“Good company makes it easy.” She smiled and turned her head for a kiss.
“Here it goes. The nanites are working.” He was enthralled, so she looked back toward the empty expanse of the base.
She watched the skeleton of the Citadel Iratho rise on her island. “I am going to miss the flatness.”
“This one has a larger gym. I approved a design large enough to support seven thousand specialists and support staff. It will be much easier for you to move around in, the common areas are large enough for concerts, and the gardens are ready for any experiments that folk want to engage in before testing the plants on the surface.”
Rokar ran his hand over Rumble. “How is he doing?”
“Well, his two fluffles are fine and enjoying the flight. His pinfeathers are coming in, and he is a little grouchy.”
“Good. As soon as he is finished his transformation, we can begin to live as a couple and Iratho can merge a segment of himself into you.”
“That sounds like so much fun.” She smirked.
“It will add to your stability, and you will be able to travel if you wish. Not for long, you are still my mate, but a few years among the stars might help you reclaim some of what was lost.”
“I have found what I needed to. I am not greedy.”
He touched her cheek and turned her face to his. The kiss was slow and sweet, and hundreds of yards away, a city was being built by nanites. It was a memory she wanted to share, and with Rumble with her, it was going to be as clear as it was now.
She smiled against Rokar’s lips.
“What are you smiling about?”
She grinned. “The fluffles don’t like Deahlia either. The pink one bit her, and the purple one tripped her. I have no idea why, but the Yaluthu want her at a distance.”
He kissed her again. “She doesn’t need them. She’s strong, healthy, has a good sense of self, and her talent doesn’t injure her. They go where they are needed.”
“I am glad he came to me.”
“I am, too. It has opened Iratho’s mind to the possibilities of a population. We might not have to send the fluffles away when they are ready for a bond mate.”
She smiled. “We will see. They might have a destiny in the stars.”
“If they do, they do, if they don’t, they will have a place here.”
They watched the Citadel come to life, and when the construction was complete, Rokar brought them down for a landing.
Deahlia and the other horticulturalists arrived, and while Addy got the lay of her office and quarters on the fifteenth floor of the Citadel tower, Rumble and his babies were cuddled up in a chair next to her desk; their nest was made of ribbon from the first thirty presents that Addy had opened.
Rokar flew over, learning the new landscape.
“Well, everything is coming together. I have a call coming through for you.”
Addy cocked her head and activated the monitor. The woman on the screen was in her fifties but looked fit, serene, and had a glow about her.
“Hello.” Addy smiled.
“Adelheid Hathaway. It has been a very long time. I am Kyra Dannick. We met at the orientation.”
Addy smiled. “We did. How are you doing?”
“Well, I was kidnapped, sold to an arena, and found my mate while I was there. He is now the Azon ambassador to the Alliance and occasionally the Nyal Imperium.”
“So, you are happy?”
Kyra nodded. “I am. I wanted to know how you feel? I just heard that you are alive and conscious.”
Addy snickered. “I guess I am going to get a lot of these calls from folks?”
“Could be. How many people did you meet? We are all incredibly nosey. The Citadel has been using your story to recruit.”
“What?”
“Sure. They used to kill deadly talents. Now, you are living proof that control can be achieved in the right circumstances. Iratho is being held up as a gleaming light of training and experimentation for control.”
“So, do you have any talents that you want to send my way?”
Kyra blushed. “My daughter, Bylea. She has a great voice, but it is hypnotic. Literally, hypnotic. She needs to gain control, but she can’t do it here. The tone in her voice causes the Azon males around her to go into rut.”
“Ouch.”
“Yes. It isn’t desirable. Can she come to you?”
Addy nodded, “She will have to sign a contract for the education system, but yes, she can come in. We will work with her.”
Kyra smiled. “Thanks. I will speak with her and get back to you as soon as I can.”
The call disconnected, and Addy sat back.
She wasn’t surprised by the next call, or the next, or the ones that followed for the next six days.
Iratho was the place for the talented children of Terrans to get a grip on what their blended genes had given them.
When the first wave of new student bookings has been taken, she got to her feet and walked to the balcony.
Rumble was on her shoulder, his wings nearly ready to fly. In the distance, Rokar was flying in dragon form, moving some of the heavy equipment for the gardeners.
“Do you want to go and fly circles around him?” She asked Rumble.
He lifted his wings and looked back to his fluffles.
“Ah, right. All things in good time. Well, it looks like we are about to get our own group of new hatchlings. They might be bigger than yours, but they will need watching over. Are we up to it?”
Rumble lifted his head and shrieked to the winds. His wings were out, he was majestic, but the scream of defiance turned to a happy rumble the moment that she stroked his chest.
She looked out over the world that was finally coming alive. She was getting to be part of it. “Yeah, we are up to it.”
Author’s Note
This concludes Tales of the Citadel. Seriously. Done.
When it returns, the series will be Citadel Iratho. Changing venues gets a little tiring all the time, so I needed to make a launching site with no history. Ta-da!
Thanks for reading,
Viola Grace
About the Author
Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.
An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.