“Here’s ours,” Tavak said quietly, coming to a stop at an empty table cluster, sliding into the seat next to the window, Ravu sliding in beside him.
Dravka nudged Valerie to the seat opposite of Tavak, also closest to the window, and Dravka slid in next to her. He winced, his side aching, but he would bandage himself up once they took off.
Instead, he enabled their privacy shield, a thin, translucent film rising around their cluster. They could see outwards at the vessel cabin but no one would be able to see them inside.
Valerie let out a deep sigh after they all got strapped in. Dravka reached out his hand and took hers, comforted by her heat and scent, though hers was mingled with traces of Madame Allegria’s perfume.
“Is it over?” Ravu asked quietly.
Tavak made a grunting sound in the back of his throat and Dravka squeezed Valerie’s palm, rubbing his thumb over the back of her soft hand.
“I truly believe so,” Valerie said quietly.
Then they felt a vibration. The engines firing hotter. Though it was a larger vessel, it wasn’t as smooth as the private one they’d taken from Everton.
As they pulled away from the docking bay, as the transport depot of Nimida, with its bustling crowds, pulled away from view and they were met with a metal shaft that led out to space…they all seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief.
The takeoff was bumpy. Dravka held onto his female’s hand tightly, a loud roaring booming in his ears when the engine catapulted them forward. Everything vibrated, even the teeth in his skull.
It didn’t take long for the vessel to even out and when he could actuallyhearagain…he heard Valerie say, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
Dravka looked out the window, placing his arm on the back of her seat, leaning towards her. The mysterious beauty of inky, star-riddled space greeted him. Nimida was rapidly shrinking behind them. Soon, it would be nothing more than a speck before it was erased entirely. Like it’d never been.
But his eyes went to her, feeling something settle deep in his chest at the sight of her. When she looked back at him, her green, glittering eyes went a little shy when she saw his gaze was only on her.
“Pax,” he murmured. “Vellka.”
Beautiful.
Chapter Thirty-Six
One week.
One long, exhausting, seemingly never-ending week.
There were two days on the trip to Nzonito, one of which was spent in hyperdrive, which Valerie never wanted to experience again. Once they reached Nzonito, though they were tired, they took the first vessel they could find off the transport colony, to another transport colony about half a day away called Twon’ia. They spent three days on Twon’ia because it was a smaller transport colony and didn’t have regular flights running out of it. It was more of a watering hole and the Keriv’is had taken watch in shifts, looking out for any sign of Madame Allegria, in case she’d had the balls to attempt to follow them.
Another day was spent backtracking towards Nzonito because it was the only colony with direct transport to Dumera—unless they wanted to hop on another three vessel flights.
Andfinally…
After a week...
“That must be it,” Dravka murmured in her ear, pressing a kiss to her temple when she turned her face to look out the window. They were on the tiniest little vessel imaginable, hurtling towards a little speck in the distance that had grown larger and larger with every passing moment.
“I think so too,” she whispered, smiling, excited, relieved. Because while Dumera was classified as a colony, it was really a planet. An actual planet, as small as it was.
A planet with natural weather patterns. With sunrises and sunsets. With—hopefully—plant life and rich soil so that she could create a garden.
And Eve and Khiva were already there. They’d managed to patch through to them while they’d been on Twon’ia, so they knew they were coming. According to them, they’d already managed to procure housing for them.
Within the hour, they would be on the ground. Valerie would step out onto an actual planet for the very first time in her life. Dravka would be returning to one twelve long years after Kerivu was destroyed.
Behind them, though Valerie couldn’t see them, she knew that Tavak and Ravu were watching their arrival just as curiously. She knew that the brothers still had doubts about the kind of place Dumera was—but after speaking with Khiva through the patch number on Twon’ia, Valerie knew he had put most of their fears to rest.
Valerie turned her face to Dravka. Her mate. Her lover. Her love.
“I’m so ready to be alone with you again,” she whispered, just between them. There were only ten other beings on board the small vessel and over the roaring of the engines, she knew Dravka was the only one who heard her words.
