“Drayk,” I sob, burying my face in his neck, because he’s leaned into me.
He finds my lips and kisses them. “Taisha. Little human.”
“Drayk,” I croak again.
He’s given me everything, and yet I want more.
Keep me, I want to say, but I bite back the words. I’m not going to beg. One of these planet rotations he’ll realize he’s already lost his ability to be impartial.
He’s already lost his heart.
Same as me.
Drayk
Taisha is almost asleep in my arms, drowsing, a look of utter contentment on her face. But as she slumbers, her expression changes to one of worry. Concern. “Please, no,” she says, still dreaming. Her body stiffens. “I can’t. No. Don’t send me back!”
It’s a dream—one of the bad ones. I don’t know who she’s addressing in her nightmare, but clearly she’s trying to avoid something awful.
I realize in that very instant that I need to set her free. She’s done too much for our planet—and for me—to hold it back any longer. Even in her sleep she struggles, and that is unfair.
I brush a curl off her forehead. “Taisha, wake up. You’re dreaming.”
She stirs. By now, I’ve learned the quickest way to end the images is by talking of something else. “Taisha, I have good news for you,” I say, and wait till she squints at me, opening her eyes slightly. “I will talk to Zander next planet rotation,” I murmur. “I’m sure he will approve you for asylum here.”
Guilt stabs my chest. He would have approved her long ago, but for me.
My heart pounds. Eagerness? Alarm? I don’t know why, but I’m nervous about her response.
Her eyes flicker open fully and she burst into life, sitting up, the covers falling from her shoulders. “Drayk? You will? Oh, Mother Earth!” There is such trust in her expression, such happiness, that I almost can’t bear it.
I should tell her the truth—that she should have been granted her freedom far sooner, but how can I ruin that pure joy? So I hesitate.
She puts both of her small hands on my face. “Do you really think so? He’ll grant it?”
I clear my throat. “Uh, yes. I’m fairly certain.”
Completely certain.
“So I can live here forever?” She puts a hand to her mouth and suddenly tears flow. “Oh, Mother Earth, how I’ve dreamt of this,” she whispers, and her whole body trembles. “For so, so long. Oh, it’s like a dream.”
When she tears up, I’m horrified. Stars, how much has she been suffering while she waited to hear this news? Veck. I had no idea that it was such a struggle.
Well, it was not such a struggle for me, because I knew all along that she was worthy of asylum… and that I was going to give King Zander my recommendation to grant it. Some time. She did not have that same knowledge.
I make a sound, maybe a grunt.
She looks up at me. “Oh, Drayk, don’t worry.” She laughs through her tears. “I’m happy, I promise, not sad. It’s just such a relief. Like I’m finally—alive.” She laughs and wipes her face. “Oh, it was all worth it! All of the sacrifice and the pain. Leylah was right about it all.”
She gets onto her knees and straddles me, then lifts off her garment, revealing her perfect breasts, her nipples pert and firm. “Make love to me,” she demands, leaning down to kiss me, running her hands over my body. “Make this moment even more perfect.”
This is the time I should remind myself how I can’t get too emotional, and that I can never commit to her. And certainly, if I were to do the ethical thing, I would tell her the truth about my deception.
But because I’m unable to speak, can’t find any possible words to tell her what I did… I veck her. Over and over until we both pass out, satisfied from so many pinnacles of pleasure.
Chapter 18
Taisha