Shattered Stars by Viola Grace

spectrum down below.
    Sitting next to
Mero, she could feel his excitement. He was glad to be home again,
but there was an undertone to it that was a little familiar. He
wanted sex.
    Since he was
content to hold back on his demands, she was able to watch the
world get bigger and bigger before they finally entered the
atmosphere.
    She was excited
to walk on soil again. She hadn’t felt grass under her feet since
the impact.
    “You are
looking forward to your new home?”
    She turned and
smiled at him. “I am excited to see a living world again. This
means a lot.”
    She wanted to
tell him that seeing a living world was going to heal part of her
soul, but Hannah figured that he already knew that.
    She wanted to
hold his hand as the excitement of nearly being in breathable,
natural air overwhelmed her.
    She could see
cities, wide agrarian spaces, and finally, the shuttle approached
the landing site.
    There wasn’t a
spaceport, which was a bit of a shock. “Just a landing site?”
    “No one lands
on Kiiba without my permission.”
    “Or else?”
    “Or, I will
hunt them down and destroy their entire ship. It has happened
before. Most folk out here know not to interfere with Hmrain
planets.”
    “How can a
person own an entire planet?”
    Mero chuckled.
“They pay for it when it is nothing but dust and howling winds and
build it up. Kiiba is the work of years of effort, and I will
defend what I have built.”
    The shuttle
settled down, and her heart started racing. Mero got to his feet
and waited for her to stand. When she was tucked under his wing, he
shepherded her out of the shuttle through the wide hatch built to
his specifications.
    Hannah stepped
forward into the sunlight, and she held her hand out as the rays
caressed her face. She was about to step further from Mero when he
wrapped his hands around her and propelled them upward with enough
force to smack her head against his collarbone. She saw stars for a
moment, and then, the rush of air around her boosted her
exhilaration.
    Laughter
spilled out of her at the sight of a living and flourishing world.
Since the impact, she had never thought that she would see another
open sky or taste incoming rain in the air.
    All the
possibilities in life had died with her atmosphere, and now, a
distance away that she couldn’t even calculate, she was finding
marks of a future again.
    The world was
so wondrous that she neglected to focus on the one thing that
wasn’t possible. Mero was flying, and he was holding her.
    The rush of air
was pulling at her skirt, and icy fingers worked their way up her
inner thighs. The downside of no underwear meant she was vulnerable
to the breezes, and here, it was gale force.
    They flew over
the farms, over rivers and up the hillside to a town with a huge
compound and a palace with a high tower.
    Instead of
heading to the tower, he landed in the courtyard with a heavy back
beat of his wings. He straightened and set Hannah on her feet.
    There had to be
forty or more servants standing to greet them, and eight different
species were represented.
    Instead of the
smocks used by the education station, the bondservants were all
attired in comfortable clothing in blue and silver. Tunics and
trousers for both males and females, with adaptations for any
spikes, scales or horns that needed more room.
    He inclined his
head, and a woman glided forward, her grey marble skin gleaming in
the light.
    “Welcome home,
Lord Mero. All is ready.”
    “Dk’ket, this
is Hannah.”
    The woman
inclined her head. “Welcome, Lady Hannah.”
    “Thank you,
Dk’ket.” To pronounce the name, Hannah had to swallow, but the
woman smiled at her effort.
    “It will get
easier with practice, lady. My lord, would you like me to show your
companion to her chamber?”
    “She will be in
my chambers, Dk’ket. She will need a full wardrobe from casual to
formal as well as anything she chooses for her own comfort. No
trousers and only a few