Apparently, touring those farmlands was not on tonight’s agenda as Balfor ascended higher into the sky above the fields. Euphoria filled her as she took in all the sights. The moon was full and painted everything in silver with shades of blue. The breeze teased at her hair, chilly invisible fingers tugging strands from beneath her veil. She could have gone on like this forever. Or at least, that’s what she would have said until the moment they reached the highest field terrace.
Silvery light lit up the fields surrounding them. Every white moonfloss flower was fully open, the silky threads of floss swaying in the evening breeze. Large white moths—looking silver in the moonlight—fluttered from one bright flower to the next, sipping the nectar. Umbrose moved through the fields like shadows, gently harvesting the flowing threads. The flower's scent filled the air. Stacia sucked in a deep breath as Balfor descended.
He set her down lightly, allowing her to slide along his body before her feet met solid ground. He was rock-solid at her back, but she was so fascinated with the magical view in front of her that for once, she didn’t pay any attention to his needs. Taking this in stride, his voice was only slightly rough and raspy when he spoke. "The moonfloss blossoms only release their scent when they open at night. If you have never been around them, then you wouldn't have encountered it." He lifted one hand to stroke a lock of her hair. “You remind me of the moonfloss blossoms. Delicate, defiant, and difficult to coax into bloom, but worth the effort.”
She sighed and leaned against him, running her hand along his large bicep. She'd thought that the evening could not have been more perfect when she'd first gotten here, but his words proved that she'd been wrong. He’d brought her to this place that had meaning for him. It was clear in the way he looked around him with an air of reverence, gently brushing a moth the size of his hand from a top-heavy moonfloss blossom. With careful fingers, he plucked a few of the fragrant strands from the blossom and handed them to Stacia. “Each strand is like you, Stacia. Strong, beautiful, and smelling so good it’s a pleasure to my senses.
Stacia took the strands and braided them into a ring to wrap around her finger. Balfor watched her curiously for a bit. When he saw what she intended, he watched more closely. The end result that she’d achieved with a few thin threads left him expressing his approval as he brought her hand up to his lips and nipped at the finger wearing the braided moonfloss.
They remained hand-in-hand as they walked among the flowers, staying out of the way of the harvesters. Stacia gently stroked her fingertips along the soft petals. They bobbed their heads in her wake as silky threads tickled her hand. She'd never even seen a moonfloss flower in bloom before, except on a panviewer documentary. The plants were difficult to grow in the domes and rarely ever opened because the moonlight was so muted by the astroplast bubbles. She’d even tried to cultivate them in their own conservatory, but all attempts to mimic the light conditions they required ended in dismal failure. They did not thrive. Perhaps these massive moths had something to do with their success when grown in the wild.
“It’s so beautiful here! What are these moths? They’re bigger than my hand!” She held out a hand towards a moth that fluttered by, trying to gauge its size.
“Those are adura grisen.” He looked down at her. “Silver light moths. They feed exclusively on the moonfloss nectar, which is why you see so many here tonight. They only live for a few days, gorging themselves during the fullest phases of the moon, then mating and laying their eggs before dying.”
“How sad.” She watched the cloud of moths move around the flowers, ignoring the harvesters who gently shooed them aside to collect the floss.
Balfor shook his head. “Their lifespan is brief, but it fulfills their purpose. They’re simple creatures. They feed from the moonfloss and pollinate the flowers, ensuring another harvest which in turn ensures another generation of moths. Someday, I will take you to the silverlight caves. Their larva glows like countless stars in the darkness there.”
Stacia looked up at him. “Thank you for bringing me here. This place is beautiful. I never would have seen any of this in the domes.”
“There is so much I want to show you.” He looked around him, then back down at her. “Seeing my world through your eyes makes it feel new again. It’s been a long time since I saw the wonder in anything.” He turned towards her, lifting a hand to her cheek. “I thank you for that.”
She shifted her veil to one side and threw her arms around his neck, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him.
He pulled away from her, and in the bright moonlight she could see his raised eyebrows. “What was that?”
“Ranove hasn’t explained kissing to you?” She brushed her fingers along his lower lip, eager to feel it against her own again.
His lips had been firm and hard with his surprise. Now they softened against her fingers as he relaxed. Then he smiled wickedly. “No, this he did not explain. Perhaps you should demonstrate it again.”
This time, he lowered his head to make her access easier. She pressed her lips against his, teasing his lips with the tip of her tongue until they parted and she could slip inside and taste the exotic spice of his mouth.
It didn’t take him long to figure out the basic mechanics of a kiss. Soon he was matching her movements with his lips and tongue. The kiss deepened and intensified until Stacia forgot where she was, so lost in the intimacy of mingling her breath with his.
She protested when he finally broke the kiss.
“This kissing inspires me in ways I did not expect. How can simply touching mouths feel as erotic as this?”
“If you like the feeling, we can do it again,” she said hopefully, running her hands over his chest.
“If we kiss again, I don’t know how long I can resist doing much more with you. As much as I would love to take you to the ground, right here and now, it would serve as too much of a distraction for the workers, and they’re on a time limit.” He bumped his forehead against hers. His breathing was ragged, and beneath her palm, his heartbeat pounded in his chest. “But we will definitely do that again.”
Her hands fell to her sides as she looked around them sheepishly. She'd been so swept up in the moment, and in him, that she'd forgotten they had an audience. The workers were not looking at them, but Stacia still felt as though they were watching. “I suppose I can wait until later to reward you for bringing me here.”
“I look forward to it.” He tucked her against his side, and started walking again.
She sighed in contentment and leaned into his embrace. Even though it was awkward to walk while being held so close to someone so much taller than her, it was worth it to feel him beside her. His heat kept her warm and his delicious scent enveloped her, competing with the scent of the moonfloss blossoms.
*****
The following morning, Stacia was tired, as she hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night thanks to Balfor. Still, when he joined her for breakfast and asked her to accompany him to see another part of his city, she agreed with alacrity.
“Lilith took me on a pretty extensive tour of the city yesterday,” she admitted as he led her towards the door.
Balfor didn’t pause in his steps. “I’m aware of that. The parts of the city I will show you are not the places she would think of to take you.”
His words made Stacia curious and gave her a burst of renewed energy. “Where are you taking me?”
Pausing at the door, he glanced down at her. “Where is your veil?”
She was surprised that she’d almost forgotten to cover her face, even as she knew that they were going into public. Concealing herself had become such a habit that the custom of wearing a veil in Sanctuary hadn’t bothered her in the least, yet now when she took the veil from the inner pocket of her dress and tied it on, she found that she regretted having to wear it.
Once she was properly veiled, Balfor opened the door without answering her question.
Chapter 14
Balfor kept glancing down at the
woman at his side as they walked. She inspired a degree of uncertainty in him that he wasn’t used to. As usual, the voices in his head remained silent while he was in her company, offering nothing in the way of advice on how to relate to her. In fact, they’d been suspiciously silent lately, though he could still feel the strong connection he had to the Mother, and the shadows still responded eagerly to his commands. He wondered if the Mother had finally bid them to remain silent unless necessary in response to his recent struggle with his primal.
Whatever the reason, it was a relief to hear nothing but his own thoughts. His other five senses seemed sharper now that the voices had stopped, just as they were when he was in the grip of his primal. Except that now, he also had full control over his emotions and consciousness. Still, he’d become used to relying on the voices to guide him in all things, though they’d failed him on more than one occasion, including Yuki’s betrayal. It had been so long since he’d suffered any doubt about his decisions that he wasn’t sure what to make of this new feeling, or the woman who inspired it.
Later, he would meditate about Stacia in the Mother’s Heart, and request answers, though rarely did She provide them to his satisfaction, if She communicated them at all. Too often, She urged only that he listen to the voices of his ancestors—the shadows that plagued him—insisting they would guide the way forward.
But they weren’t guiding him, and Stacia was beside him, her manner expectant, her nature a complete mystery he had no idea how to solve on his own. He felt almost hypnotized by her, and of course the color of her hair—which had so disturbed him in the beginning—now seemed suited to her and lent her an ethereal air that was both exotic and intriguing, especially when the long, pale locks spread out around her while she lay beneath him on his bed. It no longer made him think of the adurians when he saw it. His fascination with his new concubine was something different than any who had come before. It kept him off-balance, and—sensing that weakness—his primal fought constantly against his mental chains. It was only his determination to protect Stacia that kept him from losing that battle.
With the legions returned to Sanctuary to fortify it until they knew where Uriel and Anata were and what they were up to, Balfor had more free time than he normally would have. His commanders, aware of his internal struggle, had taken much of the burden of running Sanctuary from his shoulders. He should have felt shame or embarrassment about that, but he felt only relief and a strange feeling he had to assume was happiness, though it’d been so long since he’d felt such an emotion. His happiness was all due to the fact that now he had more time to spend with Stacia.
His original plan for the day had involved returning to his room to replay the previous night’s activities, but he could see the exhaustion in every line of Stacia’s body. Dark circles stained the spots beneath her eyes. She would not be able to keep up with his stamina, and despite his obsession with her he asked himself if he’d made a mistake claiming a human female. She would never be able to keep up with him. Humans required a great deal more rest than the umbrose. They aged much faster, their bodies were much weaker, and they healed at a pace that was unfathomably slow. Even warriors wounded by adurian-light swords healed far faster than any human, though the wounds sometimes left scars until they returned to the Mother’s Heart to fully heal.
Still, despite the seemingly insurmountable differences between their species, Ranove had managed to make it work with his concubine for over two years. Since Balfor desired Stacia more than he’d desired anything and had barely managed to think of anything else since she’d arrived in Sanctuary, he accepted that he’d have to make some sacrifices to keep her.
He should have urged her to rest, so she would be ready for him tonight, but found that he was too eager for her company. He was coming to enjoy her bluntness, and the way she didn’t defer to him on anything. It stood in stark contrast to the way every other umbrose treated him. As long as she kept her defiance between them and showed him proper respect in public, he saw no reason to discourage it.
Stacia’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “You never said where you were taking me.”
He’d been planning to take her to the Craftsman’s Quarter, to show her the many gifts he’d ordered for her in the process of being made. Instead, he was suddenly struck by the desire to take her someplace else, somewhere far more personal to him, a place where he would feel vulnerable and exposed to her. “Will you fly with me?”
To his pleasure, she didn’t hesitate to step into his arms. That she loved flying with him was a boon he’d never expected. Certainly not after Ranove’s warnings about how humans feared flying without their machines. When he took to the air with her cradled in his arms, he pushed down the feeling of trepidation that he might be doing the wrong thing. Showing her this side of him too soon might just chase her away. Yet, he felt almost compelled to do so, though it was not the same degree of compulsion the Mother would exercise upon him. It was his own desire which drove him.
*****
Stacia had been surprised when Balfor flew her towards the Abyss. She’d already been told by Lilith that the place was forbidden to humans. In two years, Lilith had never been taken there. Yet, Balfor dived into the deep shadows without hesitation, holding her clasped tight in his arms.
She could feel the tension in his muscles that wasn’t like when she’d flown with him before. It made her suspect that this trip was more important to him than the previous flight. For her, the dive into utter darkness was exhilarating. It seemed to go on forever before he leveled out, and then they were flying parallel to the ground. After a short time, dim illumination helped Stacia see their surroundings. Balfor was flying them through tunnels littered with stalactites and stalagmites. He dodged between them with expert precision, his grip on her never lessening.
The light changed from faint bioluminescence to a brighter orange-reddish light. The air grew warmer until it was uncomfortably hot. To her awe and amazement, they passed into a cavern filled with rivers of lava, flowing sluggishly. She sucked in a gasp, then choked on the heated air, coughing. Balfor adjusted his grip on her so he could stroke her back. “We’re almost there.” He flew them through another tunnel into shadows that were only partially alleviated by the light from the molten rock cavern.
As he flew farther down that tunnel, the heat and light dissipated, to be replaced by the mellow glow she recognized as the adura harac. He landed and set her on her feet. Their destination called for her attention, but she watched his face instead. Something in his expression reached out to her. He’d never looked more vulnerable and uncertain than he did now.
The vulnerability disappeared, replaced by an impassive expression as he gestured to the cavern ahead of them. She turned in the direction he’d pointed and gasped.
A series of shallow pools lay beneath stalactites which steadily dripped opaque white water into them. But the pools actually looked many different shades of blue because of the spears of glowing quartz around them. Veins of quartz had also been infected by the adura harac, so the glow spread over the cavern walls like a spider’s web. The place was stunningly beautiful and felt serene, with only the steady sound of water droplets to break the silence.
He pulled her back against his chest and wrapped his arms around her. When he spoke, she felt the vibration of his deep voice against her back. “When I first discovered Sanctuary, this was my favorite cavern. I dreamed of how the city above would one day look as I sat here contemplating the pools. This place reminds me of the Twilight Pools, a sacred place my people can no longer travel to because it lies in adurian territory.”
“It’s beautiful, Balfor. If this is where you imagined how your city would one day look, it’s no surprise that Sanctuary turned out so amazing.”
He chuckled. “Now you see that I had inspiration to help me create something beautiful.” Before she could answer, he placed a finger against her lips. “Shh. Just watch.”
Saved from revisiting her thoughtless comment
during their dance, she stared at the pools, wondering exactly what she was supposed to be watching. The steady drip of the water in front of her, the sight of the ripples on the pools, and the even rise and fall of Balfor’s chest against her back put her into a meditative state. When the light of the glowing crystals dimmed and a swirl of shadows formed in the pools, she didn’t even react. It felt natural to just watch. The shadows formed into images.
The silhouette of a male umbrose with small horns and a lean body leapt and climbed over and around the stalagmites, occasionally jumping into the air and spreading his wings as he whooped with joy before falling back to the ground again in a graceful crouch. His carefree mannerisms belied the strength and agility in his frame. It was clear he was young, though his face was only a blank shadow. As he passed her, his form melted and took on a new shape. This umbrose was larger and much broader in the chest, but his horns were still small and he still moved with the limberness of youth. Only this time, he ran with a purpose, stopping to gesture to other umbrose, most of whom appeared to be either females carrying little ones or young umbrose themselves. He waved for them to pass him with one hand while the other held a sword that dripped like the water falling into the pools. They ran by him looking back over their shoulders as screams and the clash of weapons sounded faintly in the direction they were running from. He covered their escape as the shadows forming the images struggled to shape the enemy that he faced.
The vision seemed unable to form the enemy, and Stacia saw them as an amorphous absence of shadow, a glow of the quartz piercing the darkness around it, but she knew—in the darkest reaches of her own mind—that the umbrose in the vision were running from the adurians, the same terrors that haunted her own nightmares.
The young male umbrose fell to a knee, but did not falter as he fought off that cloud of light. She flinched each time the enemies’ weapons found a hole in the umbrose’s defenses, feeling every wound inflicted upon him. Yet, in the end, he was the one victorious. He stumbled as he walked away from the corpses of his enemy, barely able to lift his sword to sheathe it.
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