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With a smile, he relaxed as they approached from behind, pausing midstep in a whisper of bare feet.
Glancing up at the skies, he murmured.
‘The night is come, but not too soon;
And sinking silently,
All silently, the little moon
Drops down behind the sky.
There is no light on earth or heaven
But the cold light of stars;
And the first watch of the night is given
To the red planet Mars.
Is it the tender star of love?
The star of love and dreams?
O no! from that blue tent above,
A hero’s armour gleams …’
‘Would you believe that poem from old earth, ‘The Light of Stars,’ is about named for the god of war rather than the god of love,’ he drawled. ‘He might have been writing about Katáne.’
He was still facing away from the newcomer, but he sensed the roll of her eyes and the exasperated click of her tongue.
‘Your forehead flashlight is creepy sometimes, y’know?’ she sighed.
He laughed. ‘I’d say the same of your SHärd blades. What brings you out into the night, Shotelai? Can’t sleep?’
‘Something like that.
He twisted from the waist and turned to her.
Damn, she was beauty personified.
Her face was more vulnerable and soft than he’d ever seen, her mouth tender. Her body was clad in a long silk tee, her feet bare, with no metsai or training suit in sight.
Kythnia’s moon shone behind her, illuminating her, making her appear almost surreal, ethereal.
His eyes smouldered. ‘I like seeing you this way, khany’s.’
‘Khany’s?’
‘Queen of Light.’
She glanced at him with disbelief as she dropped to sit beside him, plonking a half-drank ‘hol bottle between them. ‘Light? Me? Far from it.’
He smirked. ‘’Tis what my hawkstone perceives. Your soul dazzles so much, it’s blinding.’
She cocked her head and gazed at Killen for a while, her diamond-flecked eyes searching his. ‘My father used to say the same thing, so he gave me my name. It means luminous in Shotelai.’
He smiled and glanced away from her and back to the stars. ‘Not surprised, k’hanys. I’ll let you know the word is also an endearment lovers share.’
