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ONE
Ashrael stood in the doorway,watching his mate as she worked.
She sat on a chair in the middle of the room. Her eyes were closed. Her elegant features were set in an expression of extreme focus.
Herka’quiwas tightly restrained. Since they’d discovered her immense telepathic abilities, Noa had worked incredibly hard to get them under control, to the point where she could contain and channel her power.
She would never be able to conceal her presence the way he could, but he wouldn’t want that for her anyway, because to become like him, she would have to go to the very center of the Nine Hells and back.
She wasn’t meant to be invisible.
She was the light to his shadow; his antithesis.
And how he needed her, now that he was untethered.
If not for her, he probably would have gone insane.
She bit her lower lip and curved her hands around the transparent sphere of ultra-strong carbon glass. It was about the size of her fist, and inside were three small round spinning ornaments of varying hue. Even though he couldn’tseethe colors, he could determine that they intensely colored from the way the light particles reflected off their smooth round surfaces.
Noa spun herka’quiinto the globe, keeping the ornaments moving and suspended. Then she snapped herka’qui; the psychic equivalent of flicking her finger against the side of the globe. The balls inside stopped spinning and started to bounce around; off the globe’s walls, off each other, colliding in a state of controlled entropy.
Then she flicked the globe again, returning them to their original state.
Once again, everything was in balance.
Ashrael made a low sound of approval. That was a neat little trick, requiring more than a little skill to pull off.
She’d improved so much since she’d first started training herka’qui. From being able to search for others with the Talent to wielding it herself—in the form of crushing pressure—she now had an impressive arsenal of abilities.
There were times when, working alongside him, she’d been instrumental in the fight against their enemies.
Ashrael wasn’t one to be prideful, but when it came to Noa, he couldn’t help but feel immense satisfaction whenever she used her Talent.
Placing the globe in her lap, she turned to face him. “How long have you been here?” she asked, a smile playing upon her delicate lips. They were suffused with a flush of pink. He wanted to kiss her again.“You don’t have to sneak up on me, you know.”
“You were concentrating. I didn’t want to interrupt.” Ashrael walked across the room, reaching her chair. He stood behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders.I was trying not to steal your focus.
He switched to mindspeech. For him, who had been silent for so long, mindspeech was more natural; more intimate. He could happily exist alongside her with no need for physical speech, just the gentle murmur of each other’s thoughts in their shared consciousness.
“Well, that’s understandable.” For her, however, speaking aloud was more instinctive; morehuman,and he didn’t mind at all, because he loved the sound of her voice. “I mean, you completely steal my focus whenever you’re around, anyway.”
Gently, he massaged her shoulders. She was tense from sitting too long in the same position. He could think of a thousand and one ways to get her to relax.What is this curious device in your lap, my sweetsarien?
Although it was a trivial thing, with no apparent purpose other than to amusement, he marveled at the artistry that had gone into it.
The three small baubles inside were suspended in mid-air, spinning with constant momentum. The movement was powered by several streams ofka’qui, intricately woven together to form an invisible machinery of energy.
Noa chuckled, sounding pleased with her own handiwork.
Her satisfaction washed over him; so very human and pleasing. It aroused him more than a little.
“It’s a toy for Ami. Abbey’s at her wits’ end with what to do about Ami’s manifesting Talent, so we came up with this little thing. Actually, it was Elgon who gave me the idea. I just modified it to make it a little morehuman.”
The colors and such?
“Pink, blue, purple. Little kids love bright colors, and Abbey says those are her favorite. Hopefully, she’ll be fascinated by it.”
Hm.These sorts of things were still utterly alien to Ashrael, but he was adapting. He’d felt momentary amusement when he first caught sight of the device.
