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His hand settled on my lower back and he smiled serenely down at the pair of us.
David continued to look dubious. “You honestly just came here for the cat.” His voice was flat and disbelieving. Like...
“Oh my god, you actually think I want Morris back.” I turned and deliberately, looked Kaelum over, top to bottom and then back up, in all his perfection, then back to David. “Sorry, I upgraded. Morris is all yours. Good luck with him.”
“Hey babe, what’s—” Morris came up behind David and froze when he saw me, then the cat, and then Kaelum, in that order. “What’s going on?”
“Like I told David, I came for my cat.” I turned to Kaelum, smiling. “I’m ready to go home now.”
Kaelum’s grin was big and bright, and he pulled me in close. “Then let us go, my Lucas. I will be glad to be free of this frozen place, and back home in the palace.”
“Me too, Kaelum.”
Behind me, David shouted something shrill and irritated, but I didn’t even hear it, too focused on my future as we headed back down the walk, Donna a purring ball in my arms and Kaelum a warm perfect presence at my side.
CHAPTER28
KAELUM
Iwas correct—the humans wanted to stay with us when shown kindness. My crew had spoken openly with them, sated their endless curiosity. And Lucas’s obvious pleasure, the way he smiled and his gaze tracked to me so often—no one could doubt his happiness.
But I did not know if it was enough, until he had the small purring creature with her tiny, pointed fangs in his arms, and called my home his own.
He said her name was Donna Meowble, which was a long and strange name for a cat that stuck in my cheeks and made my tongue feel clumsy with all its rounded sounds. He only laughed and said cats meowed, assured me that I would see, and I petted her soft head and told her, using the power of my mark, that it was a pleasure to meet her.
For her own part, she was only interested in Lucas for the time being. Her person. It seemed I would have to share, but when her rough tongue darted across my fingertips in greeting, I decided I could weather sharing my Lucas with this small creature who needed him so.
In some ways, it grated that Crux had been right as well. The humans he had chosen were ready for a change. By the time we returned to Earth, there were only four humans who wanted to go back to their homes and stay. There were plenty who wanted supplies, pieces of their world to take back with them, but each returned to the ship willingly, sometimes bringing another with them.
We only lost two from our total number by the time we went to return to Thorzan, and the ones who were new to us—Hiroki’s friend Makoto and Morgan’s brother Arthur—were the most delighted of all.
They had experienced no cruelty at the hands of a Thorzi, and if it cost me everything, I would ensure the worst thing they felt at our hands was the prick of an interpreter implant.
Though there was very little I could do about the travel rations.
The return trip, despite its length, were some of the happiest times in my life. Donna Meowble took to the ship slowly, crying low in her throat at first to the sensation of rising altitude and humming engines. But so long as she was pressed against Lucas’s warmth, she was content.
He would make a good father to our offspring, kind and patient as he was.
The two new humans looked to the others as experts on our people, and my Thorzi crew were happy to allow them to speak for themselves, to share stories of things they had not experienced themselves yet, but had heard from us or from Lucas, with their own people.
With our trust and the eagerness of the new humans, they grew in confidence and in hope, and my own heart beat harder in my chest, spreading a warmth of its own, to witness it.
This was the industriousness and resilience of their people—the very reason that hybrids were strong and why my planet needed humans to thrive.
But as we approached Thorzan after our weeks of travel, my buoyant mood became subdued.
“You’re worried,” Lucas accused, his voice gentle even then, the night before we would arrive back on my planet.
He set Donna aside and approached. His hand, cupped firmly against my cheek, was a comfort.
We were in our room, alone, but for Donna. Little Lucas crawled into my lap and sat on my knees.
I did not have the words to answer him, so he prompted again. “What’s going to happen when we land?”
With a sigh, I let my eyes slip shut. “I do not know, my Lucas. We have stolen a necessary resource from Crux. He is the Progenitor, savior of our people. It is why he was allowed to continue his work for our people—there are no others with the skill to see our people through our current crisis. But we have returned with only two fewer humans than we left with. Crux has also committed crimes. I must hope that is weighed, and we are able to move past these troubles without conflict.”
He toyed with a lock of my hair near my temple, twisting the length of it around his fingertip. “And if there is conflict?”
