He was in heaven.
She pulled her tresses back, and he knifed up to kiss her long and hard.
Their bodies glided as one as they came down, fanning a rapturous euphoria that spread through his limbs.
Their fingers intertwined, and they held each other close with an intimacy so poignant that it almost brought tears to his eyes.
She was so unexpected.The bride he’d never wanted, but the wife, as it turned out, he needed.
His feelings for her were intensifying, and while he still had reservations, he was unable to deny their growing mutual passion and love.
They lay for a spell, basking in the afterglow of our lovemaking.
The room was filled with a warm, comfortable silence, broken only by the flames and sputter of burning logs in the fireplace.
‘What are you thinking about?’ Saba whispered, her voice soft and vulnerable.
She seemed a little shy with him and sought reassurance.
‘About how ashes can turn into beauty. How sadness can transform into joy, and how blessed I am to have you in my life,’ he murmured, squeezing her hand.
She smiled and ducked her head into his chest as they drifted off to sleep, entwined in each other’s arms.
SABA
Saba and Mak were finding their rhythm.
While Mak immersed himself in his daily duties, Saba visitedThe Sombra’slibrary, where she began by combing through the technical archives stored in the old data silos.
Decoding the marginalia of long-retired engineers, reconstructing patchy project notes, and translating schematics from Signet’s earlier propulsion experiments.
Curiosity set her mind alight.
Keen to see one of the test engines at work, she crept into the Sombra’s engineering annex, a vaulted chamber tucked beside one of the older research bays.
Inside, teams experimented with everything from new flight components to energy stabilizers.
Her Mak-approved credentials got her through the door.
At the first station, she ran into Miral, half-buried in the guts of a hydrogen coil system, grease on her hands and a scanner looped around her neck.
Saba hesitated near the threshold, then stepped closer.
‘Need a hand?’ she asked.
Miral glanced up, blinking in surprise before her expression broke into a crooked grin. ‘If you know how to recalibrate avented scoop array while balancing torque distribution, you’re hired.’
Saba laughed, crouching beside her. ‘I don’t, but I’d love to learn.’
Miral passed her a pair of gloves and a torchlight without a second thought. ‘Have you ever studied engineering?’
‘I did a lot of systems modeling and analytics,’ Saba said, sliding the hand wear on. ‘Propulsion wasn’t my specialty, but I’ve done diagnostic regression across quantum-grade power structures. I’ve been reading up on your work on hydrogen drives. It’s impressive.’
Miral raised an eyebrow. ‘You’ve been scanning our data sets?’
‘Cross-referencing them with older archives,’ Saba admitted. ‘I noticed inconsistencies in the burn rates when H2 gas passes through your shielding filters in the Wildlight sector.’
At that, a whistle sounded from behind a stack of cargo crates.
