It had been two weeks since the dome incident and Sulfiqar’s purge from Pegasi’s mortal plane.
Below the nanite-reinforced shield, the Edenites worked hard to clear the streets, and the destroyed buildings were on their way to being rebuilt.
However, fifteen of their own didn’t make it, and dozens more were in recovery.
Once the chaos died down and the city caught its breath, the locals put up a memorial wall to honor the ones they lost.
‘What comes next, love?’ Sheba asked as she leaned into her man’s sinewed torso, and his arms came around her waist. ‘A return to Tansinia?’
‘Not a permanent one, unless you’re desperate to move to the back and beyond,’ Idan rasped. ‘Tansinia Minor is in my past, and it has too many memories of pain and loneliness I no longer claim. I want a new life,fokk, and a home too, provided the rest of my years are spent in your orbit.’
Sheba turned to him, the gold gleam of her mesmerizing eyes shimmering with a deep, emotional heat. ‘Dunia then?’
His face lit up. ‘It was beautiful. The mountains, waterfalls, the lushness, it’s a paradise indeed. Perhaps we can look up what’s on sale.’
‘Whether we can settle there depends on whether I get the Director role, and if they allow fly-in and out options,’ Sheba reminded him, stroking his temple. ‘I’m not sure we can afford a big farm, though, but potentially I can sell my apartment here to what we can in New Malindi. My savings took a hit during this stretch without a contract.’
He stopped her, his thumb pressing her lips into silence before tracing the line of her jaw. ‘Fokk, woman, I won’t be a kept man, and as I told you, I’ve got more than enough resources.’
Sheba arched a brow, her skepticism visible. ‘Where are they? You didn’t exactly pack a suitcase of bullion when we left Tansinia.’
‘I’m telling you, I have a secret stash waiting for me. Fact, let’s go on a mini odyssey,’ he countered, his hand cupping her face with a possessive, tender heat. ‘I’ll show you what a Void-Forged Scion of the Crimson Eclipse, General of the Seven-Fold Legion, and Harbinger of the Divine Reckoning, keeps in reserve.’
The following evening, the floors of Kainan and Selene’s second living room in their penthouse sat buried under a mountain of discarded snack wrappers and face masks.
Sheba moved through the wreckage of the room, sidestepping an abandoned VR headset.
She sighed, surrendering to the bedlam.
Just two hours earlier, the place had been pristine when she kicked off an unforgettable night for her niece and nephews, as well as Harlow and Illanna’s kids.
She’d envisioned a perfect split: the young boys gaming in the upstairs atrium and the girls engrossed in a spa session below led by Auntie Sheba, complete with plush robes and perfumed facials.
She’d laid out snacks on the vast dining table: caramel popcorn, micro-sliders topped with truffle aioli, pizzas and cannoli, chilled fruit punch in flutes, plus a spread of candy, brownies, and marshmallows.
She even went for the extra details, with a selection of hydrating face masks, fuzzy headbands, foot baths, and nail polishes galore.
Now it was as if a bomb had gone off.
Crushed pastry lay in ruins on the kitchen surfaces, alongside a mess of melted mozzarella and leftover crusts from wood-fired pizza takeaway boxes fromThe BirdKage.
Her fruit punch was down to a trio of sad strawberries smashed at the bottom of the bowl, and chocolate handprints smeared the walls.
‘Aunt Sheba, the boys are bored!’ Kirin, Harlow’s son, yelled from the landing, his entourage in tow, skidding behind him. ‘We don’t want to play with pixels anymore; we want lime-green slime face masks and the bubble foot baths.’
Sheba gave the groaning girls in the living room a sideways, cutting glance.
‘Sharing is caring, ladies,’ she chided. ‘Come on then, gentlemen.’
She dug out more supplies from her crate of goodies, and minutes later, six kids sat in a row on the sofas, in a mix of tactical camo shorts and pink fuzzy robes.
She slathered aqua colored glop onto the boys’ faces, their chuckles setting her off, while the little ladies painted their brothers’ toenails a vibrant, electric blue.
‘Auntie Sheba, Kirin is getting goo on the upholstery,’ one of the young women giggled, adjusting her headband.
‘It’s already a freakin’ mess,’ Sheba sighed, popping the lid on a spilled face lotion bottle. ‘De nada, the fabric is easy to wash, your mother made sure that.’
In time, the holo-TV flickered through a mindless adventure movie, and the kids came off their sugar high and succumbed to sleep.
