Out of the Ashes (Maji 1)

“It is good to see you, Eena.”

Kol leaned in and kissed the female on the cheek, but she gasped and quickly leaped backwards away from him.

“You’re mated!” She spat at Kol. “And you kiss me in front of your female? Kol!”

She turned to me and bowed her head. “I beg your forgiveness, my Princess. I will accept any punishment you offer without resistance.”

Excuse me?

I looked at Kol with wide eyes, and saw that he had rolled his.

“Eena, she is not Maji. She does not attack over simple things like a Maji female would. She doesn’t have those kind of instincts.”

“It does not matter!” the female quipped at him, her head still bowed to me. “You do not disrespect your mate like that. Have I taught you nothing?”

Who the heck was this lady?

Kol sighed. “I apologise.”

“Not to me,” she snarled. “To your female.”

With another sigh, he said, “I’m sorry, Nova.”

I shrugged. “It’s all good.”

Eena rose back to her full height then and regarded me with a warm smile.

“I am overjoyed to meet you, Princess. I am still in shock that our Kol has mated!”

Our Kol? I asked my mate.

Kol stepped up alongside Eena. “Eena was my nursemaid during my minor years. She cared for me when my parents could not, so she is very much like a mother to me.”

Eena waved him off. “I am a servant of the Royal Family, nothing more, nothing less.”

“A servant wouldn’t talk to me the way you do,” he teased her.

She growled at him, and it made him laugh. “I’m going to feed Tosha while you aid Nova in dressing. She does not know how the ensembles work yet.”

He left the room without another word, leaving me alone with Eena.

“I appreciate you coming to help me,” I said, softly. “But I must warn you … I’m very shy about my body.”

Eena nodded. “Kol informed me that humans are more reserved about nakedness.”

I remained unmoving on the bed.

“Come. Do not worry about your body. I barely notice anything other than the fabric when I aid a female in dressing.”

I plucked up the courage to do as she asked. I got out of the bed, completely naked, and it was only then that I realised I hadn’t cleaned up after Kol and I had sex because I went right to sleep instead.

“I need to relieve myself first. Is that okay?”

“Of course,” Eena replied. “There is connecting cleansing room next to Kol’s clothing quarters. I’ll have your ensemble and body chains laid out and ready for use by the time you return.”

I nodded and quickly crossed the room, my arms crossed over my chest to cover my breasts. I entered the cleansing room and availed of the relief pod first. I entered the cleansing unit and activated it with my hand on the wall. I let the water fall over my body and washed my hair and body at a rapid speed with the wash gel. I quickly exited the unit when I finished and stood still as a blow dryer started up automatically. When I was bone dry, less than a minute later, I quickly brushed my teeth with Kol’s toothbrush—I couldn’t find a new one—then re-entered the bedroom.

Eena had everything laid out on the now made bed and gestured me to her side. I saw the fabric of my outfit was jet black and had a reflective shine. There was blue body jewellery this time, and hair clips and pins with what looked like gems attached to the top of them. I followed Eena’s every instruction during the dressing; I didn’t even make a sound when she styled my hair, even though sometimes she hurt my head while she braided my hair back into a thick, chunky, long braid hung down the middle of my back.

“Beautiful,” Eena beamed in her assessment after I was dressed. “You will steal Kol’s breath.”

I blushed. “Thank you, Eena.”

“It is my pleasure and honour to serve you. If you do not need my aid any further, I will go and see if Princess Surkah needs any last-minute assistance.”

I shook my head. “I think you’ve taken care of everything.”

She bowed as she backed towards the exit of the room. “Until our next meeting, my Princess.”

And like the snap of my fingers, she was gone.

Kol, I said reaching out to him. I’m ready.

He entered the room a couple of minutes later with Tosha in his arms. He stilled when he saw me, and I froze when I saw the kit. God, it was so adorably tiny and terrifying at the same time. I kept my eyes on it as Kol released her and set her on the ground. She sniffed around the floor for a few moments then trotted out of the room and away from me.

I exhaled a deep breath. “She scares me still.”

When Kol didn’t respond, I looked up and found his eyes were glowing so beautiful, I gasped.

“What?” he asked, closing the distance between us. “What is it?”

“Your eyes,” I murmured, seemingly caught in a trance. “They are so stunning, that glow makes my heart stop.”

“Thank you, shi—what?”

I blinked. “Hmm?”

I flinched when Kol gripped my upper arms and pulled us both to our feet. “What did you just say?”

Oh, hell. I knew I should have never mentioned the glow.

“I’m so-sorry,” I stammered. “Is that a sensitive subject for Maji? I didn’t know—”

“When have you seen my eyes glow?” Kol asked, cutting me off.

“When you first made me orgasm back on the Ebony.” I spoke fast. “And a bunch of other times since then. The ring of black that usually lines your irises glows brightly, and it enhances how violet your eyes actually are.”

Kol moved us over to the far side of the room and stared at himself in the full-length mirror that appeared from the wall. He stared at himself for a long time, and I had no idea what to say or do, so I just stood next to him and waited for him.

“It is not common for a Maji’s eyes to glow,” he eventually rasped. “It only occurs when a Maji has found his or her fated mate.”

Fated mate?

“I don’t understand,” I said. “A fated mate? What is that?”

I recalled the Hailed Mother mentioning the term, but I couldn’t think of what she said.

“I am foolish,” Kol said with a shake of his head before a huge smile stretched across his face. “I should have known I had found my fated mate. That is why the first moment I saw you, I got a pain in my chest. It’s why I crave to see you, to hear your voice, to scent you, to touch you … to claim you. The glowing of my eyes when I’m in your presence is alerting you and me that you are mine, and I am yours. We’re truly fated mates, Nova. We say males who claim females when the urge is strong are fated mates, but true fated mates … their eyes glow when in the presence of their fated mate.”

“But I’m not a Maji.” I frowned. “How can we be fated mates if we’re a different species, and I don’t have the same internal structure as you?”

“I am unsure. I never thought it possible have a fated mate outside our species, but it changes nothing. You are my fated mate, Nova.”

“I’m still unsure as to what that means, exactly,” I replied. “Does it change anything about our mating?”

“What?” Kol shook his head. “No, it just means we are the others’ fated mate.”

“Again,” I said, scratching my neck awkwardly. “Still not understanding why that has you smiling so wide, and why it makes your eyes glow.”

“How do I explain?’ he said more to himself than to me. “Okay, imagine us as two halves that make one whole thing … that is what fated mates are to the other.”

I choked on air.

“Soul mates,” I stated. “You just described soul mates.”

“Are soul mates destined to be with one another?” Kol asked.

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Then I say fated mates means the same as soul mates.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just stared up at Kol in dis

belief.

“Do you know how rare this is?” he asked, his eyes glowing brightly.

I shook my head.

“None of the people has mated their fated mate on Ealra,” he explained. “My parents are not even fated mates.”

I frowned. “What if your father met a female who was his fated mate?”

“As he is already mated to my mother, he would mostly likely befriend her with my mother’s blessing. He would feel connected to her, but not romantically because of his bond with my mother. It would be the same if my mother met her fated mate. It has happened a few times before we came to Ealra; the Elders told tales of such matings.”