"Losing a mate, even an unintentional one, is rough," Yuriel assured me and then sighed. "It's likely you'll struggle to find another mate for a while, at least until you decide to have Ezra remove that mark on your neck."
Faith lifted her hand to her shoulder unconsciously to feel that the mark was still there. The trill heal better than most species, and since the mark never went away, it only confirmed that they bonded. It was best that he was gone. It was much too soon for me to accept my offspring was growing up. At her age I was still living in the mountain and my mother was still alive.
Though the Almder was who spawned me, my mother gave up everything to protect me, even her life.
I smiled to myself, knowing how true that was for me now. I'd do the same for Faith.
She ran off to the shuttle with Loric, leaving Yueril and me to keep watch from the farthest moon Bina. Estreldez below us was forever changed because of us. A dark side of the planet where the moon's rays do not reach. The tarnpul there is dangerous and very little radiation lives where the land was sucked dry.
The radiation net worked, but at great cost.
"We destroyed this world..." I said with a shiver.
"We gave it more time," he objected. "And many estrelds were able to survive the drain on the planet."
"We don't know how many were lost to the dark land."
"But we do know how many are still alive." He kissed my temple and whispered in my ear, "Let me hold the guilt that grows within you. Let me ease that burden. I brought the world destroyer to Krelis instead of to Estreldez. I made that choice to build up the immunity to the Solusgors with what we had left lingering in our ship. It left Estreldez vulnerable as we waited for Krelis to adapt. There was no way to know that the radiation here would slow our progress. Place blame where it is deserved, on the Solusgors Virus."
He's right, I tried to convince myself. But I needed help, and we couldn't combat the virus on our own. I had to find a way to bring more researchers to face the problem. This wasn't the end to the fight of our lives.
To our offspring's lives.
I'd almost lost everything.
His tail went down below my knee and I lost the feel of him, but imagined the tingle that could have been. Reminded of the time he gently tended to my feet when we first met. Then his tail rubbed its oils up my thigh and I gasped at the way my skin responded, my mating loh vibrating for touch. He was always touching me to make sure I never felt the pain for long. His touch wasn't meant to be demanding, just a lovely caress to keep the pain at bay, but after all these risings I needed more.
"You glow brighter than any treasure I've had the pleasure to witness," he whispered at my lobe, his tongue flicking out to steam at the loh below my ear.
I moaned as his fingers kneaded into my lower back, his oils coating the burns there. The motor chair was temporary until Ezra could finish her prosthetics for my legs. She'd make them out of the finest and sturdiest rock and promised they would function as well as any other. I knew there would be no more running, but I guess that was the point of staying on Estreldez this whole time. Running away was never the intent.
Lifting my chin up, I laced my fingers behind his neck to pull him down to my lips. He moaned into my mouth, and I knew we had both missed this.
My skin tingled as I tugged his hand from my back and moved it around my hips to sink between my thighs.
"Are you sure?" he mumbled into our kiss, but that didn't stop his fingers from slipping into my heat.
It was mating season, and the moon's rays were at their peak. Bina may have been the farthest moon from Estreldez, but it still pulled radiation from the stardust swirling within the galaxy.
My hips bucked up, making my butt slide down the chair, stopped only by his tail wrapped around my thigh.
He groaned. "Where do you think you're going, Treasure?"
I giggled like I had a choice in sliding off the chair, but I liked the way he still made me feel whole. My hand clung to behind his head while the other gripped his forearm, as his fingers rubbed at my entrance. My breath hitched as I felt myself open for him.
He teased a finger inside before I gripped his wrist and shook my head, biting his lip. Yueril hissed, but paused for direction.
"I want to remember like it's the first time," I panted.
Knowing what I was asking for, his tail flicked up my leg, and waited near where I grabbed his wrist. I used his neck as support to adjust myself, and grabbed hold of his tail. He braced himself on the armrests of my chair, allowing me to use his support to guide myself atop his tip. My lip trembled as his tail entered me, and I paused to feel the fullness of the moment. My mate always wished to see me shine. I saw that now as I did in the past. I was never lacking in his eyes.
Even now.
"You are brighter than any sun," he whispered to me as I moved against him.
My hips trembled and yet he waited, allowing me to do this for myself. My arms were growing weary from holding myself up by his neck, and he simply moved his arms underneath mine until I shuddered, clamping down on his tail.
"Your turn is over, My Treasure." He lifted me from the chair and took me to our bed. His tongue lapped up the juices dripping down my legs then slithered across my clit. I gasped as he licked and suckled like I held his life inside of me.
