That was one way of looking at it.Behind Elethenn, I saw the flash of a helmet and heard Vateni's buzzing voice."This one wishes to remind you that we are departing very shortly."
"Of course," Elethenn said, and then he looked back to me."Thank you for coming to say goodbye.I am fortunate to have you as a friend, Sashen.I will endeavour to be worthy of your friendship."
Then Elethenn carefully, awkwardly made an unfamiliar gesture with his arms.I blinked at him, there in the cold airlock, and realized with a shock that he was waiting for me to hug him, although he held himself like he thought I might decide to hit him instead.And both of those things – that he wanted me to pull him tight; that he was still so fucking touch-averse – broke my heart in two separate, tender ways.I surged forward and wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders, pulling him in as his hands settled, uncertain, against my back.
"I'm going to miss you," I said, throat hot and tight."But I'll see you in Sol before too long.And you'll write?"
Against me, Elethenn's chest expanded as he inhaled deeply; his breath ghosted over my neck as he exhaled."That is part of what I am required to do for my atonement," said Elethenn, pulling away, shoulders stiff.
"Yeah, but you'll writeto me," I insisted as he took a step back toward the ship, my hands dropping away.
"I have told you," said Elethenn, and for a moment, there was the flicker of a smile on his lips."I have been informed that Imustwrite to you.It is what I am dreading most.I am at peace with being sent across the galaxy into close quarters with unfamiliar humans who may, as you've said, be a great deal to manage.But writing toonehuman who seems set on befriending me and who I fear will not leave me alone even when I am in an entirely different quadrant of space?I expect to suffer greatly."
I laughed, throat tight, and waved Elethenn off.The shuttle door slid shut, the airlock door next, and I didn't stay to listen to it depressurize; I didn't stay to watch through the small window as Val's ship winked out of the abayan empire and headed for the distant solar system that was home to my species.
Instead, I went upstairs.I found Araxis in the kitchen, making a tray of tea.Resting on the tray were two familiar, objectively awful mugs that Araxis had immediately fallen in love with the moment I'd pulled them out of my pack.I drifted in close to him, pressing a kiss to his temple while he hummed contentedly, my hands settling at his waist."We have been given a time to speak at the Hall of Records," Araxis murmured as I nuzzled my face against the side of his neck, my body slotting into place behind his."Our numbers are excellent, Sashen.We have had messages from several creches we did not anticipate would support our petition.Tomorrow, we will dock in Adralne and enter the Hall to finalize our cause."He smiled, head ducking as if he wanted to hide it away, as if he was afraid to be pleased this early."By this time tomorrow, Creche Thiel will be fully reinstated to our rightful place."
"I'm proud of you," I said, kissing the line of his shoulder."One thing, and then the next."
Araxis shifted, turning around to look at me as he leaned against the counter, my arms moving so that I was bracketing his body.His black eyes stared into mine, his cool fingers tracing the hem of my sweater, slipping beneath its pilled edge to trace the shape of my ribs.I shivered a little under his touch, but I also shivered under the quality of his stare: warm, certain, steady.
"Will you come with me tomorrow?"he asked."It will be a long process, the voting.I am afraid that the proceedings in the Hall, while important, are often quite dry.I would understand if you did not wish to join me, particularly after this burn."
I exhaled, the start of a laugh."Of course I'm coming with you.There's nowhere else I want to be."
When I kissed him, there in the kitchen on our ship which hung in the central system of Xitera, as I touched his face with my violent hands, I knew it was true, down to the darkest corner of my soul.There wasn't anywhere else I wanted to be.Whether we were on Adralne or Thelessia, whether we were in the Thenat Cluster or on Sozamia, whether we were on Yellow Fin or in far-flung Sol, the only place I wanted to be was by his side, my hands touching him, my heart holding him.
I kissed him then and I poured all of the best parts of who I was into him, so that he could have all of the most beautiful and tender parts of me – the parts he had first illuminated, the facets I hadn't known existed until he'd walked into my life.He could have all of it; it was, all of it, his.My truest desire.
And together – together we were going to change everything.
You make me feel hopeful, I'd told him.And, at his side, I could see a future worth dreaming of: not just the emptiness of space or the distant drifting of space dust, but something worth the struggle.The labour of my choosing.The labour ofourchoosing.
Epilogue
"Fuck, can I –"
"Yes– anything you want."His weight shifted, instinctive, as I leveraged myself off the table, rolling Araxis so that he was beneath me.His slick had dripped all down my thigh, which he'd ground himself against until he'd come all while stroking my cock with his elegant white fingers.From this angle, I could palm the muscle of his thigh as I pushed one leg upwards, splaying him beneath me so that I could admire him.His body stretched out luxuriantly, pale against the dark wood beneath him, arms reaching over his head so he could press his palms against the wall.
This meeting room was small, like many of the others in this wing.We'd already figured out that we had more room to work with if we jammed the table against one wall.Not that we needed much space.
I let out a heated breath, dipping my head to bite at the skin of his stomach, tracing my tongue against the faint texture pebbling his abdomen, like the ghost of ancestral scales.It hadn't taken me long to map all the places on Araxis's body where I could scrape my teeth against his more textured skin to great effect – his stomach, the inside of his thighs, his ankles, the skin just behind his ears, the edges of his ribs, the base of his spine and every single delicious vertebrae – and, as usual, he rewarded me with a long moan.The muscles of his abdomen twitched under my attention, hips stuttering instinctively, seeking friction; his cock nudged against the bare skin of my chest, beading slick against me.
I looked up at him as he watched me, flushed and dazed, his black eyes wide, like he wanted nothing so badly as to commit to memory exactly what I looked like in this moment, eternally embossed in his mind.I grinned against his stomach and shifted my head, biting his hip.His hands pressed more firmly against the wall, heels of his palms flexing as the muscles in his arms corded: strong and pliant andmineto command.
He was an absolute feast.
I bit down again harder, and Araxis choked out another pretty moan."You know," I said, licking at the place I'd just been teasing with my teeth and casting an appreciative eye over his arms, "and I don't meannow, but if you ever wanted to experiment with some ropes –you would be a treasure without equal, beloved."
The flush that pinked his cheeks was nearly as lovely as the surprised flare of his eyes and the flick of his lilac tongue against his lips."Ah," he said, low and throaty, "but Idohave an equal, Sashen.Not that I am averse.I am certain I could find an amenable instructor."
And, look, I wanted so badly to crack a joke aboutbeing upforshowing him the ropesbut I didn't have it in me to really consider whether that would translate, not when I had Araxis spread out beneath me.Pleasure tightened low in my belly, my hips nudging against the strong muscles of his legs."How about, in the meantime, you keep your hands on that wall for me while I get you off again?I like your arms like that.Stars, you're perfect – you know that?"
His skin gleamed, iridescent at the praise."I can do that," he murmured, eyelids drooping so that he stared at me through his dark lashes.His fingers flexed against the wall, obedient."Anything you wish is yours."
My smile sharpened, and then I slid my mouth down to his cock, which was dripping wet against his pale skin.I grasped the base of his length, tracing my tongue up a scaled ridge while Araxis writhed beneath me.My other palm shoved his thigh up so that I could control him fully.Not that he ever resisted.
Araxis liked it when I used my teeth.He liked it when I bossed him around in bed, whether that was doing exactly what I wanted to him – and what I knewhewanted – or telling him in no uncertain terms what he was going to do for me.And it turned out that I liked all of that too.I liked it in a way that made my heart pulse double-time, my blood turning to radiant gold.
