Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

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"Dream With Me Now!"

Dream! Dream with me now! Dream! Dream with me now!

Sing with me always. Sing with me always.

Dream with me now. Sing from your heart!

A song from the stars. Sing with me always.

Dream! Dream with me now! Dream! Dream with me now!

Sing with me always. Sing with me always.

Sing from your heart! A song from the stars; no time and no place:

Dream! Dream with me now! Dream! Dream with me now!

Sing with me always. Sing with me always. Sing from your heart! Sing with me now.

Sing with me always. Sing with me always. Dream with me now!

- Dwinlyn and Euridyne Crieve-Madrano, 2758

PEYDRAN

"I know, Euri, I know. We've got everything. I went over all the lists three times. Everything is ready to go." I shut the porter door on my nervous son, and my pad buzzed. I hovered it in front of me with a thought and opened up a message. Humph. Was not expecting that.

Borden: Madrano, we need to talk. Immediately. It cannot wait. We're in Media Oasis with our kids. We'll come to Centre.

I did a quick recon. Nika and Borden Sloan had fifteen-year-old twins, a girl and a boy. What the heck were they doing on Shurwinn? We hadn't heard from Nayth's childhood friends since the big Nova-Carmidee wedding of the millennia two decades ago.

Peydran: My boys are putting on a concert in two hours at Centre Stadium. Join me and Ren in the front row. Stay in our guest suite. See you tonight.

I sent him all the details and hoped that would pacify whatever he needed. I had a thousand things to do to help Euri who was really nervous about the concert. Dwin was the entertainer of the two of them, and Euri preferred to be behind the scenes, so he was producing the whole show. He was only fifteen, for crying out loud, so it was a lot to put on his shoulders.

His brother wasn't much older, but Dwin loved crowds and loved being the center of attention, so he did not mind at all putting Euri on the spot and turning up the pressure.

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I slid into the porter next to my son. "Euri, you've prepared. Remember what we've always talked about. We prepare. We plan. Then we execute, expecting things to go wonky, but people never know when we mess up because they're coming to a show just for entertainment. It's all new to them so they don't notice the slip ups. Are you gonna be okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, Dad."

"I'm proud of you, no matter what happens, alright?"

He nodded and rolled his eyes. "I'm not twelve, Dad. Let's do this."

I smiled. He was gonna be fine.

Play "Dream With Me Now" by Dwin and Euri Crieve-Madrano.

"Laaaadies and gents! Thank you for joining us this evening for a truly unusual musical adventure called 'Unwritten, Unrehearsed!' Did you know that you came tonight not only to be entertained, but to be the entertainers? My name is Dwinlyn Crieve-Madrano, and I'm joined by my brother Euridyne backstage producing."

"You, folks, are the performers tonight. But how are you going to perform a song without lyrics? Let's get to writing them, eh? Turn your attention to the screens in front of you. Vote now, everyone. See those lyrics? Put them in order of your favorite, from best to worst. What are you waiting for, get to voting! I'm gonna start snapping."

"Snap, snap, snap," went Dwin's fingers in a mic. "Tonight's performance is a love song to two people made of dreams who love snapping boy bands, dancing beyond stars, writing songs about pots, and loving all things with all that they are. You thought you came for a fun night out, eh? Nah! This is work! We're songwriting, people!"

Snaps broke out all over the stadium as the crowd joined in, and results of the voting rolled across the big screen up front.

"Our number one riff is 'Dream! Dream with me now,'" Dwinlyn sang softly, motioning to the crowd on the eastern side to sing with him. Lyrics and musical scores appeared on the big screens. People all over the stadium sang along with Dwin, "Dream, dream with me now . . ."

Next to me, Ren typed into his pad: "Euri, turn on my mic." Obviously, he'd gotten inspired about something. Curious about what he was up to, I kept one eye on the concert while I watched Ren next to me.

Ren smiled at me then sang out, "Pot, oh, oh, oooooh, oh, oh," and it blasted through the speakers.

Dwinlyn cackled, and raising his arms above his head, announced, "Laaaadies and gentlemen, my father, Ren Crieve-Madrano!"

"Strands, chord, Oh, oh, oooooh, oh, oh, This is myyyyy pot song! My pot song!" Ren kept riffing, a sound worthy of gods, and I laughed as he sang Nayth's least favorite song, bewildered, but trusting he knew what he was doing.

"Ho! Ho! Whoop! Whoop!" rang out everywhere.

Then I understood Ren because something I hadn't expected happened: laughter from beyond the stars shook the stadium. It was a sound both familiar and otherworldly at once.

"Strinch!" Borden shouted next to me, and the ground stopped shaking.

Dwinlyn came to a complete standstill, his face agape as though seeing a ghost or a miracle, and then all joy illuminated him.

I felt it too, and Ren stilled next to me.

Then Dwin jabbed his right fist at the tympanies and his left at the dhol drums. He swept across the glass orchestra and their tones rang out. Then he slammed out commands over every screen:

"BROTHER THEY ARE HERE. TECHNO BOOST! NOW!"

Lyrics scrolled over every screen.

"EVERYONE: HOLD NOTHING BACK. GIVE ME EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT! NOW! SING, PEOPLE! SING FOR THE STARS!"

Dwinlyn ran to the keyboards, whole body pounding out a tune as the stadium erupted with sound. Lights flashed, lightening flew out of the ground.

The earth shook again, and Borden cursed once more.

I stripped off my shirt and lost myself in a mad frenzy of movement that was half dance half war dervish.

A voice boomed over the speaker, and I realized it was my son:

"FATHER SING! SING FATHER! SING NOW!"

Ren opened his mouth and over the speakers the sounds beyond the cosmos poured out of my husband in a torrent of words I had no ears to hear.

For my heart overflowed with a feeling I had not known in decades, and my mind was filled with silver light. I heard Ryst singing. She filled my heart and soul to overflowing, and Nayth's laughter joined her in perfect harmony.

I do not know how long it went on.

It was love. It was music. It was light.

It was cacophony. It was soul. It was passion.

It was every sweet thing you have ever tasted.

It was a punch in the face.

It was beyond rapture. Beyond madness. Beyond all things.

I didn't want it to stop. I thought I would explode if it didn't.

Tears poured down my face as I danced to music beyond the stars.

All in one moment all sound died. The lights went out.

A pause.

Did the world just end?

The stadium erupted in thunderous applause as pink and white flower petals poured down from above.

The concert was over.

Chest heaving, Borden gripped my upper arms in strong hands, "Madrano, we have to talk. It cannot wait."

I nodded. It had been coming, hadn't it? Nayth had disappeared a year ago.

Eventually, someone was gonna come looking for him.