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“My son tells me that you are a lore keeper of your people. One who knows the human histories.”
Okay, well that hadn’t been the subject I’d expected him to broach. Hell, I’d entirely expected him to insist on a demonstration, to prove that the shield hadn’t been a momentary fluke.
“That’s true,” I agreed, albeit a bit hesitantly. “I have a degree in history.”
He nodded, lifting his chin. “Perhaps we should make arrangements for you to teach our warriors of human cultures. There will be a change in the way they think of humans, and we should capitalize on that shift by teaching them the other useful things humanity has to offer. Between that and your Ree’s help, if she is willing, we can make a new start between our peoples.”
And that?
That sounded so much better than teaching a bunch of bored high schoolers about the industrial revolution, using twenty-year-old textbooks.
In fact, it sounded like a whole fresh start.
CHAPTER34
KAELUM
After Lucas’s first lesson with the Thorzi, we had decided that it would be for the best that I let him do this on his own.
My fault, of course.
During his first lecture, I sat at the front. I loudly echoed all of his wisdom, and at the end, I was out of my seat before he dismissed the class to pull him into my arms and slip my tongue into his clever mouth.
As charming as he found it, and as much as I longed to keep him in my arms, he could not teach the Thorzi from a seat in my lap. This, he would have to do alone. He deserved a place of his own, and I did not have the temperance to keep from celebrating his every victory, from touching him at every opportunity.
And he had promised that he would sate all my curiosities about humans in private, so I queried him while tasting his bare skin.
It worked, except when it left me alone in my room to wait for him to return from his lectures. Then, I had the chance to worry that Jax and Wesley had not come home. We had sent out ships to search for them, but with no sign, and smirks from Crux that I distrusted more every day.
Then I worried that the Thorzi would give my Lucas trouble if I wasn’t there, even when they meant no harm. They were keen to find mages for themselves. But the true-born Thorzi had tried—they could not share their powers with humans. So far, it was only hybrids who were the future of our kind.
Sensing my unease as I laid back on my bed with my legs hanging over the side, Donna wound her way around my ankles. She did not like to be separated from Lucas any more than I did, and though that could have caused conflict between us, we had spoken and reached an understanding.
We would both do anything it took to care for Lucas and keep him safe. With her claws and my marks, we would protect him and keep him close and, when we could, we would sit back and miss him and let him stand on his own.
“Your Lucas does need a keeper, sweet Donna. But he will do well with this. We simply have to wait.”
She purred and hopped onto the bed. Crawling up, she pushed into my chest, stretching out her claws against my skin. I scratched between her velvet ears, and she rubbed her chin hard against my palm.
“Between the two of us,” I said, “I think we might manage to keep him safe and happy.”
Or, more likely, he would do that for us. It was not lost on me that Lucas had saved my life, saved my throne, and given me a place on Thorzan I would have struggled to claim on my own.
He was my everything, my starlight and my king. He had chosen to stay, even when we had taken him without asking, because he felt the same for me. He had awoken power the Thorzi thought lost because of that bond.
Because of our love.
The door panel slid open, and I sat bolt upright, gripping Donna to my chest. She mewed, and when I loosened my grip, she pushed against me with her agile back paws to hop down and cross the room to him.
He paused to scratch her ears, but in moments, he was crawling into my lap, a warm, broad smile on his face.
“Did you enjoy your lecture?” I asked.
He nodded, leaning in for a kiss. “Aldor came.” Another kiss. “And your mother. She wanted to know the way Earth has changed the past couple decades. Said something about the Clinton administration.”
“She should see it for herself,” I muttered, already distracted running my hands over his thighs as his fingers combed through my hair.
“Yeah. One day. I wanted to tell you something though.”
