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“We need to leave.” Taryn pushed himself away from the desk, righting his blue robes. “The Terran ship is about to land.”
Kyren, Zandyr, and Ryker rolled their shoulders back, as if preparing for battle. None of them moved toward the exit.
“The greatest warriors on Quillon can’t let their Lightmates wait for them.” Taryn opened the sliding door. “Out.”
One by one, they filtered out into the brightly lit hallway. Images of former leaders flashed against the stone walls. Rhynon, Tamer of Lights. Lyander, Carver of Paths.
They marched underneath their mighty shadows. No matter how many lives Taryn saved, his image would never be hung among the greats. He’d made peace with that the moment he’d landed on Quillon.
The four of them headed toward the atrium where they would meet the Terran dignitaries and Lightmates.
Ryker huffed a long breath through his lips, breaking the stiff silence. “What if the Terrans take one look at us and decide to go back home?”
“Then we die,” Taryn said.
Wither away in loneliness until then, too.
Taryn couldn’t imagine finally feeling a Lightmate’s energy, even for a moment, then having to survive without it until the Blaze took him.
But the Lightmates had one full mon to decide if they wanted to stay on Quillon or depart back to Terra.
It was a rule Taryn had no intention of bending. He could tip the odds in his favor, though. Make his Lightmate want him as much as he was sure he would want her.
“Please stop cheering us up with the reminder of our impending deaths,” Kyren said.
“We aren’t completely sure the Lightmatescanstop the Blaze.” Zandyr ran a hand up one of his horns, as he always did when he fretted; which wasn’t all that often. “It’s all mere speculation.”
“I’m willing to bet my life on thatmerespeculation,” Taryn said. “You have to as well. The treaty depends on it, too.”
All it took was one Quillon-Terran marriage for the treaty to be signed. Then the Quillons could do what they should have done yanns ago–push the Zavorians back and protect Ea-rth.
Those pretentious overlords were up to something. Something big and menacing and hidden.
Billions of lives depended on the Terran Lightmates’ arrival.
They passed the royal Sentinel guards flanking the entrance to the atrium, who bowed, their sharp helmets gleaming in the light.
Taryn took a deep, centering breath. He had big plans for his Lightmate.Le-ah. He couldn’t pronounce her name, but it already felt right on the tip of his long tongue. A flicker of excitement coursed through him.
This was a new challenge. He loved challenges. Thinking of ways to figure them out, the right angle, the right word to say, the right thing to do.
The moment the massive doors opened, the flicker turned into a flare. It coursed through Taryn, heightening his senses.
Shewas here.
Her energy engulfed all his senses. It was soft and fluttery, but felt strong. Stable. Beckoning. Intoxicating.
She felt exquisite. Like the first real breath of his life, the first shiver he’d ever felt.
“Do you sense them?” he asked his companions, closing his eyes.
Maybe it was his imagination, but he could almost smell her. Fresh and brisk, like the wind on the Codrian mountains peaks. Breezing into his life to rattle and change everything, then piece it all back together, but better.
“No,” Zandyr said, watching him from the corner of his eyes. “How is it?”
“Splendid.” Taryn opened his eyes.
He’d never been this eager to meet any other being.
