He folds his flaming wings up and darkens their fire. “DIA says she crashed on the Talhuskin world. Cinuska found me in a cracked egg with a name painted on the shell.”
The queen looks through the crowd for her. I wave Cinuska up to my side. She joins me with a bow.
King Traosis chokes up. “We sent you out as our last chance of reaching the other world. We do not have starships for the realm beyond. I am not surprised the one we sent crashed. We had hoped for better.”
“Now you have many,” Jorusk says. “We would like to propose a trade. Our civilians for those you want to explore the stars.”
“What about the Talhuskins?” the queen asks.
“They are fewer every day. And we are stronger than they are now. We are no longer servants to them.”
“Servants?” The queen’s wings wilt. She turns and begs the king with words I can’t discern.
“Okay. Let us welcome you with a celebration tonight. We can work out details of bringing the colonies together then,” the king replies.
“Joris,tell him.” The queen can barely contain herself.
The king leaves his people and walks up to Jorusk. His wings spread and ignite. Then he lifts them until they form the vertical salute. “Jorusk…”
He looks my mate over with careful inspection. “Welcome home…son.”
Jorusk stares at him for a moment. He looks between the king and the queen, then spreads his wings, ignites them, and salutes his father.
The queen leaves the safety of her guards and crashes into Jorusk, wrapping him up in her arms.
I’ve never seen him smile so much or hear such jubilant cheers from his friends. Even Rykarn whistles with his teeth in celebration.
Jorusk reaches back for me. “This is my mate, Brynna.”
I approach, hesitant about their reaction to me being human. So the moment I’m free of the crowd, I open the synthetic wings Eluni made for me. I cannot raise them quite as high, but I select the salute option in my visor, and they rise above my head.
The queen steps back and opens her wings, saluting me. The Drathis behind her ignite and lift their wings. It is the biggest blaze I’ve ever seen. The heat ripples the air far up into the sky. Embers dance through the crowd as the Drathious at our backs return their sister colony’s greeting.
The king takes Jorusk by the back of his neck and guides their foreheads together. “I have prayed for your return every day. We were nearly out of hope. You have returned with more than we ever imagined. I am so proud of you.”
He steps back and takes the queen’s hand. They lower their wings with force, and it launches them into the air. “Our firstunited Devil’s Dance will commence tonight at sunset. We want everyone to join us.” They ease back to the ground. “Even the purple one.”
“I am Amphiran,” Fieri bitterly remarks, lifting a hand, showing off an electric green arc. “Jorusk has been under my electric wing for the last three years.”
“Then I would like to hear everything you can tell me about what we’ve missed,” King Traosis says to him. “Come. You and Cinuska must join us.”
Fieri looks down at the Drath female who cared for and raised Jorusk. He offers Cinuska a hand, which she takes.
“Go, we’ll catch up.” Sidius motions us after Jorusk’s family. “We will organize the fleet and make sure they’re going to behave.”
Jorusk agrees, and we follow his parents up the hill to the landing pad. He turns around and looks at the cold mountains surrounding the valley.
“That is where we used to live,” his father says. “We slept in caves in the rock. It took a research vessel crashing here many centuries ago to introduce us to other ways of living. It carries small life forms like balls of light.”
“Orillium.” Fieri is confident. “My kind was one of the first into space in this galaxy.”
King Traosis glances back at him. “Then we must get to know each other better.”
Fieri glances at me with appreciation in his eyes. “It would be my honor,sir.”
26: Brynna
I stay close to Jorusk, but mostly remain quiet as he gets to know his parents. We walk up the hillside among gardens as Drathious mingle with Drathis. We sit around a fountain of red-orange liquid that shimmers like water but glows like lava.
