by Avery Rae
It was there that Rylos was set to give a speech about humans and Korysti starting anew, all while remembering those lives lost that day—human and Korysti alike. However, there was still ample resistance. At the forefront of which was Rylos’s own brother.
Solys was never prosecuted for the theft. He got a slap on the wrist and quickly put out a statement saying it was a misunderstanding, among other eye-roll-worthy excuses. Many Korysti lapped it up. It was easier than admitting they were wrong.
Naomi was still missing. Rylos sent people out looking for her often, but she was either incredibly good at hiding, or someone else had gotten to her first. I desperately hoped that wasn't the case. But all we could do was keep looking, so we would do just that.
In the meantime, we were doing everything we could to make things better for humans. Not much had happened in the past three months, despite us both working tirelessly. But we had managed to find a few like-minded people. We even had several maids gathering stories from humans for us, courtesy of Kastia's influence. We planned to put them to great use, shining a light on the mistreatment of humans . . . and, surprisingly, some of the stories we had to share were good.
One of which came from Senator Lyria herself. Despite her earlier fury with Rylos bringing me to the meeting, she'd surfaced as a vocal supporter of our cause. It turned out that she and her human had a relationship that wasn't unlike ours. She'd simply been afraid that Rylos was going to ruin any chances they had of living in peace because he was pushing too hard.
Seeing us continue to stay together—whatever our relationship was, I still wasn't sure—had bolstered her. So much so that tonight I would be there at the memorial center with her and Rylos as he gave yet another undoubtedly controversial speech. But we would be there, standing at his side. Which, of course, gave Solyndi and Kastia an excuse to doll me up.
I was in my former room with them, getting ready for the evening. The room had been converted into a study and dressing room for me. The maids insisted upon dressing me as often as they could, despite my insistence that I could handle it just fine. But they seemed to really enjoy it, so I let them.
Rylos had a seamstress make me a bunch of clothes, so I no longer had to walk around in tissue-paper outfits, much to his disappointment, I was sure. Everything was still made from that iridescent fabric, but I'd gotten used to it. I could handle the slippery fabric if it meant I got to wear pants.
As Solyndi applied my eyeshadow, she tilted her head to the side and suddenly said, "I think you and the Senator should have a baby."
I sputtered, "What?!"
She shrugged. "If you had some cute half-Korysti, half-human kid, that might help . . . something, right?"
"You just want to see what they'd look like." Kastia was laughing at first, but her smile suddenly turned into a frown. "Come to think of it, I doubt the genetics committee would ever approve of such a thing."
I gave her a small smile. "That's on our list of things to change."
I'd learned recently that Korysti perfection was achieved through less-than-savory means. They gave the necessary materials to the genetics center, who would then carefully comb through and create perfect little specimens. The most perfect Korysti that could result from you and your partner. There was a committee which approved of each of these pairings. It was more of a formality these days, but it had real implications where humans were concerned.
Solyndi suddenly gasped. "Wait, it's because you two are going to have a baby, isn't it? Can I name it? No offense, but you humans have really weird-sounding names."
"Yeah, Solyndi," I said slowly, "we're the ones with the weird names. I think it's just relative, y'know? Besides, we're nowhere near discussing that sort of thing. We barely even have time to see each other now, let alone talk about the future."
Kastia's brows rose ever so slightly. "Exactly how serious is it getting between you two? I mean, it's been a few months—"
"Which isn't a very long time," I interrupted before giving her a wry smile. "There's not much for me to say, honestly. We're a little more focused on getting rights for humans right now."
"You know," Solyndi shifted her eyes to Kastia with a sly look, "Rylos said he's going to leave work early today in preparation for the memorial speech."
"To practice," I replied, giving them both a narrow-eyed look. "Which I'm sure you won't interrupt."
But they weren't focusing on me at all. There was something conspiratorial passing between the two of them. I would ask them if they were planning something for Rylos, but it was so obvious that I didn't need to.
Rylos came home a couple hours later, giving us a good six hours to practice before the ceremony. I rushed from my study and into his room to greet him. Even if we had a lot of work to do, I was always happy for the few moments we got to be alone—without work.
The moment I crossed through the doorway, he was standing there with his arms open wide. I smiled and flung my arms around him, pressing my face against his hard chest.
"I missed you," I said, my voice muffled.
He chuckled warmly and rubbed his hands up and down my back. "I missed you too, pet. How was your day?"
"Good. I did all those searches you asked me to do and—"
"No work. None of that right now." He hugged me tighter. "I want to be selfish and just enjoy being with you for a moment."
I looked up at him, my smile growing, and he dipped down to capture my lips in a kiss. Just when he started to slide his hands beneath the hem of my shirt, a knock sounded at the door. We both groaned and pulled away from each other. Rylos went to the door and opened it.
"Hello, Senator," Solyndi greeted brightly—a little too brightly for her.
"Is there something you need?" he asked, clearly taken aback.
I padded up behind him and leaned over to shoot Solyndi a playful glare.
Her smile widened in response. "Oh, good, you're here too."
"You're still up to something, I see."
"Absolutely. Now, if you two would kindly report to the dining room, Kastia and I would greatly appreciate your attendance."
"Report to the dining room?" Rylos asked with a laugh.
Solyndi's smile turned into a big grin. "This is very important, Senator."
"Well, if it's very important . . ." Rylos turned around and held out a hand. I rolled my eyes, laughed, then took it.
The three of us walked to the dining room. I glanced around, finding nothing out of the ordinary. The table wasn't even set.
I gave Solyndi a confused look. "What's going on? Where's Kastia?"
"Stay right here. We'll come get you when we're done."
"Solyndi, I appreciate whatever you're doing, but we—"
"Have been practicing for weeks," she chastised, sounding an awful lot like her counterpart. "You can spare a couple hours. Give us five minutes for the finishing touches."
"Finishing touches on what?" Rylos asked.
But she had already darted from the dining room, leaving us standing there, bewildered. Solyndi was, however, back only five minutes later with Kastia in tow. Just as promised. They both looked like they were going to burst as they led us back to Rylos's room.
"Admittedly, this was last minute," Kastia said as she stood beside the pad that opened the door.
"But it's still amazing," Solyndi added. "You can thank us later. Much later. We don't want to see you two for a couple hours at least."
Kastia nodded. "At least."
Rylos squeezed my hand as he laughed. "I think we can manage that. What's the big surprise?"
Kastia grinned and touched a hand to the pad. The door slid open to reveal his bedroom. Only now it had a table inside it and they'd moved several of the glowing houseplants into the room, enhancing the usual blue ambiance of the room. It looked cozy and romantic.
On the table, there was a whole meal waiting for us, complete with drinks. When we stepped inside, I turned around to thank them, but the door slid shut and I heard the so
und of receding footsteps and giggling. So much giggling.
I turned back around to look at Rylos and he pulled me to him, his lips crashing against mine. When he managed to pull himself away, he pressed his forehead to mine and smiled.
"This is a big day for us today, pet. Solyndi and Kastia were right, we should take a moment to just enjoy ourselves. We've more than earned it."
I bounced up to give him a light kiss. "You deserve it far more than I do."
"That's not true at all. I'm only doing what I should've done from the start." His smile wavered slightly. "I wish I could make this go faster. That I could lessen the resistance. But I promise you I'll never give up. As long as I have you, I know we can make it. Together we're unstoppable."
"You have me," I replied with a soft smile. "You'll always have me."
Rylos studied me for a long moment, then said, "Take out your translation discs for a moment."
I gave him a funny look, but did just that. When I held the small, silver discs in my palm and looked back up him, he brushed his fingers along my cheek and said, "Kas anayis, Marion."
I had no idea what he was saying but the look in his eyes alone sent a shiver down my spine. I tilted my head to the side, mouthing the words back at him, then put the pieces back in.
"What did you just say?" I asked. "It's pretty."
"I said I love you."
Oh. My breath hitched and tears pricked at my eyes even though I was smiling.
"I love you too, Rylos.” I brought him down for a kiss and whispered, "Thank you for saving me."
"I could say the same to you, pet," he replied, his voice just as quiet. "You've brought out the best in me, and I'll be forever thankful. I can't imagine a life without you in it."
"Good thing you don't have to."
I threw my arms over his shoulders and took his lips in another kiss. A kiss that was a promise to see everything through to the end, no matter how hard it got—for the betterment of my people, and the love we felt for each other.
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