Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 46791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
I’d take him over any being.
“What about Whimmie?” I ask, remembering the only other being who seems to care for me right now.
Khrys pauses in surprise. “We’ll get her, too. All right? I may end up in the dungeons for this but…”
“But what?” I tip my face up to his, trying to figure it all out.
“You’re what’s important to me.”
Chapter 12
Khrys
I take Kailani’s hand and lead her to my hovercraft, which I fly to the clearing above the waterfall. I appear to be in luck—there are no other crafts parked in the area. We will have the waterfall to ourselves.
She eyes me nervously. I’ve lost her trust, and it won’t be easy to recover. She still seems to think I’m trying to trick her.
“Come on. You’re going to love this,” I promise, taking her hand and jogging with her toward the falls. She runs along beside me, picking up speed when she hears the sound of the crashing water.
We circle around where twin waterfalls cascade over zandian crystals, sending rainbow prisms in all directions. Kailani stops and gasps.
“Oh! It’s beautiful.”
I squeeze her hand, grateful when she doesn’t pull out of my grasp.
“The water is warm. One waterfall is hot, one is cold, so the pool below is the perfect temperature.” I strip off my clothes.
I know we need to talk, but I’d do anything to show her something nice right now. Something beautiful.
She nibbles her cheek, then strips out of her clothes, too.
“Do you know how to swim?”
She answers me by jumping into the water ahead of me. I smile and follow her in. She’s a fantastic swimmer, and she kicks straight toward the waterfalls, diving under them and then reappearing, smiling.
I’m not as skilled. I spent half my life in space, training on King Zander’s palatial pod after we lost our planet. We had no opportunities for swimming there, but my body still remembers how to stay afloat and how to propel myself around. I follow Kailani’s sleek form under the waterfalls. She swims beneath them and discovers the secret moss-covered ledge behind them.
“So you didn’t lie about the waterfall,” she says grudgingly, pulling herself out of the water to examine the crystal wall. My horns stiffen at the sight of her fully naked and out of the water, but I shove my lust down.
“I didn’t lie about anything. Zandians don’t lie.” I climb out of the water and sit on a soft patch of moss.
She whirls, hurt and anger marring her lovely face. “What did you omit, then?”
I try to swallow against the tight band around my throat. “A Z4-A virus has affected the planet. Not the Zandians, but the weaker humans. Many of the young—the halflings we’re relying on keeping our species alive, including the king’s own daughter, Kaylar. Some have died already.”
She’s gone still and tense. “I see.”
“When I saw your dossier, I hoped your engineered resistance to illness might provide some answers. To save the children.”
“And you thought you’d be a hero and save your species by bringing me here.”
I rub my face. “Veck, Kailani. That was my plan, yes. Before I knew you. And then I realized how traumatized you were. How much you hated needles and doctors, and I held back my purpose. I didn’t want you to be afraid. But I should have told you everything. And I’m sorry—I’m so vecking sorry about the way they took you. I never meant for that to happen. I want to rip all their heads off their vecking necks.”
She comes over to sit beside me. Some of the tension has left Kailani’s face. I doubt I’m forgiven, but maybe she’s not as angry as she was before.
“They took me into custody because I hadn’t requested permission to go on the mission. I should have accounted for that. I was a fool. I guess I imagined a much more celebratory landing. Me the hero—you the heroine. Instead we were both dragged in like prisoners.”
She studies me. “So, what happens now?”
I lift my shoulders. “You don’t have to do anything. I won’t let them touch you, all right? If you want me to go steal another airship and fly you somewhere else, I will. But I beg you to just give Zandia a chance. Not me—you don’t have to ever speak to or see me again if you don’t want to. But I didn’t lie when I said Zandia was a safe place for humans. You could make friends here. Make a life.”
She blinks at me. Her golden skin flushes a bit. “You called me your mate—back in the med bay.”
My horns thicken and lean in her direction. I try again to swallow. “I want you as my mate, yes. If you’d have me.”
She doesn’t answer.
“But matings must be approved by the king. I don’t know if I’d be granted the privilege.” I pick up one of the tiny crystals on the edge and roll it around between my fingers.