Star Side

Chapter 34

Many days passed in heaven. If he hadn't known before, he knew for sure now that learning much sped the days. Time had never moved so quickly for him. Each day had new words, new nuances, and moments filled with the sweet scent and sweeter soul of his heavenly maiden. Even when her scent went tart with frustration or stress, she would be patient. She never touched him violently, nor the others, though he loved watching the ways she'd place her hands on her hips or cock her beautiful head, or the expansive expressions that would quirk the gentle features of her face. All the things he found their language lacking, the clicks and trills, hums and purrs, he found made up for in the minute motion of their faces and hands. These were a people grown in the light. They controlled light with a flick of their fingers and never had to move in the darkness if they did not wish. Thus, he began to imagine that their eyes could see much more than his, though his vision changed and sharpened as days went by as well. The air of heaven was nothing short of magical.

His dreams became increasingly filled with the memory of how she had felt in his arms, pressed to him. They sang with her voice and words and the sweep of those thick lashes against her pale cheeks. He couldn't fathom how any creature could be so enraptured and still be able to focus on survival. It was a good thing he was in the controlled environment of heaven where all their predators had been shut out. Back on his planet, having such distraction about him so often would have spelled his doom.

He also learned about his new, strange body. His stiff bones, while a stopper to his maneuvering into spaces he'd been able to manage since he'd reached his full size, made him stronger. He found his strength had increased almost double. He no longer choked on excess claiming venom when he thought too long on his maiden. Instead, his body would heat and his groin shell attempt to retract, which was much more manageable than throwing up bitter venom. His tail had shortened a bit and the fur on its tail thickened, for which he was thankful, for he was always worried about accidentally nicking the too-soft skin of the heavenly beings on one foul turn, though his kind had been taught to control every part of their being from a young age and to be aware of wherever it touched. Even the smallest scratch of a spine can bring a tunnel down. One wayward touch could mean everything between blood brother and foe.

Though, and it amazed him somewhat to see, he didn't think the heavenly beings had such a sensitivity to touch. He had waited for his divine maiden to lash out over the few times he, the other male, or even the chieftess female had touched her. But she hadn't so much as flinched and had accepted the touches earnestly. If his nose hadn't told him otherwise, he'd think they might all be related, but he had clarified through word that only the dead-eyed ones were blood-related. His maiden was an anomaly.

And so, after a long time of gathering his courage, he reached out to her and let his fingertips brush against her shoulder once when she had been painting and allowed him to watch.

She glanced at him, a question in her eyes. Her mind waves told him she'd thought he needed something.

When she'd just gone back to her painting afterward without flashing tooth or fang, his heart rocketed.

Oh...oh this could be bad. Or this could be very, very good.

He felt awful the moment he had thought that. How could he dare to even think about taking advantage of her culture, her openness to touch? Perhaps the dead-eyed male—Levi, they had names—was so used to touch that the sense had been dulled and he didn't feel how soft and warm and calling a female's flesh could be, or the searing invasive heat a male's could be. Perhaps he didn't feel each tug of muscle beneath another's skin.

When Gilrack reached out to her again, he had to swallow hard and calm the trembling of his spines.

She didn't look back that time. Just kept on painting.