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“It worked itself out,” she says. “Like I said before… Did I ever stand a chance?”
“Of course not. The moment you became my mark was the moment you were doomed, little flame.”
To see her eyes glowing with love for me… If a female like her can admire me, through it all, through everything I’ve done, then perhaps I can be the male she imagines I am.
“Do a mating dance with me,” I propose, lifting her up and planting a kiss on her cheek. She laughs, letting her arms rest around my neck.
“I’m not a good dancer,” she says. “What do you mean?”
“The mating ceremony. Didn’t Raina tell you about it?”
“Yes,” she replies, a familiar line appears between her brows. “No one’s here. Except Raffa, and he’s hardly a romantic.”
“In Kar’Kali culture, the uniting of souls doesn’t need a witness,” I explain, placing her on her feet again. “All we need is the bond and a wild place to run. This little meadow will do.”
“Then of course I want to mate dance with you,” she replies, shyly glancing away. “You’re talking about the ceremony where you chase me?”
“Does that excite you?” I ask, as the faintest bloom of her arousal floats to me on the night air.
“I’m not very fast,” she says, biting her lip. When our eyes meet again, my stomach tightens.
“That’s fine. We both know you want me to catch you,” I tease. “I’ll give you a head start.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
KAYE
Although he grumblesabout how little it matters, Kalla waits patiently in the backyard while I run inside to freshen up. It’s been a long day of travel, so I stumble into Frankie’s bathroom. The girl has money and good taste. Unlike Raina and me, she didn’t have to save up for this farm; she bought it as a home base for her travels, never worrying whether the crops would make healthy profits. I steal a spritz of her expensive perfume that she bought on the planet of Zalede. At my last wedding, I got ready with ten other women in the room, and I felt so stressed I could hardly breathe. Now I’m alone, and I’m absolutely giddy.
Frankie’s much smaller than me, but I raid her closet for something remotely appropriate. Raina told me that she had no top on when she ran through her mating ceremony. I find what I think is a bathing suit cover up— cream-colored lace, paper-thin, and completely transparent. When I decide that my black underwear doesn’t suit it, I strip to nothing underneath and stare at my reflection. Wild hair, red cheeks, exposed with hard nipples from the chilly evening air… I look beautiful, if a little dazed.
I agonized over my first wedding for more than a year. I’ve thought about this one for less than five minutes.
Except I actually look happy.
I didn’t starve myself, didn’t please everyone, didn’t wonder whether I’m making the right choice.
I throw a blanket over my shoulders and run out to rejoin Kalla.
“Let’s walk out where we can’t be seen from the house,” I say. He nods, eyes lingering on the place where the blanket reveals my thighs.
“Are you naked?” he asks with a grin. “I don’t have any traditional clothes with me, so I planned to run you down as I was born.”
“I’m not,” I say, cheeks flushing. “And that’s fine. I’ll bet your third leg slows you down.”
“Third leg…?” It dawns on him. “Ah. Never slowed me down before.”
“It’s not very aerodynamic,” I snicker.
“Laugh while you can,” he says lightly. “Because you’ll be screaming yourself hoarse soon.”
We reach a point where the hedge that runs the length of Frankie’s fields is high enough that our view of the house is obscured. This meadow dotted by brush and patches of wildflowers is a place we would walk through often when we spent time together. It goes on for a mile or so, enclosed on the opposite end by a rocky outcropping that prevents most of the alien wildebeests that roam the unoccupied prairie beyond from traipsing through the farms. But there are always stubborn explorers. It wouldn’t be a surprise to find one wandering here. When you’re in the center of the meadow, unable to see the pink waving wheat, you can almost imagine you’re on Earth. As long as you ignore the planet silhouette that looms in the sky, and don’t look too closely at the alien insect life.
I turn toward Kalla and throw the blanket down. “Put your suit there so it doesn’t get dirty.”
He stares at me, dumbfounded, fingers fumbling on the closure of his jumpsuit.
“I miss your silver hair,” I admit. “Is it wrong that I wish you could look your normal self for this moment?”
