Tempted by Celestial Bodies

Chapter 5

chapter five

sinead

In my dream, I’m being carried through the sky. Not by Jalus. The arms encircling me are cold, with fingernails that bite painfully into my skin. I struggle to wake, to roll over and comfort myself in his warm, strong embrace, but there is no waking. Only a cool breeze against my bare skin.

And there will be no Jalus in the morning, some distant part of my brain recalls. I fucked that up, didn’t I?

It’s only because it’s a dream that a hot tear leaks out of the corner of my eye.

At last, the dream lays me down on a carpet of soft, wet leaves and moss. I inhale the earthy scent and realize that my mask is gone, allowing me to breathe in the dangerous perfume of Eiris.

Is this a dream? Or am I hallucinating? Surely it can’t be real…

I sit up with a wince. Vines wrap around my limbs, their thorns digging into my skin. I watch in horror as they slide, snakelike, to more firmly encircle my upper arm. My instinct is to struggle, to rip them off, but when I try, they only bind me tighter.

Surrounding me are five enormous trees grown in a perfect circle. The clearing reminds me of one of the ancient stone rings I’ve read about from Old Earth’s prehistory. Offerings scatter the ground and hang from the trees’ limbs: feathered ornaments, cloth woven from moss fiber, smooth pebbles with veins of crystal knotted into the drape of a necklace.

Vines writhe and tangle all around me. The trees lean in, their branches unfurling to reach for me. I catch my breath, but then force myself to reason through this weird figment of my brain’s deepest fears. If the trees wanted to kill me, they could have sliced me to bits already.

They want me to do something. Dance? I don’t speak tree language. How am I supposed to know? This feels like one of those nightmares where I show up to a royal ball, but everyone else knows some gossip I don’t know, and they’re all giggling behind my back.

Funny—I’m usually naked in those dreams, too.

The ground buckles under my feet and I stumble aside, staring as a root rises from underground. It’s wrapped around something. What is?—

Oh stars. My stomach lurches. That’s Ambassador Cora.

More roots are worming their way up from the forest floor, carrying the rest of the missing diplomats. Eleven in total. None of them are decomposed, even though some of them have been missing for close to a year. They all appear to be asleep, limp in the grasp of the tree roots that hold them captive.

And now another root is pushing up underneath me, vines holding me in place as it wraps around my legs…

“NO!”

My head jerks up in time to see Jalus descending from the treetops above, wings spread in bright glory. Vines tangle toward him, but he slashes at them with his thorn weapons. His limbs move fluidly, a dancer’s grace in a warrior’s body. He lands at my side and takes hold of my arms, trying to wrestle me out of the trees’ grasp.

“Thank the stars,” I slur. “I was afraid this was a nightmare. Maybe now it can be a sexy dream.”

Jalus curses under his breath, then seizes what looks like a flask from his pocket and takes a long pull from it. His lips crash onto mine.

I savor the kiss, drinking in his scent. His tongue parts my lips, making my pulse kick up a notch. Then he’s passing a liquid into my mouth, something that feels like honey on my tongue but tastes more like kombucha. I swallow reflexively.

The world settles into sharper focus. The way the breeze caresses my bare skin, the sharp pain of thorns digging into my arms and legs…this isn’t the hazy fog of a nightmare. This is real. I am awake.

I tug against the roots and vines holding me, but the trees hold me fast.

“They’re trying to speak to you in scent-language,” Jalus murmurs next to my ear, low and urgent. “They say that this is your last chance. If you won’t save them from being cut and hollowed, they will bury you the way they buried all these others.”

“Tell them…” My voice comes out high-pitched, words tripping over themselves to come out. I force myself to take a deep breath, to consider what I want to say. “Tell them I’m on their side.”

Jalus’s eyes meet mine. “I already have.”

He believes me. Tears well, unbidden, in my eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t have time to prepare you before that vid-call today. I had to make something up to buy time for creating a real solution.”

He leans close to the crook of my neck and breathes deep. Does sincerity have a scent?

I can’t stop myself reaching for him. My fingers brush across the wound on his lower arm. It’s been little more than a day since he was injured, but it’s already nothing more than a raised pink-violet line across his skin. Imperial hospitals would pay dearly to get their hands on that kind of?—

Wait.

“Jalus…I think I have an idea.”

“Tell me,” he murmurs hoarsely.

“The moss.” I show him my palm, displaying the scrape from yesterday. It’s so well healed, I can barely tell I was ever hurt. “Can it be harvested without harming the trees?”

“In moderation, yes. As I told you, the Old Kin have used it for millennia.” Understanding lights his eyes. “You think your father would want…?”

A miracle medicine that millions will be eager to pay him for? Uh, yeah, I think I can convince him.

“I can draft a treaty with airtight protections for the Kin and all the Eiris wildlife.” I’m thinking aloud, but Jalus’s face is alight with hope. “I’ll make Dad buy the moss at a fair price from the Kin. That’ll cut the expense of bringing contractors and equipment to the planet. Kin harvesters can control where they take from so they don’t disturb the ecosystem like outsiders would.”

I glance around the clearing at the eleven unconscious ambassadors. “If I can guarantee the trees’ protection, will they release the hostages?”

Jalus scents the air. “When a treaty is signed and these people no longer pose a threat, they will be released.”

“Fair enough.” I hesitate. “Of course, I’ll probably have to stay here longer than six months, to make sure Dad’s people keep their side of the treaty.”

He tenses. “Is that…what you want?”

The Moon Palace already feels like a past life. Lonely, cold, sterile luxury compared with the bright, dangerous, sensual beauty of Eiris and the warm four-armed embrace of a man I think I’m already starting to fall for…

It’s a no-brainer.

“Yes. I want to stay.”

The man is beautiful when grumpy, but he’s absolutely life-ruining when he smiles. The roots fall away from my legs as he lifts me into his arms.

When his mouth meets mine, I’m home.