“Welcome back, Levant. Has your exile been lifted?” she asked as Felicia and I finally broke apart and continued to her side. Arakash had vanished, probably to join the others in catching fish. I paused, my head lowering as I looked at Felicia while I contemplated the answer. I didn’t know. The Shaman Council had not explicitly said so, but theyhadsent Felicia and me here to stay on the Digmaster Revenant and study it. I’d have to contact them to ask, and now that we’d lost the machine…
“I don’t know. Our arrival here is a bit of a coincidence that allowed us to find the problem with the fish in the lake. I will consult the council,” I said. That was right as Kaylass arrived in a rush of fluttering brown scales and sand. He came from the lake, and his expression was confused but relieved.
“Levant? Why are you here?” he said, as if I had not informed him days ago that we were headed in Serqethos’ direction. “Never mind that,” he said, flapping a hand and dismissing Felicia and me like we weren’t even there. “The fish hasreturned, my Queen,” he said, and he dipped into a bow aimed at Alshara. Her expression grew tight and weary, though she hid it well. I had just known her long enough to recognize the signs. The otherwise young but always tactful and serene Serqethos Queen appeared to be quite fed up with dealing with my replacement. I felt such a sense of victory that I knew it showed on my face, so I quickly looked away.
The dancing light in Felicia’s eyes told me she’d caught onto something anyway; she sensed my mirth and shared in it, even if she did not know the source. Though Kaylass was rude for claiming Alshara’s time when she was clearly occupied greeting us, we waited until he’d finished exclaiming over the lake being replenished. Then Alshara nodded sagely and told him she already knew, and that I’d been instrumental in the return of the fish.
Kaylass blinked at me as if it were only now that he fully realized I was here. “Instrumental, I see. I need to consult the council…” He left without saying goodbye, but that was no surprise. There was a good reason Kaylass usually only worked in ruins to do research. Terrible people skills.
“Come inside,” Alshara said, and she gestured for us to follow her into her tent. Pillows lay scattered to sit on, and a low table held a carafe of Chaira, cool with condensation still pearling on the outside of the glass. With evening beginning to fall, it wouldn’t be long until the temperatures began to plunge, but for now it was still warm, and the cool drink would be most welcome.
We only stayed a short while, but I made sure Felicia drank enough. She was sweating from the heat, and I did not want herto become dehydrated—not after we’d been through so much already. It had been a tough day, and it wasn’t over yet. After Alshara had listened to our story, I took Felicia to a spare tent where we could wash up and had someone fetch her clean clothing. As she fussed over the strange fabrics, each soft and rich, with bold colors, I fussed over Auby.
“Merish brought me better tools,” I said when she hunkered down beside me on the carpet to peer at what I was doing by the light of a small lamp. “It appears to be mostly superficial damage, but here, this power source got damaged. It leaked fluid as it drained. I’ve replaced it with the one from my tablet.” It was a small sacrifice for now. I didn’t like being without my tablet, but the power source it needed to run wasn’t rare. I had many more in my camp back at the North Pole. Getting Auby up and running now was much more important.
“You butchered your tablet to help Auby?” Felicia asked, and I nodded. The last of the wires all seemed to connect properly, so I put the soldering bit away and began checking the mobility of all of his joints. “That’s… really sweet of you. You know, I thought you wanted to eat him back in your tent that first night?” I huffed. Auby would be terrible eating, as the Dushka had learned. He did look extremely realistic, so it was not a complete surprise my little human might have thought so.
“I am a sweet male,” I assured her, and she laughed, the sound making my chest feel all warm. Happy. She was happy, and that made me happy. It was the best sound. Now, if I flicked this switch, would that…? I tried it as I thought it, and was pleased to hear the faintest hum as Auby’s brand-new power core engaged. I had not yet managed to repair the tears in his fur, but I’d cleaned him up, so when he powered on, it was almost perfect.
Pale purple eyes blinked open, his body wriggled, and then he said, “Took you long enough!” The next five minutes were filled with rapid-fire chatter, hugs, squeals, and kisses that almost made me jealous. Felicia was beyond happy to have Auby back, with only a few marks in his synthetic hide to show for it. He remembered everything, from being grabbed by the Dushka to being rescued from the nest by Felicia, all the way until he’d lost power completely when we ran from the fishery with the Dushka female chasing us.
“Are you coming to the party, my friend?” Arakash asked from by the flap of the tent. It was dark out now, but the older male was lit by the light of a thousand bright stars. He still looked too thin, but the spark was back in his eyes. Everyone had fed well this evening on fish, but I was certain more food and drink would be consumed deep into the night. We needed to locate and inspect all the fisheries to make sure this could not happen again, but that was a task that could wait until tomorrow.
“Party? There’s a party?” Auby asked, and he trotted back and forth across the carpet as if he were already dancing. “I love parties!” Arakash freed his knife from his belt and crouched, staring in shock at the sight of the little Revenant calf. Granted, he did look a little fearsome with the tears in his hide where the Dushka had gotten him. Small as he was, he still hardly looked like a threat.
“Easy, that’s just Auby. He got hurt when we fixed the fisheries below the ancient city ruins. I’ve only just managed to patch him back up,” I explained. Arakash rose slowly, watching with a combination of shocked confusion and morbid fascination as Felicia picked Auby up and did a few laughing, dancing steps around the tent herself.
She was gorgeous, utterly radiant. Her smile was bright enough to light up the night, and all that happiness was because I’d managed to fix the little Revenant. I hadn’t been the most receptive to his awakening myself, but I could not regret a single moment of the little fellow’s presence. Not when he made my mate this happy. I kept staring, because the pair made such a beautiful sight that it twisted my stomach up in knots. Was this what she’d smile like when she held our youngling in her arms?
The sheer robe she wore had come from Alshara herself, and the leather top had to be a donation from Merish. No Naga female wore garments on their lower body; it simply wasn’t practical, but someone clever had devised a flirty skirt tied on one hip for my mate, the jewel-green fabric a precise match to the green that highlighted my scales. It was the golden strands hanging shiny and smooth around her shoulders, along with the intriguing dots on the bridge of her nose, that made the image perfect to me, though.
“Ahem,” Arakash coughed to draw my attention, and I forced my eyes away from my mate to look at the older male. He reached out, clasped my shoulder with his claws, and squeezed. “I am very happy for you, Levant. I know you’ve wanted a human mate since we met Zsekhet’s mate, Cosima. Felicia seems like a good catch.” His words warmed me the way the sun at midday warmed my scales. Not only was Arakash a wise and kind male, he had raised Zsekhet and Merish after the outcast raid that had decimated Serqethos twenty years ago.
He thought very highly of Cosima after she’d captured Zsekhet’s heart. It had meant that Zsekhet and his dragon had moved halfway across the continent to live with other humans at Ahoshaga. I could see in the gold of his eyes that he feared I’d dothe same. My gaze went back to Felicia, and she smiled, crossing the tent to come to my side and take my hand. I didn’t want to live at Ahoshaga any more than I wanted to board her ship and fly to her world. I would do it, though, if that was what she wanted. Humans were social creatures, according to Artek, but even so, his mate had chosen to live in relative isolation at his mountain home rather than go to Ahoshaga.
Felicia had not talked about going home or repairing her ship in the past few days either. Not since we’d mated. Did I dare hope that she’d given up on the idea? A wave of guilt hit me then, because I was hardly a good mate if I wished for her to give up her home, was I? Worse, it was like I was denying her the chance to fulfill her goals, her dreams.
“Don’t think so hard on a day like this,” Felicia said, and she raised a finger to poke at the ridges of my brow, right above my nose. “It’s a celebration. Food is back, your Clan is saved, and Auby is alive. We’re alive, that’s all we need, isn’t it?” All we need? I hoped she was right, that she meant it. Was it as simple as just taking it a day at a time and enjoying each moment we had? I wanted to believe her, so I dipped to kiss her, then took her hand and led her and Auby to the celebration by the lake.
Chapter 20
Felicia
Naga really knew how to throw a party. It was the most fun I’d had in ages, and to let loose with people who knew nothing of me but welcomed me with open arms anyway was amazing. Merish took me through the “steps” of one of their customary dances. “Steps” being a loose term, because they had no feet, so no steps were involved. It was all very sensual and undulating, and I couldn’t do the tail parts, obviously. Still, it was fun, though the plentiful pouring of some heavily alcoholic beverage helped.
Levant had relaxed in a way I hadn’t seen yet. Unwinding, no pun intended, and smiling so widely and often that it kept catching me off guard. I’d already felt like he was a relaxed, easygoing, and easy-to-smile guy, but he’d been carrying so much on his wide shoulders. Some of those burdens were lifted tonight, and it showed.
This was his home, with these people. I only had to look at the way he interacted with them to know. He talked with everyone, checking in with the elderly and frail, hunkering down to chat with the kids—or younglings, as they called them. I watched him play a round of alien tag, which involved using their tails to tap the target’s head. Then he enticed the kids to chase Auby around the campfire instead, much to Auby’s delight, which was obvious from his chortling laughter.
This was his home. I said it to myself under my breath, letting it sink in. “Yeah, it is,” a woman agreed with me anyway. It was the Clan’s Queen, who, though definitely queenly, seemedvery young for the role. I offered her a smile, and then dipped awkwardly into a bow. She waved me up, catching my hand with one of hers and drawing me closer. “No bowing. I am not one of those Queens,” she said. I did not know what that meant, but I was very relieved she did not seem to stand on ceremony.
She tucked her arm through mine, and it made me aware of the coolness of my skin. It was a desert, and night had fallen; with it, the temperature was also beginning to dip. Her scales still held heat from the sun, and they pressed gently against me, offering some of it up like she’d known that’s what I needed. Her smile was kind, her eyes serious as she tilted her head at me. She was beautiful, golden, delicate, and even unadorned by anything but the floaty, see-through robe, she looked regal.
“This is Levant’s home. What are you going to do about it?” she said, her question probing deep but not sharply. I lowered my eyes to my feet and contemplated my boots, the only piece of clothing I wore right now that came from Earth. Yeah, hadn’t I just been wondering that myself? Alshara, the Queen, did not ask because she thought I could go as far as another planet; she thought I was going to take Levant from here to Ahoshaga, where the other humans lived.
“I thought I’d go home once, but my home no longer exists,” I said to her instead, compelled to speak the truth. She had that kind of presence, like you couldn’t let her down. “I thought I had a duty tomypeople to return anyway, but I think they moved on without me. A thousand years is a very long time to sleep…” I knew that was a concept the Queen couldn’t quite grasp; I’d seen that when Levant had told her our story earlier that evening. She did not need to understand that part to grasp what I was saying, however.
Her smile was sweet, then turned a tad whimsical and sad. “I am sorry the road to home has closed for you,” she offered. “Or the skies, perhaps?” Ah, a Queen of a Clan of dragon ridersdidunderstand the ability to fly through the skies. I liked that. When her gaze flicked out over the gathered Clan, lingering on the various couples dancing entwined together, I wondered something else. Was she lonely? Who was her shoulder to lean on? Who was her home?
