Page 73 of When the Universe Sings

He’d told me there was a time he’d given up any hope of seeing his planet again—accepted his life would be an endless cycle of searching and coming up empty. But now here we were and I couldn’t blame him for the fear trickling through our bond.

“They’re waiting outside.” His voice was muffled against my shirt, but I dipped my head to press a kiss to his hair.

I stroked his temple. “They can wait a little longer.”

A choked laugh rumbled against my chest before he pulled back and wiped a hand over his face. He took his time standing, cupping my face reverently, and brushed his lips over mine. Then he tugged me toward the ramp and hit the release beside us. As it descended, he dropped my hand, but I didn’t have a moment to worry before his arm wrapped around my waist and he pulled me tight to his side.

There were perhaps fifteen waiting at the bottom, spread out in a small semi-circle. Their long robes fluttered in the breeze of the purging coolants and a few lifted their hands to cover their faces, which were draped with small, intricate metal chains. No, not draped, I realized as we got closer, the chains were connected to numerous piercings within their flesh.

But standing at the center, silver eyes fixed on Asher, stood a formidable-looking female. She was as tall as Asher, her dark hair swept up into an intricate design on the top of her head and woven with dark stones and metal. But it was her face I could not seem to look away from. Pale blue skin with a familiar-looking mouth that trembled, a petite nose wrinkling with her small sniff. My stomach clenched, heartbeat spiking, and I tried my best not to send my anxiety through the bond.

Asher took one step forward, then another, keeping me close to his side as we lowered to our knees before her. He released me, reached into the inside of his jacket and withdrew a small black box that shimmered in the lights overhead as he held it up to her with both hands, his head bowed.

She stared at him for another long moment before she took the box from him without inspecting its contents, handing it off to a female beside her. Her hands shook as she cupped his face, crystalline tears like gems sliding down her cheeks.

“My son,” she rasped. “Myson.”

Her arms wound around his neck and suddenly he was nothing more than a boy in his mother’s embrace. I bit the inside of my cheek, the hollow ache in my chest growing deeper. It was a reunion I would never know, a wound that would never close. But she drew back with a sparkling laugh and reached a hand in my direction. I froze when she touched my face and her eyes shimmered with new tears.

“My daughter. After walking with you in dreams, I meet you at last.”

As her skin touched mine, I felt a new sort of bond set. It was not as deep or consuming as my one with Asher, but it was…warm. Familial. And I understood what she meant. She had been dreaming of me since Asher was small: a female with tired eyes who had seen too much of the universe and its cruelty. Her goddess had sent her visions that Asher would find a mate and his mate would be me. When she pulled me into her arms, I went willingly. Her cheek pressed to mine as she stroked my hair, humming.

The song of the universe.

The song of my new people.

The song of home.

CHAPTER 50

EPILOGUE

I stoodknee deep in the mouth of the river, my glittering robe and hood swaying in the cool breeze. My hands shook at my sides and it had nothing to do with the water or the air. I slid my foot across the smooth stones beneath me in the riverbed, my slow breaths loud in my ears. A tall figure waited before me in the waist-deep water, his bare chest gleaming in the glittering rays of dawn, one hand extended.

We had been on Akahzyr for a little over a month, settling in to this new life. I’d been surprised at how easy the transition had been. Asher’s people had missed him terribly and honored him for the sacrifice he’d made. The handful of times we’d traveled into the settlement below the mountain we’d been mobbed by people desperate to extend their gratitude. News had traveled fast he’d returned with hisj’ska mahsiand, as I was the only outsider, every time we left there was no guessing who was his mate.

But they had not been distrustful or cautious. Quite the opposite. They believed through our bond, I was one of them now. Yet they also honored my people and planet. In one of their temples where they set offerings for the dead, Xaria, Asher’s mother, had already placed a small altar for my parents and people. When she’d brought me there, I stared for over a quarter of an hour at the small offerings those within the city had brought for them. A slice of one of their intricately baked loaves,a cup of glittering water, a plate ofjuniaberries picked just that morning.

Though I did not understand their goddess, the idea she would now care for my people in the beyond was comforting in a way I had not imagined. For the first time in twelve cycles, I mourned them as I never had before. After, we’d made plans to visit Kal and his family on Uhkazar, where they and most of the other survivors from our planet now lived, preferring to stay together.

News had reached us about a week ago that a star cruiser owned by Senator Torion had unexpectedly exploded while traveling through quadrant one toward Silomen, killing the male and everyone aboard. Federation officials had yet to find a probable cause for the explosion and most likely wouldn’t. It had taken a day or so before we discovered that Lunastra had been aboard, unable, it seemed, to escape before her master had begun experimenting on the false stone Asher had given him.

And so I grieved the female who had sheltered me as best she could, as I also grieved my family.

Asher and I lived in one opulent wing of Xaria’s homestead, though he’d referred to it as apalace. It was larger even than Lesephous’ quarters had been on Louxuria, though the rooms felt more comfortable with the distinct lack of gaudy opulence. Every night we climbed into the large bed and Asher slipped between my thighs, promising me soon we would seal our bond.

Right here. Right now.

“Come, my true mate,” Asher called in Akahzyrian.

I shivered, carefully traversing the river stones as I waded deeper into the water. The robe floated behind me like a trail of starlight and I pulled at the tie, slipping it off my shoulders to throw onto the bank. When I turned, his eyes grew molten as they slid down my naked frame. I crossed the space between us,each step deliberate in the moving water until my hand closed over his and he tugged me into his arms.

“I cleanse my soul in the Waters of Khal,” he rumbled. “I offer myself to you.”

“I cleanse my soul in the Waters of Khal,” I repeated. “I offer myself to you.”

With two hands, I scooped up the water, spilling it over his chest. I repeated the movement over one shoulder, then the other, until he crouched a little so I could reach his brow. A heart-aching smile drew up his lips as he did the same to me, prickles breaking out across my skin from the water as it slid down my breasts. When he finished, Asher cupped my face in his hands, lips covering mine.