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  “Was that entirely necessary?” Asche asked as Sarsen pushed by, heading back to the rubble.

  They found Lucie in moments. The yellow fabric of her dress poked through the stones. Sarsen worked with his brothers to shift the stones and dig out their mate. He worked until his fingers went raw and while he did not have blood, his fires leaked and smeared. Finally, they lifted Lucie from the rubble.

  Battered, the vivid red blood of human life trickled down her head and matted her hair. The amount of things, just basic knowledge, that he did not have about humans threatened to overwhelm him. If a wound soured, became gangrenous and a limb had to be removed, could it regrow? Did human bones break? Lucie was so light, so fragile in his hands, that Sarsen had to imagine that every precious bone of hers broke. Could those bones heal?

  Asche removed the tattered dress and Sarsen took inventory of every scrape, cut and newly formed bruise. Shallow breaths rattled painfully in her chest. An arm hung at an odd angle. That couldn’t be good.

  “We don’t know enough about human anatomy,” Sarsen said at length. They could guess at what was wrong and guess at how to fix the injuries. Even if they understood how humans worked, none of them were healers.

  “The humans in the forest—”

  “Are useless to us.”

  “They can help us,” Asche insisted.

  “If any of them were healers, would they be sick and dying? No. They cannot even help themselves.” Sarsen brushed back the hair from Lucie’s face, hair stiff with dried blood. Residual fluid from his renewing fires smeared across her skin. It glistened before being absorbed.

  “The medicine… Something in the bag Lucie gave them could help.” Asche rose to his feet, ready to run all night and retrieve medicine that may or may not work.

  “There is no time.”

  “We can’t not do anything!” The male paced. “I have to try.”

  Sarsen ignored Asche and manifested a small dagger. He held it over his hand. “Are you crazy!” Asche batted at Sarsen’s hands, but he managed to slice his own fingertips as planned. Probing the matted mess of Lucie’s hair, he found the gash. His renewing fire covered the wound, absorbing into the skin.

  Intrigued, Asche peered closely at the gash. “It’s closing.”

  “Our fires did not burn her,” Sarsen said. In fact, the old scars glowed as she accepted their fires.

  Ertale sliced his own palm and copied Sarsen’s actions. Laying on hands, they covered her wounds with their fires until every inch of skin glistened. The internal injuries remained difficult to reach.

  Sarsen bit down on his tongue, letting the fires flood his mouth. He tilted his mate’s head back and kissed her deeply. She did not respond. He forced open her mouth, jamming his tongue inside. His shared his fires and hoped it would be enough to stabilize her. He kissed her until his mouth went dry and he grew weak.

  “Is it enough?” Asche asked.

  “No.” Bones remained broken and he had no means to assess internal damage. Judging by her skin, her organs had to be squishy and pliable, which was just asking for trouble. Sarsen gathered her limp form in his arms. He could only think of one possible solution. “We have to bring her to the renewing fires.”

  Ertale laid a hand on his shoulder.

  “I don’t like it either, but can you think of a better option?” Sarsen refused to look at his brother as he walked. He didn’t need to see the worry and concern. He had his own to deal with.

  In the Forge, Sarsen lowered her next to the pool. The renewing fires bubbled and boiled, timeless and serene. Asche handed him the material for a splint to set the fracture arm.

  Sarsen ran a hand down the unbroken arm, trying to tease out how human bones should be aligned. Satisfied that he would be able to feel the solid bone under the soft flesh, he ran his hands down the damaged arm. The fracture was not complicated as he eased it back into position. If he was correct about the renewing fires, the bone would heal, but it needed to be set. Satisfied, he tied the splints around the arm. Lucie would not need to wear them for long, but the bone needed to stay in place until he could submerge her in the fires.

  “I don’t like this,” Asche said.

  No. Sarsen didn’t like it either. It was a terrible idea. “Our fires do not burn her. They made her stronger. If we bring her to the source—”

  “We could incinerate her.”

  Yes. That was a possibility. “We do nothing, we lose her. If we set her in the renewing fires, she may be healed,” Sarsen said.

  “Or incinerated.”

  “We have to try.”

  Ertale motioned for them to stop talking. He crouched at their mate’s side and placed an ear to her belly. After a moment, he pulled away and held up two fingers.

  Asche and Sarsen exchanged confused looks.

  Ertale placed a hand on Lucie’s chest, then moved the hand to her stomach. He gave his brothers a meaningful look.

  “Did you get that?” Sarsen asked.

  “I was going to ask you the same,” Asche replied.

  The big male sighed loudly, as if frustrated. He picked up Lucie, cradling her form to his chest. He stepped into the pool.

  His frame trembling as the renewing fires worked on him. Slowly, he lowered the precious bundle near the molten liquid. Her feet dangled in. Asche shouted a warning but Ertale had already raised her feet.

  They were unharmed. In fact, they were perfectly smooth and pink on the bottom.

  “Your stupid idea just might work,” Asche said.

  “She’d be proud of us working together instead of fighting.”

  “I’m going to kick your ass when this is over.”

  “You can try.”

  Now they could only wait.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Lucinda

  A pair of red rimmed amber eyes watched her as Lucie woke. The eyes barely stood taller than the mattress and the grey-toned face lacked the fissures and cracks of a more mature valo. This was a child.

  “Hey there, cutie,” she said, sitting up slowly.

  The child fell on its butt and scrambled away, disappearing out the door.

  Lucie planted her feet on the floor. Her head swam and her body… didn’t ache. That was unexpected. She felt great, actually. Her back and shoulders didn’t have the normal morning stiffness and for the first time since the crash, her ankle didn’t hurt.

  Another valo entered the room, wearing a bright yellow sarong tied around her chest. She carried a tray with a small meal.

  Lucie had two thoughts: so the valos did wear clothes, despite what her fellas tried to tell her, and where did this woman come from? Clearly she was a female valo from the slight swell of her breast and the gentle curve of her hips. She had a series of bony spurs along her scalp instead of hair, like Lucie’s valos. Beyond that, she seemed… comforting. Nurturing. Ertale was comforting in a snuggly attack-teddy bear sort of way, but he was never nurturing.

  “You’re up. Good,” the woman said.

  “I think I scared that kid.”

  The tray rattled as the woman’s hands shook. She paused, her chest raising and lowering with focused breaths, before setting the tray down on a nearby table.

  “I’m sorry if I upset you,” Lucie said.

  “No,” the woman said quickly. “Your voice… You speak our language flawlessly.”

  “Thank you,” she said, even though the translating device attached to her ear did all the work.

  “I never thought to hear a Creator speak our words. They warned me, but I did not believe them.”

  “They? Sarsen? Ertale? Asche? Are they here? Are they okay?” She rose to her feet, wrapping a sheet around her.

  The woman handed Lucie a robe. “They are well and here. Please eat. You need to regain your strength.”

  Lucie sat at the table. The meal was simple grains cooked in the milky juice of a hard shelled fruit with assorted fruit. “I’m sorry, I was rude and I didn’t ask your name. I’m Lucie.”

&n
bsp; “Lucie Morales of Earth,” the woman said with an unexpected smile. “I know. I am Joi. And the little one listening at the door is Loa.”

  “That’s a lovely name.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Would you join me? I understand that Fire Valos don’t eat but…” She’d feel uncomfortable with Joi standing and watching her eat. Lucie waved at the empty chair.

  Surprise flickered across Joi’s face, but she nodded, arranging her sarong with care as she sat. She took a small red globe and peeled the rind. Bringing the fruit to her nose, she inhaled the scent, eyes closed as if savoring a memory. “You are not how I expected,” Joi said at length.

  Right. She expected a Creator, cruel and uncompromising. Time to root out that misconception. “I’m not one of the them,” she said. “I’m from a planet called Earth. My ship crashed, along with others. We’ve never heard of Sonhadra or the valos.”

  “So they said.”

  “But you didn’t believe them.”

  Joi shook her head.

  “I’m sorry,” Lucie said, unable to contain her curiosity. “Where did you come from? I thought my guys were the last of their kind?”

  “You were asleep for several days.”

  Lucie hardly saw what that had to do with it.

  “I was—am—a healer. They revived me first to tend to you.” Joi spread her hands as if that explained everything.

  “They did it? They revived the fallen valos?” Joi nodded. “How many?”

  “Sixteen.”

  Sixteen lives brought back.

  A smile spread over her face. Sixteen revived valos was so much better than sixteen lives taken in revenge. “I’m so glad.”

  Joi’s smile faltered and she looked off to one side, towards the open balcony. Something troubled the woman, but Lucie would not press the issue. Only sixteen made it through. Perhaps she lost a mate or family. “If you are finished with your meal, you will want to know what happened to you.”

  Lucie knew what happened to her. A bomb went off and a tower fell on her. “How long was I asleep? I can’t possibly be healed.”

  “Three days and the renewing fires did the majority of the work.”

  “The renewing…” An image of the pool of molten lava in the Forge came to mind. “They put me in that?”

  Joi nodded. “It was very clever of them to realize the renewing fires would heal you. Otherwise…”

  Yeah. Dead. Bomb plus collapse equaled a lot of blunt force damage, broken bones and internal bleeding.

  “Does anything pain you?”

  Lucie flexed her hands and wiggled her toes. “Not really. I feel good. Better than ever, actually.”

  Joi ran a hand along her left arm, pressing at a small knot. “Does that hurt?”

  “No. What happened to my arm?”

  “Broke. Sarsen set it, but his understanding of healing was rudimentary at best.”

  “Did you know him before?” Dread curled in her stomach. Was this his long lost mate? Lucie wouldn’t share him with another woman. She just wouldn’t. Yes, it made her a hypocrite as she expected her guys to share her, but that was their custom.

  “Our mothers were sisters. I have known him since we were children.”

  Her shoulders slumped with relief. “Has he always been so—”

  “Serious? Oh yes.” Joi’s eyes sparked. “It is good to see him happy again.”

  “When can I see them?”

  “Do you wish to bathe first?”

  Not particularly, but that wasn’t a bad idea. She probably smelled, but part of her was disappointed none of her guys had been there when she woke.

  As if sensing her thoughts, Joi said, “One of your triad was at your side every moment, always under my feet and questioning me.”

  “Sounds like they got on your nerves.”

  Joi tilted her head to one side. “We don’t have that phrase, but I understand the meaning. Yes, they were biting at my ankles. Very annoying.”

  Joi offered to help Lucie into the bath, but she waved the woman away. Despite her injuries, despite not eating or drinking for days, she had no weakness or lethargy. The hot water soothed her muscles, but she hurried through it, anxious to see her valos.

  “I will never get tired of this sight.”

  Lucie smiled but did not turn around, instead dunking herself to rinse the cream from her hair. “I understand I have a lot to thank you for.”

  Footsteps filled the bathing chamber. “Lucie—” Sarsen’s voice was rough, as if he had not had any rest for several days. She knew the valos didn’t need to sleep, so it had to be pure emotion.

  “No, stop. There are things I need to say first.” Lucie wrapped a towel around her and climbed out of the pool. Sarsen, Asche and Ertale stood side by side, feet shuffling and hands twitching. She sat on the pool’s ledge. “Don’t be nervous. I just wanted you to know that right before that tower came down, I realized there were things I never said to you. Important things.”

  “You do not need—” Sarsen started to say, but Lucie waved a hand at him.

  “I do. I love you guys. I don’t think I’ve said it before.” A blush crept along her cheeks. There was no good reason for her not to say it. She’d felt it for a while now.

  “We are one,” Asche said, and for the first time Lucie understood that meant they loved her. Their heartstones beat with her heart not because of a trick of biology or an accident, but simply because they loved her.

  “I didn’t know that until I thought I was…” Her voice grew thick. “Until I thought I was going to die.” Every fear induced heartbeat came back, thudding in her ear, potent as ever. “This is my home. I don’t ever want to leave. To leave you. It broke my heart imagining you alone. All I wanted was one more moment with you.” She studied each of their faces, memorizing them. Her attraction to them might have started because they were the first decent men she’d seen in years, but they were so much more now. She couldn’t imagine her life without them, or going on if she lost them. For them to be left behind because of the actions of one bad person, to be alone again… The pain was real and sat heavy on her chest. Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes. She didn't want them to suffer that. She didn’t want them to suffer, period.

  Asche crouched at her feet. He rested a warm hand on her thigh, his thumb moving in a circle. “That moment is passed.”

  She shook her head. It hadn’t. It still lived in her, full of dread and despair. Now that she started crying, she couldn’t stop. So much had happened, not just in the tower with Halliday, but the crash, life on the Concord, extending all the way back to her arrest. She had been focused on surviving for so long that she forgot what it was to live.

  “What did you say to her?” Sarsen hissed.

  “I don’t know! Why is she leaking? I can get Joi. That looks unhealthy.”

  Strong hands rubbed her back. She said nothing as Ertale shifted her to his lap. “I’m okay, big guy. Just a little emotional today.” She scrubbed her face with her hands. “So I want you guys to know I’m committed to you.”

  “As we are to you,” Sarsen said.

  She flashed a smile and his eyes flared bright for a moment. “On my planet, we have a ceremony and exchange vows. We get married. I guess the ceremony is not important, but the vows are. Marriage is how we announce our relationship.”

  “Marriage is being mated?” Sarsen tapped a finger on his chin. “I will marriage you.”

  “Not just like that,” Lucie said.

  “Me, too. I marriage you,” Asche announced.

  Ertale took her chin and turned her head towards him. He nodded before planting a soft kiss on her brow.

  “How do we do this marriage?” Sarsen asked.

  “Wait, I need a dress. Or at least some clothes—”

  “We will do this now. Life is uncertain,” Sarsen said with authority.

  “Is marriage important if you have offspring?” Asche asked.

  “For some—”

 
He nodded, mind made up. “Then we marriage now, for the offspring.”

  Okay, this was happening. She was getting married in a towel in a bathroom. Not exactly the dream wedding she’d imagined as a little girl, but it was… unique.

  Asche’s words caught up to her brain. “Wait… offspring?”

  All three nodded, proud smiles on their faces.

  “You guys know I can’t get pregnant, right? I mean, we’re not even the same species. The likelihood is astronomical—”

  Ertale’s hand rested on her belly. His chest rumbled and hummed, amused. Sarsen’s hand rested next to his, followed by Asche.

  “You’re not serious,” she whispered. She’d be a terrible mother. She was a terrible person, most of the time. She was an escaped convict for crying out loud. “I’m too selfish to be a mom.”

  Sarsen pressed a kiss to her stunned mouth, soft and sweet. “Tell us the vow, our Lucie Morales of Earth.”

  “Oh.” Right, that thing. “So, um…” She scanned through every movie wedding she could remember. Dearly beloved, blah blah blah. Right, she had this. She added her hand to the pile on her stomach. “I, Lucie Morales of Earth, take you, Sarsen, Asche and Ertale of Sonhadra to be my husbands. To have and to hold, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

  They watched her, expectantly.

  “Now you say that back to me, use your name,” she prompted. “Then you can kiss the bride.”

  “Sarsen of Sonhadra claims Lucie Morales of Earth to be my mate. Always.”

  She tapped her lips and Sarsen complied with a grin. The first kiss of married life was sweet and deep. Her stomach fluttered and she leaned forward, wanting more. He pulled back, grin even wider.

  Asche pushed Sarsen out of the way. “Lucie Morales of Earth, you are the mate of Asche of Sonhadra. To have in sickness and hold. Death is not the end.” He nodded, pleased at his rendition, and claimed his kiss.

  Demanding and hungry, his tongue pushed in her mouth, stroking her own tongue. She moaned and his grip on her arms tightened. He took her breath, every single time.