Amid Stars and Darkness (The Xenith Trilogy #1)

Delaney’s hands gripped the railing of the balcony. She’d come out needing fresh air, and stared over the expanse of green. If she didn’t look up at the sky, she could almost pretend she was at a manor somewhere back at home, and not on an alien planet.

There really wasn’t all that much involved in the Uprising ceremony. Ruckus had explained it to her, and apparently the Lissa only had two lines to say in the whole thing. Total, the ceremony would last less than five minutes, which seemed like a huge waste to her, considering every important person in Vakar had been invited. The entire main hall—which he’d shown to her last night—was going to be decked out for the celebration.

Five minutes and two lines. Olena seriously sucked for blowing that off and sending her here to pick up the pieces.

As well as everyone claimed she was playing the part, Delaney knew the truth. Everything she did or said was based purely on survival instincts. She just wanted to make it through this. To make it back home.

The thought of Mariana and her parents, who were without a doubt completely going crazy with worry now, made tears burn at the corners of her eyes. She quickly brushed them away, refusing to give in to the hopelessness that threatened to creep up on her. Believing that the Basileus would follow up on his promise, that Ruckus would in fact bring her back to Earth, was the only thing keeping her going.

Well, that and her confusing new feelings for the Vakar soldier.

Tonight was it, the big ceremony, and they’d spent every day since that second kiss in her room getting to know each other. The whole time he’d walked her through the ceremony, he’d touched her.

It was in little ways when they were around others, a brush of his fingertips against her arm, the press of his thigh against hers under a table. He always seemed to be touching her, and with each touch, her feelings grew. She didn’t know what she was doing when it came to him. It couldn’t work out, and they both knew it. She’d tried explaining that once more, but he’d swiftly shut her down with another searing kiss.

And that was the other thing. She’d never been kissed like that. It had her wondering if there was something special about his kind in general, if maybe the human boys she’d kissed before couldn’t measure up because of something simple like biology, and not something complicated.

The two of them having crazy chemistry would be complicated.

“Here’s your teekee.” Lura had appeared in the doorway leading to the balcony.

“Thank you.” Delaney turned from the railing and forced a smile to her lips. She didn’t walk over when the atteta moved to place the steaming green—shocker—mug on the glass table. She’d tried it for the first time last night after Ruckus had ordered it, and had found it very similar to tea, only with a fruitier aftertaste.

Wisps of white twirled up into the air, and the almost-berry scent drifted to her, cutting across the chilly breeze. Deciding it was too hot to drink right away, she remained where she was, against the railing. She debated whether or not to go back inside to get a sweatshirt—or at least the Vakar equivalent to one if she could find it—but chose not to. A little chill was good, helped keep her in the now, keep her focused.

“Will there be anything else, Lissa Olena?” Lura asked, wringing her hands.

Taking that as a sign that the girl had somewhere else she wanted to be, Delaney waved dismissively. “No, that’s all right. Go on. Enjoy your day.”

“Thank you, Lissa.” She bowed and disappeared without any more preamble.

Delaney turned to gaze back out over the grounds, noticing a cropping of trees over toward the left. Had that been where the Tandem game had been held? She couldn’t tell.

That first attack from the Tars felt like a lifetime ago. In the two weeks since Ruckus had first taken her from the club, so much had happened. Again, her thoughts turned dark as she thought of her parents and roommate. Up until now, whenever they’d come to mind, she’d dashed their images away. Thinking about them only made it worse, and besides, there was nothing she could do.

She needed to stay on track, work on the things she actually could change and control. Doing anything less would only make her go crazy, and there were too many people counting on her to pull this whole Lissa thing off for that to be acceptable.

The white metal railing circled the entire balcony and came up to just below her chest. She needed to lift onto the very tips of her toes in order to peer over it, finding nothing of interest for her efforts. Just more grass, or whatever they called the stuff here.

“Thinking of jumping?”

Startled, she dropped to her feet and twisted to face the new arrival.

Trystan had come up to her side and was resting his elbows on the top of the railing. At his height, he could see the bottom easily enough, and raised a questioning brow at her. She had no idea when he’d gotten there, or how long he’d been watching.

“And give you the satisfaction?” She snorted. “Hardly.”

Had Lura let him in before leaving? If so, why hadn’t she announced him? Wasn’t that the proper thing to do? She resisted the urge to turn tail and run back inside, not wanting to be alone with him, yet not wanting to show weakness even more.

Trystan gazed out over the grounds, seemingly at ease, like this was a normal thing, the two of them enjoying some fresh air together.

“If you’d said that to me a few weeks ago—hell,” he said, chuckling humorlessly, “if we were up here alone like this a few days ago, even, you’d be right. I might have even contemplated pushing you.”

She angled her head and rethought that whole fleeing plan. “That’s … comforting.…”

“It wasn’t meant to be.” He laughed darkly. “But it was honest.”

She couldn’t argue with him there, so she looked away, pretending to find interest in the rolling hills.

“It’s the big day,” he said, breaching the silence again. “Are you ready?”

“Absolutely,” she lied. Her sarcasm had been too apparent for him to miss, so she added, “Who doesn’t look forward to signing their future away?”

He was watching her intently out of narrowed eyes, as if trying to read her mind or something equally intrusive. He was dressed more casually today than she’d ever seen him, the tight navy shirt leaving his arms bare to expose corded muscle. His pants were just as formfitting, tucked into black boots.

It was a sharp contrast to her own clothing, the bronze dress flaring out at the hips so the skirts twirled when she moved, and bare feet. She hadn’t intended on going anywhere today, not after Ruckus had told her this morning that he was needed to help set up security measures for tonight’s event.

Pettus had offered to walk her around, but she’d politely declined. She’d gotten to know him a little better as well over the past couple of days, but it still wasn’t the same. Truth was, Ruckus was the only one she felt 100 percent comfortable around. They’d come a long way since he’d come up behind her in that alley back in Maine.

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