We had to clear the media that had been lining up at the gates every single day. The circumstances of my father’s arrest would no doubt leak soon. Everyone would know what he’d done during the Pe’ji War, and soon, the Collis would turn against us. I wondered if it was even safe to remain here. We would have to leave eventually.

But this is where she’s buried, I couldn’t help but mourn. We cannot leave her behind.

“What are you thinking?” Piper asked me quietly, reaching over the table to take my hand. She was different, I noticed. I hadn’t been gone long, but it felt like years had passed since I’d last been within these halls.

I managed to muster a small smile for her, one that didn’t reach my eyes. It was getting late. We were all going to turn in soon, knowing nothing more could be discussed tonight. And frankly, we were all exhausted.

Just as I opened my mouth, a loud banging came at the front door.

Boom, boom, boom!

My heart froze in my chest.

“Oh no,” I breathed. “They’ve gotten past the gates, haven’t they? Sorj, you checked the lock, didn’t you?”

I rose from the table, already striding from the room.

Behind me, Sorj called, “I did this morning. They were locked up tight!”

They must’ve climbed the fence. Getting desperate for a statement, though trespassing was against the law in the Collis, punishable with imprisonment. We would become a clip in the intergalactic news coms. A human hero, fallen from grace, his family in hiding.

I steeled my spine. Piper was behind me. Mira and Sorj and Fran too. We could do this together. We would just tell them to leave or else we’d called the Collis Patrol unit.

The door handle was within reach.

With a deep breath, I tugged it open, a quick burst of movement, already opening my mouth to tell the trespasser off.

Only a gasp left my lips instead.

My nostrils burned.

My throat went tight.

Relief and happiness and shock mingled inside me.

“Laraya,” Azur rumbled, those red eyes connecting with mine and burning. His wings were flared wide—likely to shield the onlookers’ views from the gates, since I could hear the shocked gossips from here—impossibly large. I’d forgotten how big he was. When I made no movement, not a twitch, he drawled, “Are you going to invite me in?”

I launched myself at him.

I felt like I could finally breathe again.

Azur grunted and caught me, those warm arms embracing me tight. His scent. His familiar heat. The hard press of his black vest against my cheek. His wings coming around me like a blanket on a cold day.

His head dropped. His lips brushed my ear.

“You’re here,” I choked out, letting myself fall apart against him. My hands shook when I reached up to clutch his vest, holding him to me. “How are you here?”

“Have you already forgotten who your husband is? I’m an heir to the Kaalium. I can go anywhere I please,” he murmured in my ear, as arrogant as ever, and I felt affection burst through me, a laugh of disbelief escaping my throat. The first time I’d laughed since…since the night of the lore harvest ball, perhaps.

His words belied the gentle press of his lips to my temple, as sweet as honey. I savored his embrace, nearly forgetting that we had an audience.

“You’re here,” I whispered, wiping my tears shamelessly against his vest, “and I feel like such a mess.”

His arms tightened.

Softly, Azur said, “You don’t have to worry anymore, kyrana. I’ll take care of everything. I’ll take care of you. I promise.”

Chapter 47

Azur

Gemma finally pulled away from my chest, her eyes shining up at me. I felt the tight band in my chest loosen at the sight of her. I’d been worried. I still was. But she was in my arms. I was here, in the Collis.

I would make every drawn line around her eyes and mouth, the furrow between her brows smooth away. It was my duty. As her mate. As her husband.

“Come in,” she rasped, tugging me forward. “Come in.”

I hadn’t truly known what to expect in greeting from her, given that some of her last words to me had been that she didn’t feel like my wife, that she’d thought distance between us would be good.

But I was done waiting. I’d felt the strain of the distance, the lack of her presence on Krynn, the emptiness in my bed, and it had taken all of a few moments to decide that I wanted her. I needed her. She was my wife, regardless of how she’d come to be my wife, and I was bound to her. We were bound. Always. Bound by blood.

Judging from Gemma’s reaction at seeing me on her doorstep, I was optimistic that she felt the same way. Hopeful, even. And hope was not a sensation that regularly sang through my veins.

“Azur, these are my sisters,” Gemma said, wiping at her cheeks. By the looks on the two human females’ faces, I wondered if they’d ever seen Gemma cry. “Mira and Piper.”

I inclined my head to them as they looked at me with wide eyes. They’d never seen a Kylorr before, at least in person, since I knew they’d spoken often with Gemma in the mornings through the Halo orb. They must’ve seen Ludayn, though females of our species were much, much smaller than males.

The golden-haired sister—Mira—looked on with shock, her eyes running up my bulk and height. I couldn’t help but think that her eyes would pop out of her skull if she saw me sated on her elder sister’s blood. The other—Piper—studied me with solemn observation, though it was her that stretched her hand out to me first, stepping forward.

“Welcome,” she said softly. “Though I’m sorry to be meeting you for the first time under these circumstances. In this place.”

The home of my enemy. The home of the man who had killed Aina.

Yet also where my wife had lived. She’d been happy here once, hadn’t she?

I took her hand in the way I’d seen Gemma do with other humans throughout Laras, giving it a firm pump.

“Hello,” Mira said quietly, meeting my eyes before they darted away as she took my grip next.

“And this is Fran,” Gemma said, moving me forward to the last remaining human female in the room. A human with freckles across her nose and wide hazel eyes. “My dear friend.”

Gemma had told me about Fran, who was like another sister to her. I nodded at her, taking her hand when she stretched it out.

“And Sorj,” Gemma finished. “Mira’s friend, who has been much help to us since…since…”

Since her father’s arrest, I knew.

I locked eyes with the Killup male, whose own narrowed on me with mistrust. Grunting, I inclined my head to him. The Killup and the Kylorr didn’t have the best relationship. An ancient battle, long ago, and the old pains of that had never been mended, though we both pledged our loyalties to the Uranian Federation.

Then I wrapped my arm around Gemma’s waist, pulling her more firmly into my side, flaring my wings out to tuck her close. Her hand grasped my wrist, curling over my metal gauntlet. I didn’t want to be parted from her. Not even for a second.

“I am honored to finally meet all of you,” I said quietly. My eyes came to Piper’s. “But yes, I do wish it were under better circumstances.”

“Did you…did you go to Pe’ji?” Gemma asked quietly, capturing my attention again. “Did you find her?”

“Kaldur is landing there soon with another excavation team set to arrive on the planet for the search,” I told her, unable to express the emotion that had risen in me when I’d first received her message. Rye Hara and his unit had buried Aina, after all. She’d always been on Pe’ji and so close to town. “Kythel and Kalia stayed behind to look after Laras. My other brothers returned to their territories but are waiting for news.”