“Khiva,” she whispered, her face morphing into an expression he’d never seen before. “You know I never would’ve…I never would’ve looked at you differently for it. I wish you had told me.”
“I know,” he said. “Last night, when Valerie found me, all I wanted was to go to you. It was the only thing I wanted. To see you. There was so much I needed you to know.”
Her fingertips traced down his scalp and Khiva closed his eyes for a brief moment, savoring her touch. “What do you remember about last night?” she asked quietly.
“Most of it,” he responded. “I remember telling you that I love you.”
Eve’s breath hitched, her cheeks going slightly pink. Khiva was glad to see the color on her otherwise pale face.
“I apologize,leeldra,” he said quietly. “I made you think otherwise. I should have told you.”
Eve swallowed and she said, “You said you thought you were doing the right thing. Why?”
“I believed that a future would be an impossibility for us,” he said, his voice deepening with the regret he felt. “You are human and I am a Keriv’i, a Krave, on an Earth colony with restrictions about such things. I believed that I would be keeping you from having a future. I feared what Madame Allegria would do, if she discovered us. And I foolishly held onto my pride instead of placing your happiness,myhappiness, first.”
“Khiva,” she whispered, her eyes softening.
“It only took you leaving to make me realize thatIcould make you happy.Icould give you a future. My pride means nothing when it concerns you. Since my planet was destroyed, it seemed my pride was the only thing that sustained me, the only thing that made me feel whole, like the Keriv’i male I used to be. Not anymore. You made me realize that I cannot be him any longer, that I do not want to be if it means losing you. It isyouwho makes me feel whole again.”
Evelyn’s slow smile made him forget his pain and for once, the tears that shimmered in her eyes didn’t make him feel like roaring in agony.
Softly, he asked, “Will you take me with you, Evelyn? To Dumera? Because I never want to spend another night apart from you again.”
It had taken a lot to ask that, to slice open his pride and let her see inside it. But she was worth it. She always had been.
“I do not want to hide anymore, slinking around in shadows,” he continued. “I want to walk with you in daylight, I want to wake next to you and know that I will never have to leave our bed, I want to give you the universe because you deserve it.”
Khiva waited. He only thought afterwards that perhaps she wouldn’t have wanted a declaration of love while he was staining her sheets blue with his blood.
But he knew better. Hisleeldrawouldn’t care about something so trivial.
“I don’t need the universe, Khiva,” Evelyn finally whispered, leaning forward to press a sweet kiss to his lips. “I just need you.”
Khiva trilled in response, hope exploding in his chest.
“So yes, come with me to Dumera,” she said, pulling away so she could look at him. “Because I love you too. And I want to begin our lives there. Together.”
“Pax, leeldra?” he rasped, cupping her cheek.
Evelyn smiled, a brief, happy laugh bursting from her lips and the sound made his two hearts soar.
“Pax, Khiva.”
* * *
Eve was stillin disbelief over what a difference a single night could make.
The day before, she’d been nursing a broken heart, preparing herself to say goodbye to the male she loved, as she continued to make arrangements to leave Everton.
And now, she was experiencing the warmth, the strength of mutual love and understanding, knowing that she’d soon be leaving EvertonwithKhiva, for a fresh start together.
It seemed unreal.
By that evening, some of the cuts on Khiva’s back had healed, but not all of them. Eve guessed some of the lashes would take days to heal fully, as deep as they were, so she kept him confined to bed after she’d changed the sheets, so he wouldn’t reopen any cuts trying to mend.
And throughout their morning and afternoon together, whenever Khiva wasn’t resting, he told her everything about Madame Allegria’s abuse, about the room underneath the first floor of the brothel, that punishments were regular, but she’d never whipped him that hard before, in fear that he wouldn’t be healed in time for his client the next evening.
Eve had listened to it all, though it sickened her. After Khiva had told her about how little she paid them, Eve had always thought she was a monster. But this…this went beyond anything she could have imagined.
