Cecelia sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly.
“I do, actually,” she said softly.Levrix gaze was steady as Cecelia told her, “I cannot have children either and I wanted to be a mother one day as well.So I do understand, at least a little bit of what you feel.”
“You cannot bear young?” Levrix asked, finally taking a breath.“Why?”
Cecelia explained quietly, “The treatments I received for my cancer…they damaged me.”
Levrix stared at her once she said the words, in silence.Her brows furrowed but her eyes lightened to their original light blue.
“Having children is important for Luxirians?” Cecelia couldn’t help but ask softly, sadly.She thought of Rixavox.Would he want children?
“Tev,” Levrix confirmed and Cecelia’s heart sank in her chest.“It is very important.Nothing will bring a family unit more pride.”Levrix seemed to force herself to add, although her tone was bitter, “The Prime Leader is a fortunate male to have a fertile female.”
Cecelia looked down at her lap.A wave of pain—from whatever the hell was wrong with her body—and of sadness made her want to curl up in bed for the rest of the day.
Levrix stood.“I will depart now.”
Cecelia nodded, glad that she would be alone with her thoughts.But something pricked the back of her mind and she looked up at Levrix, who loomed on the other side of the fire pit, bundling herself in her furs.
“Can I ask you something before you go?”
Levrix looked down at her, but her expression was stony.“Tev.”
“What doesluxivamean?” Cecelia asked, the question falling so easily from her lips.
Levrix’s lips twisted again and the chortling sound she made in the back of her throat echoed around the room.“I was wondering if he would tell you.”
Cecelia waited, but she believed she already knew the answer.
“Luxivameans fated one.A fated mate,” Levrix said.“Tell me he at least explained that to you.”
“He did,” Cecelia said softly, the final piece of the puzzle clicking into place.
And it didn’t shock her.It made sense…everything that he’d told her about fated mates, how powerful a connection it was, how rare they were…she’d felt it too.And now she knew that Rixavox had as well.
He’d known about Luxirian Instincts because his own Instinct had awakened.Forher.
Cecelia looked up at Levrix, who had already turned to the door.Their time together had taken a turn and it was clear, perhaps to the both of them, that there was no future for a friendship.Levrix’s bitterness ran too deeply.That was apparent to Cecelia now.
Levrix turned to look at her one last time and inclined her head.And then she slipped out the door of Rixavox’s home and Cecelia wondered if she would ever see her again.
The house was quiet, except for the howling winds outside.Cecelia felt strangely calm, processing the confirmation of some suspicions she’d had.She wondered why Rixavox hadn’t told her…but she knew.If he’d told her from the beginning, it would have scared her off.She had already been processing the whole alien thing, and then the return of her cancer.He probably hadn’t wanted to overwhelm her, especially when they’d just met.
It all made sense though.
From the very first moment that they’d met…the intense attraction, that strange, erotic encounter when they’d first spoken.His vow to Privanax that he would not have sex with her while she healed.Privanax must’ve realized what had happened and hadn’t wanted anything to compromise her progress.
The intensity she’d always felt from him…
Cecelia sucked in a deep breath, her chest feeling a little tight.She could feel her heart pounding.It seemed to shake her entire body.
He’d told her that Luxirians mated for life.Mates were forever.Is that what he wanted from her?
Rixavox told her, last night in theRillirax, that they had as many days together as she wanted.In his mind, their future had always been in her hands, not his, because she was the one who had the choice to leave, to return to her own home planet.
Because that would be what she was giving up if she chose to stay.Her home planet.The life she’d started to build for herself.Her degree.
But if she chose to return to Earth…what would happen to Rixavox?
