I shot him a look of amusement and took in a breath. “I suppose we are ready to begin, then.”
Katil straightened at once while Zuran assumed a more relaxed stance. I approached the podium. Almost instantly, the hum of incessant talking ebbed to a low mumble, which receded into silence seconds later. I was tempted to pick out a familiar face to focus on before beginning my speech, but I wanted to confront my anxiety without using a defensive crutch. This was the first address I was making as an Elder, and it was the most sets of ears to which I had spoken at one time. I was, thus, proportionately nervous, but I also found the anxiety intoxicating, and I was eager to prove myself to everyone present.
Including me.
“Citizens of Dhal’at, colonists of Ka-lik’et, thank you for coming together today,” I commenced. My arms spread open of their own accord in a fashion akin to Vi’den, but I now understood the significance of the gesture. I was inviting all before me into my presence, welcoming them to join me in a sharing of thoughts. “We are here to celebrate the members of our beloved society who have so bravely and selflessly volunteered themselves in the pursuit and establishment of a new civilization for the esteemed race of Novai.”
A cheer rippled through the crowd accompanied by lifted hands and waggling heads. I smiled and inclined my head during their ovation and waited until the noise waned once more.
“The mission they will embark upon is one of great importance to A’li-uud history, and it is sure to be one spoken of for generations to come,” I continued. “What I consider most admirable about these warriors, however, is not their quest to secure a place in history. It is the generosity of their spirits, their desire for nothing more than the successful settlement of a species that has spent centuries searching for a place to call home. No amount of praise is enough for these noble soldiers, and today, I applaud them!”
This exclamation elicited a second round of cheers, and I felt a wave of contentment wash over me. Seeing the bright smiles and eager eyes looking up at me, I knew I had finally achieved the support I had always wished to garner. I was admired. I was respected. The return for my years of dedication to my kingdom had finally come.
And, yet, it did not matter.
I was pleased my citizens approved of my leadership. It was an honor to be considered a dignified ruler, especially as I was following in the footsteps of an Elder whose greatness I could never hope to match. The stress of constantly attempting to win over the affections of the public was gone, and I could rest easier at night.
Seeing the lovely face in the very front row with pink cheeks and dark eyes, however, was the only thing I needed anymore. I would strive to be the best Elder I could be until I was no longer able to fulfill my role, but that face was my purpose.
Octavia smiled up at me, and I smiled back down at her. She was all I needed.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Octavia
For the first time since I'd started living in Dhal'at, I was cold when I woke up. The air was chilly and a little moist, strange for a desert, and the sunshine gleaming through my window seemed to do absolutely nothing to provide heat. I tugged my blanket up around my chin and curled deeper beneath the covers, but a knock came at my door, and I was wrenched from the little amount of sleep I had left in me.
Getting to my feet, I tugged the blanket off the bed and dragged it along with me, curling it around my shoulders as I went. My bare feet padded on the clay floor, and I was surprised to discover that it felt just as cold to the touch as the air. When I reached the door, I grabbed the knob without letting go of the blanket and pulled it open.
Standing there, wearing nothing but his jodhpurs and boots, was Venan.
"Wow," I remarked. "I haven't seen you out in public without your robes in a long time."
"I want you to come with me," he said without preamble.
My forehead immediately creased with concern, and I looked him over in alarm. "Are you okay?" I asked, mildly panicked.
"I am fine, but I would like you to come with me," he repeated.
The blanket slithered off my left shoulder, and I hiked it back up again. "It's freezing," I complained. "Why don't you just come inside?"
"Octavia." My name on his tongue was like audible icing. "Please."
I could only imagine what I looked like, and I would've liked to take at least ten minutes to primp myself into a tolerable appearance, but he seemed like he was in too much of a rush to wait. With a heavy sigh, I wrapped myself tighter in the blanket and heaved, "Fine. Just, come in and wait for me, okay? I have to put clothes on."
His eyes narrowed slightly, and he eyed the blanket shrouding my form. "You have nothing under there?"
"I have pajamas," I said with a subtle hint of warning in my tone. I knew what he was thinking, but I was too tired and too cold. My body betrayed me, though, and I felt heat flare between my legs as his eyes skimmed downward. "I want to put on real clothes. Close the door, would you? I can't believe how icy it feels."
"We have reached the cold season," Venan said. As I turned around to head back to my bedroom, I could still feel his eyes grazing me, and the heat radiating between my thighs seared. My bed was so close; maybe he could wait just a little bit and we could...
"Hurry, please," he called from the living area.
Maybe not.
I dropped the blanket back onto my bed and turned toward the heap of washed clothes I hadn't put away yet. Almost all of them were summer attire: short-sleeved and cropped and made of thin fabrics. Pursing my lips, I dug until I found a long-sleeved tee and the only pair of jeans I'd worn so far since moving to Ka-lik'et. I could hear him rummaging through my books, picking them up and thunking them back down onto the coffee table just like he always did. It was almost comical how interesting he found human literature, especially the fiction, but I supposed that was only natural since A'li-uud fiction was only told orally.
"Okay," I announced finally, stepping back into the living room. I'd swept my hair up into a messy bun and straightened my clothes as best I could. I looked only halfway presentable, but he'd seen me look worse when he'd called me over to the palace to cut his hair, so I didn't bother trying to fix myself up any more than I already had. "I'm ready."
"Good."
He reached for me, taking my hand in his and weaving his fingers between mine. I relished the heat coming from him. He was always so much warmer than I was, but this time it was amazing to feel because my fingers were frozen. He guided me out of the house, closed the door behind us, and then turned to me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“What are you doing?” I asked. Not that I minded what he was doing, but I figured he could’ve started romance inside the house instead of out in public at the wee hours of dawn.
“Hold on,” he said. Without another word, he jumped into the air, and I clung to him for dear life as we were suddenly gliding on the wind.
If I’d been cold before, it was nothing to now. The air whooshing past me was more like a solid than a gas because it was so low in temperature, and I expected to get hit with an icicle at any moment. Thankfully, I was pressed up against Venan’s body, and he kept my front warm. My fingers curled into his shoulders as we zoomed to God-knew-where, and I hoped I wouldn’t fall to my untimely death despite trusting that he wouldn’t let go.
When we landed, my feet slammed into the ground. I was on sand, but the impact was so hard that I might as well have landed on concrete, and pain shot up my legs to my knees. Groaning, I bent down and massaged my shins without bothering to look around and see where we were.
He was silent for a minute, waiting for me to right myself again. When I did, he took my hand again, and I finally looked around.
We were at the oasis.
“What are we doing here?” I asked. “It’s too cold to swim.”
“Octavia,” he said gently, bringing one of my hands to his lips and brushing a kiss across my skin. “You ask too many questions.”
“Or you don�
��t give enough answers,” I retorted playfully.
He smiled, and I felt his hot breath on my hand. “I wanted to bring you here because this is an important place for me. For us.” He motioned with his free arm to the towering rocks around us, brandishing a flourish to the pool of stagnant water. “This is where you saved me from myself.”
I melted slightly, an impossible feat in such cold but somehow possible with him. “I didn’t save you,” I murmured affectionately. “You saved yourself. I only showed you how.”
“Yes, and in doing so you brought me the greatest gift anyone could give,” he said. “This is our oasis, Octavia. Children may come here to defy their parents and prove they are courageous when they jump from the tops of those rocks into the depths of this lake, but it is and will remain our oasis.”
“Okay,” I agreed softly. “It’s our oasis.”
He curved an arm around my waist, and I felt the heat from his belly and pelvis emanate into me. If we’d been indoors, I probably would’ve been aroused by the gesture. Being outside and shivering, though, I was just happy to have a source of warmth.
“This is where I fell in love with you,” he whispered, lowering his lips down to my forehead and pressing a delicate kiss in the center. He didn’t pull back after, instead, he continued speaking against me. “This is where I knew.”
Everything inside my body began to somersault. The sheer romance of the moment was enough to make any girl swoon, but I wasn’t any girl, and he wasn’t any guy. He was an Elder, the leader of an entire alien kingdom and a member of the most powerful force on the planet. And I was…well, who was I? A hairstylist, yes, but I’d become so much more than that in knowing him. I’d become a warrior, a fighter for all that was just and good, a helper to those who needed me. My sense of self had been found, my true path to happiness discovered, and the incredible part was it wasn’t Venan. He was the cherry on top, the prize I won for gathering the strength to become who I was truly meant to be. And standing right here next to the glassy water in which our souls had met for the first time, I realized I was just as powerful as he was.
“Me too,” I said. My words echoed back to me slightly in the hollow of his neck, and I relished the way they tasted after having met with his skin.
“I wanted to bring you back here because something is still missing, and of all the places I could find it, I imagined it to be at this sacred place,” he told me. He lifted his lips from my forehead and peered down, gauging my expression.
Again, my stomach somersaulted, but this time it was because I wasn’t sure what he meant and I didn’t like the unknown factor. “Okay,” I said slowly. “What’s missing?”
He released my waist, and now my stomach dropped completely into my feet instead of tumbling about. This was it: he was going to tell me he loved me but we couldn’t be together, that his position as an Elder prevented him from taking our relationship any further. I was going to lose him, not because we weren’t happy together but because it wasn’t right.
Then, he fell to the ground, landing on one knee and propping the other up. My jaw dropped as low as my stomach, and I gaped at him unattractively.
“Edie told me this is how humans propose,” he confessed. His slanted eyes were wide and probing, and I could practically feel him examining every inch of my face to analyze how I felt about this. “And that is exactly what I wish to do now.”
He took my hand in his again, and the warmth of his touch spread up my arm.
“Octavia, will you marry me?”
My breath had left me. My lungs burned, my heart throbbed with depleting oxygen, but I couldn’t force myself to inhale. Everything around me had gone still, including Venan. I looked down at him, into that handsome face with the carved jaw and etched lips and severe cheekbones, and the word poured from my mouth of its own volition.
“Yes.”
Instantly, I was able to breathe again, and I was flying. My feet were flat on the sandy ground, but if I’d closed my eyes I would’ve sworn they were aloft in midair. Tingles raced through my nerves, prickling my skin more than any measure of coldness could’ve, and my stomach replaced itself back where it belonged in my midsection.
Venan stood again, and he pulled me close. I didn’t believe in perfection—there was always a flyaway hair in a perfect hairdo or a wayward gnat determined to land in the lemonade—but I was sure that, if perfection existed, I experienced it at that moment. Our bodies tangled together and we began to move. There was no music, but we danced.
The End….
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Chapter One
Joanna
A Shot in the Dark
"When I look down at the men and women before me, I see heroes." The President's voice was filled with pride, as he gazed out over our assembled ranks as we stood at crisp attention. Our navy-blue uniforms were creased to a dangerous edge, our heads were shaved a shining bald, and our faces were solemn and reverent, despite the glare of the setting sun in our faces. It was a beautiful moment, one crafted and shaped for the cameras, and broadcast to all the people of the Pan-American Dominion. The moment said "Hope" to them. It said, "Triumph" to them. To the President, it was the crowning moment of his career, the point where he had finished dragging the people of the American continents, back from the brink of destruction and showed the rest of the world, which was still putting itself back together, that the PAD would lead humanity into a bright new
future. "In years past, we used the word ‘hero' to refer solely to the soldadesca. And though our brave soldiers were always, and continue to be heroes, today we have the opportunity to honor a new form of bravery." From beneath my uniform cap, I found the President's face with my eyes. He was everything people needed in a leader, a tall, charismatic leader, young enough to be handsome, but old enough to be wise. He wore the legacy of his extensive war experience in the burn scar that marred the left side of his honey-bronzed face, and, if you looked closely, twisted the skin of his hands. "Today, we send our bravest, our brightest, out into the stars, to make a way for humankind to follow. People of Pan-America, I give you the new frontiersmen, our especuladores, who will boldly go where no man or woman has gone before. May I be the first to offer a solemn salute to our heroes, the Formers!" The President snapped to attention behind his podium, and his right fist slammed over his heart. After a moment, in which the snapping and clicking cameras captured that moment of perfect patriotism, my classmates and I returned the salute, fists thumping into our chests in a dramatic echo of the President's gesture. The gathered, ethnically diverse crowd of P.A.D. citizens burst into applause at the exact right instant. It was the perfect moment of Pan-American pride, of patriotism, of victory in the face of the last decade of war. It would be plastered all over the news homepages, it would be written into the history books, it would be spoken of in hushed tones for the next hundred years… and it was all bullshit.
Venan: A Paranormal Sci-Fi Alien Romance: Albaterra Mates Book 7 (The End) Page 25
