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Planet Etteria
Issneen, the Royal City
Xeus’s Royal Chambers
That evening.
Xeus stared at the chess board, not seeing the pieces. His attention was riveted on his emotional turmoil. He understood the game was one of war and strategy, sacrifice and victory. The king was to be protected, even though she’d said it was the queen. Her hesitation had meant a lie, that she’d changed the rules to suit his culture. In her world, the king was to be protected, yet in his, the queen.
Her consideration made his chest ache. He glanced at her as she fervently studied the board as if the game mattered. It did not. She mattered.
She consumed his every thought. He spent his time wondering when next he’d see her, hold her, hear her lyrical voice, and the sound of her laughter.
He couldn’t understand this need and obsession.
His gaze traveled over her features adoringly. She showed no internal struggle, no need to be with him. Yet she hid nothing from him, held nothing back. He had to take a leap of faith as he’d advised Xan to do. Xeus ached to tell her how he felt, what she meant to him.
But the emotions crushing his chest were unrecognizable, unknown.
“What’s wrong?”
He blinked at her and realized he’d stared at her for some time. “I saw this love on Kanzo’s face. You were correct. That is not the Ethera.” Not that he could say how he knew this. He just did. The annals spoke of the pain and temptation the Ethera invoked. Not once had he seen an Etterian Eth gaze upon his Etterian Dar Eth with the same intensity that Kanzo adored Lady Ava. It had to be a human influence, one Xeus hadn’t anticipated.
“Are you tired? I can go.” Her offer struck a painful dart through his heart.
Even with her as his Dar Eth, he felt more for her, more than the Ethera inspired. He never wanted to be parted from her, not for a moment more.
“I want you to never go. I want you to be with me here, to stay with me.” His gaze met hers.
“I can do that. It wouldn’t be a hardship for me.” She grasped his hand. “Whatever you need, Zoo.”
He released a sigh, before flipping her hand, palm upward, to press a kiss there. “I believe I feel this love for you, Macera.”
Her breath hitched as her eyes grew large. “You do?” she squeaked. Tears formed on her eyelashes. “I...I thought I’d be the only one to love. I planned on loving you even if you never returned it.” She sniffed and dashed aside an escaped tear. “I love you too, Zoo.”
Her confession exploded a fountain of pure joy and light inside him, obliterating any chance of the void returning. Dropping her hand, he reached across the table and dragged her to him, scattering chess pieces everywhere. He positioned her onto his lap just as he crushed her lips with his.
“I prefer quick victories,” he growled a few minutes later while feathering wet kisses along the arch of her throat. “And I feel victorious.”
“You think you’ve conquered me?” she teased.
“As you conquered my heart,” he whispered into her mouth before he gathered her closer.
~*~
Planet Etteria
Issneen, the Royal City
Their Royal Chambers
A month later.
“Zoo...” Macera’s moan woke him.
The minus sun had yet to rise.
“What is it, thamani?” he asked, pulling her closer to him. He stroked her spine with reverence.
“I...I don’t feel well.” With a cry, she ripped out of his arms and darted to the cleansing room.
He was close on her heels, in time to hold back her hair as she purged her stomach into the waste receptacle.
“Sorry...,” she mumbled, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Wait...” And she gagged.
Xeus frowned. Sickness wasn’t unheard of on Etteria, just rare. He punched commands into his O.D.I., still holding her hair away from her face. “Aldur is on his way.”
“Thank you,” she said, allowing herself to slump to the floor.
As she attempted to rise off the floor to cleanse her mouth, he lifted her. He held her upright, his hand on her waist in case she collapsed again. She gripped the counter with white knuckles as if her knees were weak. When she was done brushing her teeth, he scooped her into his arms and carried her back to bed.
“Why is the cleansing room so far away? Who designed that?” she muttered while he settled the blanket around her naked form.
The door chimed, and from the bedroom, he commanded it to open. Within moments, Aldur stood in the doorway.
He entered the bedroom to scan her. His eyebrows shot up, which meant it had to be alarming. Xeus tightened his hand around hers. He couldn’t lose her. No matter what she needed to be healthy, he would get it for her.
Aldur slapped his scanner and tried it again. “My king...” He glanced between Macera and him, his eyes wide.
“How bad is it?” Xeus asked, his voice hoarse.
“Bad?” Aldur chuckled, “Not bad, my king. Wonderful. Queen Macera is with damu.”
“What?” she yelped.
“Yes, and judging by the heartbeats...two.”
“Twins?” She gaped.
It took Xeus a moment to understand. Aldur had said two, but it hadn’t registered.
“Two?” Xeus gaped. “How are two possible?”
“The same way one is, I suppose,” she teased, rubbing his arm. “My mother was a twin.”
“I meant for an Etterian, thamani. We do not have twins.”
“I have not told you the best news...,” Aldur said.
Xeus ignored him and roared as he scooped his Dar Eth into his arms, hugging and kissing her regardless of her nudity. Cales had asked him if he wanted more damu. Yes, one thousand times yes.
“Xeus, please, Aldur said he has better news...” She laughed, hugging him back.
He stilled. Not at her calling him Xeus, which she did in the presence of others, but at Aldur possibly having something better than this. “What could best this?”
“One is female.”
Xeus froze. Something roared and thundered in his ears. Was that his heartbeat? He tightened his arms and trapped Macera against him. With his mouth hanging open, a tear escaped, blazing a trail down his cheek. He dipped his gaze to hers. “I love you, Macera. You have blessed me as no other.”
“No, my God and your Maker have.” Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “And never to a more deserving male.”
He planted a kiss on her that was the beginning of something Aldur shouldn’t see. He pulled away to command the medic to leave.
“Kiss me later...” She drew Xeus’s attention back to her. “Aldur, I need you to go to Earth and find an OB-GYN.”
The male who’d offered his back out of respect now faced them. “A what, my queen?”
“A doctor who specializes in womanhood and birthing babies,” she said bluntly. “And with a history in pediatrics.”
“Pediatrics?” Aldur mimicked. His eyelids fluttered as did Xeus’s.
His Macera was too impatient to wait. “The health of children.”
Xeus frowned. “I was not aware you were dissatisfied with Aldur.”
She blinked at them then sighed, her frustration clear. “I’ve never and will never be unhappy with Aldur. I want an OB-GYN here because this is the first Etterian-human pregnancy. A normal pregnancy can be difficult, and twins make it doubly so. Let’s rather be safe than sorry.”
“This is wise, my queen,” Aldur said.
“Make it a female, Aldur. I do not want any male to see my Dar Eth’s feminine folds.” Xeus loved her pink cheeks and relished placing the color there. “And take Nerx with you. Maybe he will find his Dar Eth and provide a mother for Lily.”
Aldur beamed. “We will leave at once, my king.”
“Thank you, Aldur.” Macera smothered a yawn. “You are a wonderful and valued male.”
The medic darkened at her compliment before rushing out.
“You are a wonderful and valued female,” Xeus rasped, pulling her against him to feather kisses across her temple.
“Zoo.” She snorted. “You’re just aroused.”
“With you, ensa ra ensa, I am always aroused.”
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