Celyze shook his head, mouth agape as the silver speckles all over his body glowed brighter than his clan’s skin. The Cosmic Soul’s gaze lost its blue tint, becoming pure white and reminiscent of a Wudox’s pupilless eyes.
“Someone close will betray your Sovereign….”
“Will Selena live? Will her children live?”
Kaede’s heart clenched at the thought of another person close to Z daring to follow in his sire’s footsteps and betraying him. Ideas of who it could be and why they would want to cross him filled his mind as he tried to calculate every possibility.
Suddenly, Celyze’s silver speckles and eyes dimmed, returning to their normal coloring. He shook his head and frowned as his ice gaze returned to Kaede’s worried stare.
“They wouldn’t tell me.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Selena
The soothing tingle of fingers combing through my hair woke me from my deep slumber. Rolling my head toward the hand, I tried stretching only to find my body trapped in a warm embrace.
Slowly opening my eyes, I was greeted by a pair of purple orbs searching mine, filled with a warmth I hadn’t seen since before I was captured. My Shadow was slowly returning to the light now that I had returned. Relief flooded me as I took in his calm demeanor. There was no trace of jealousy even though my mental threads told me we were surrounded by my other nestmates.
I had expected a longer recovery before he pulled away from his darkness and had an easier time sharing me and a nestbed with my other mates. His eyes weren’t his original shade, but they were still familiar and carried the same love and concern.
“How are you feeling?” His voice was thick and rumbled across our pressed-together bodies. “You were in such a deep sleep that we didn’t want to wake you.”
“Am I the last one to wake?” I peered over his shoulder and found my four nestmates relaxing on the outer rim of the island. Xylo and Z’fir were sitting on the grassy edge while Odelm and V’dim swam in the stream, but I couldn’t find my guard anywhere. “Where’s Kaede?”
“He was gone when we woke up,” Zirene explained. “I figured he would be back before you woke.”
I wouldn’t have been concerned that he was missing if he had joined us in the nestbed last night, but he had claimed that he needed to check on a few things. At the time, I didn’t think anything except that he needed space to go over his personal items and research. Yet, this morning I wondered if he didn’t feel comfortable sleeping in the same nestbed with my mates especially after what Zirene had done on our first night back.
Was he purposely avoiding me?
I had warned him that I wouldn’t tolerate him disappearing once we arrived on Destima because I suspected he would revert to lurking as my guard. But why participate in passionate sex with Zirene and me if he wasn’t going to stick around?
Xylo padded toward me. His movements weren’t as fluid as usual as he climbed onto the nestbed and clambered over to us. His coloring had returned for the most part, though his skin seemed dull. He wasn’t as vibrant and bold, but I found him undeniably attractive.
In the end, if they all kept their ashy-gray coloring, I would love them nonetheless. The same held for my Favored if they never regrew their extra Circuli appendages. The scars would be sad reminders of what had happened, but they didn’t change who they were.
We would forever be connected through the mental thread, an extension of ourselves entangled, fused on the walls of our mental shields. If I believed in Kaede’s Cosmic Order, they were all members of my star constellation, a fragment of a pattern forged by the Fates themselves. We would always find one another with the Stars’ guidance, in every lifetime, to fall in love repeatedly for eternity.
Xylo’s eyes still held the same gentleness as the first time I had seen him, easing my nerves. I hadn’t realized how much I’d worried that they blamed me for their injuries.
“You shouldn’t allow dark thoughts to cloud your mind,” Xylo said, brushing back a strand of hair to tuck it soothingly behind my ear. “It was an honor to protect you, my nestqueen. Without you, there is no us. I can speak for my nestbrothers when I say we don’t blame you for what happened. It was not your fault.”
“Xylo is right, Selena.” Odelm struggled to pull himself out of the water with determination on his face. Z’fir offered a hand, and he grabbed it, nodding thanks as he slowly stood.
“Then where is Kaede?”
“You know he is always watching, and if he had his way, he would be here with you. Kaede probably needs time to reorganize the base he left behind in such a hurry to chase your kidnappers. Anyone in this room can tell you that male is as devoted to you as we are.”
“Kaede works in mysterious ways.” Zirene snorted as he unwrapped his arms from around me. “He always has. I’ve worked with him for many years. He has always kept to himself and never followed a pattern. I assume he’s trying to be more difficult to track.”
“He didn’t mention where he was going?”
Xylo glanced at Zirene, who gestured to him to take me as he stood. Xylo replaced Zirene in his spot, wrapping his hands around my stomach as he breathed in my hair. I watched Zirene wordlessly grab his cloak from the grassy ground and clasp it around his neck. Odelm reclined and wrapped his arms around my legs as he rested his head on my thigh.
“Did you send him away?” I hedged, wondering why none of my clanmates were replying. “What happened while I was asleep?”
“I didn’t order him away,” Zirene huffed, peering over his shoulder. “I trust him to fulfill his duties as your guard while you are safe on Destima. We both know he’s a workaholic and doesn’t understand when it’s time to relax. His drive to protect overwhelms him sometimes, and now that you are his, there is no way he will fail you ever again.”
