I stilled her with a hand on hers. “Iris, leave the light,” I ground out. “I want to see you.”
I felt it instantly. The way her body went rigid. Her breathing changed.
I pulled back immediately. “What’s wrong?”
Her face was a mask again. That neutral expression she wore like armor. But I saw the vulnerability underneath it now. Thefear.
“I told you I have scars,” she said quietly.
“I remember.”
She looked at me for a long moment. Then, with movements that seemed to cost her something, she reached for the fastenings I’d started and continued opening them. She pulled the top of her bodysuit down to her waist, revealing a thin undershirt.
“Chemical burn,” she said flatly. “One of my first assignments. The doctors fixed my face but the scarring on my shoulder and upper arm and chest is worse.” She hitched up the undershirt too, her movements almost defiant now. “I never bothered with the follow-up procedures. They’re painful and I didn’t see the point.”
I held up the glowing sleeve, which was no longer filled with Iris’ arm, and looked at the scars properly. They covered her left shoulder and upper arm, stretching down to curve across partof her chest. They spread over the upper swell of her breast, but ended before her nipple, which was still covered by the edge of the undershirt. The skin was mottled, uneven. Some areas were shiny and tight. Others had a different texture entirely.
I could imagine the pain. The burning. How young she must have been when it happened.
“You must have endured incredible pain,” I said softly.
Her jaw clenched. “It was a long time ago.”
I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the scarred skin on her shoulder. She sucked in a sharp breath. I kissed along the edge of the burn, gentle and reverent, following the path it had carved across her body.
When I reached the scar that curved over her chest, she made a sound that was half sob, half exhale. Like she’d been holding her breath for years and finally let it out.
I pulled back to look at her face. Tears tracked through the dust on her cheeks.
“You’re beautiful,” I said. “Every part of you.” I touched the scarred skin gently. “This is just part of your story.”
She wiped at her eyes impatiently. “You’re just saying that.”
“I never just say things.” I reached for the hem of my own shirt and pulled it off over my head. “We’re both scarred by our past, Iris.”
I showed her the ragged scar that ran across my abdomen. A Brakken plasma blast had torn through my midsection during the war. I’d nearly bled out on the deck of my Sola before a healer managed to stitch me back together.
“It’s ugly,” I said matter-of-factly. “And it reminds me of the worst cycle of my life. But it also reminds me I survived. That I’m still here. Still fighting. Still hoping for better things.”
She traced the scar with gentle fingers. “Does it hurt?”
“Not anymore. Sometimes it aches when I’m very cold.” I caught her hand, pressing it flat against my chest where myheart beat steadily. “We’re warriors, Iris. We both bear the marks of our battles. There’s no shame in that.”
She looked up at me, and something in her expression shifted. Softened. “I was so worried you’d be repulsed.”
“Never.”
“I don’t know how to do this,” she whispered. “How to be vulnerable.”
“You’re doing it right now.”
Then she kissed me again, and this time there was no hesitation. No holding back. Her hands moved over my chest, tracing the muscles and the scar with equal attention. I pulled her closer, skin to skin, feeling the warmth of her against me.
My hands mapped her back, her sides, learning the shape of her. She was lean and strong, all coiled muscle and resilience. When I kissed down her throat again, she arched into me.
We moved together, and I pulled her undershirt down, over her arms, until it pooled around her waist with the top half of her bodysuit. My hands shook, but not from fear. From anticipation. From the rightness of this moment in this ancient room where time had stopped over a thousand sun cycles ago.
She was bare before me, and I took a moment just to look. To appreciate. The scars, yes, but also the strength in her limbs, the firm swell of her breasts, and the curve of her hip. The way her breath came faster.
