're making progress in strengthening the dome,” I said, hoping to lift her spirits even just a little. I was not proficient at socializing like some of the other males, too busy for idle chitchat, so I chatted about what I knew. “The immex capacitors taken from the Yulineon craft will help stabilize the increased energy output.”
“It’s amazing you know how to do all that.” I sensed her mood lighten, if only slightly. “Sounds like science fiction rather than anything real.”
I pointed at the circular devices set at regular intervals along the ground. “These cellpods are connected to each other by streams of power that converge and intertwine to solidify light into an impenetrable shield.”
Rowan's gaze followed my motions, her pale, oddly hued eyes reflecting the wavy distortion that protected the city and all its inhabitants. “It's beautiful,” she murmured, her voice a soft echo in the vastness of the city's heart. “And terrifying, knowing there’s monsters lurking just beyond it. On the island, we were safe except for those huge dragons.”
“Wetlocks.”
“Wetlocks,” she repeated with a frown. “And the Gretolic ships like the one that shot a hole in the Jurigon mountain,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself as if to ward off a chill no sun could dispel. “I don't remember much about my abduction. Just fragments, really. A sense of being torn from one reality and thrust into another without warning. And Breena...” Her voice faltered, and in the quiver of her lips, I saw the naked fear of her spirit laid bare. “I don't know if she's still on Earth or...if they took her too. Or even if she’s alive.”
In her words, I felt the tremors of a heart trying to beat through the suffocating soil of uncertainty. Our steps synced in silence for a while as the weight of her unknowns settled upon us both. The shadow of her twin sister's fate was a specter haunting her every moment, every breath a question unanswered.
“To carry such burdens and yet walk forward, it is the mark of true resilience.” I finally spoke, the words tinged with the awe I genuinely felt. “You're not alone, Rowan. I am always with you.”
The city of Huren sprawled out behind us as we found a suitable spot for our outdoor meal Rowan called a pick-nick and settled down on the blanket I spread on the ground. Under the watchful grace of the dome, amid the echoes of the bustling city behind us and the crashing waves of the sea before us, I hoped we might find solace together from what was lost and the whispers of what could be found.
