Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

** This story is free to read on RoyalRoad.com **

If you are reading this on another site it is a pirated copy. If you enjoy the story please read it on RoyalRoad.

You can find the official updated story here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/122374/stars-dancing-dreams-to-lovers-romance

PEYDRAN

"This is Ryst and Nayth's casita," I said as I motioned Nika and Borden across the threshold.

Their kids were settled in our media room with Euri, pizza, and all the audiovisual equipment you could ask for, so they'd be happy while we snuck off to do adult things. Not the fun kind of adult things. The "I'm sorry your childhood friend is missing" kind of adult things.

Nika went all through the casita, looking intently at everything, but Borden stopped in the middle of the living room. "You know that Nayth's laughter would have cracked that stadium and turned the whole thing to rubble if I hadn't been there to stop it, right?" he asked.

"What?" My face contorted in utter confusion.

"I can't pretend to understand what's happening, Peydran, but that stadium almost came down around us all."

Borden raised his left hand and light brown liquid appeared in it. Liquid that shaped itself into five small spheres the size of lacrosse balls. He set them down on the kitchen counter one by one.

They weren't lacrosse balls. They were sandstone spheres, little miniatures that were covered in land masses and buildings and mountains with tiny trees and flowers. I stepped back, jaw agape.

"Fucking sands below! Ryst said Nika—" I started.

But Ren cut me off giggling a delighted laugh and saying, "Show him yours, Pey'o."

I smiled and every piece of hover-capable wireless technology shot from every pocket and every cupboard. Gaming equipment burst up from the downstairs media room. Nika "eeped," from the bedroom as her pad was pulled out of her pocket and flew into the living room. A wall of tech formed between me and Borden.

"Fuuu-uuuu-uuuck-ii—iiiiii-ing clouds! Carmidee, you bastard! How many secrets are there, you pig?! Damn you, Nayth." Nodding, Borden continued, "Alright. This is starting to make sense—"

"Sense?!" I demanded. "What kind of sense? There is no sense here. This is nonsense, if anything. What the fuck did you just do, Borden? And what happened to the stadium?"

Calmly, Borden explained, "You know how Ryst could sense minds and feelings? I sense minerals. I can move them about. Nayth— I have no idea what that was, but I heard him laughing, and I know your son did, and you probably did too. Don't even try to deny it. But his laughter shook the sandstone of nearly the whole fucking sphere of Shurwinn, and it almost shook the stadium to bits. I stopped it and stabilized the sphere so the whole place didn't rock with endless earthquakes."

"Fucking fuck balls of fuck," I cursed.

Ren kept giggling with glee. He was probably gonna write a sonnet about all of this. I hoped he'd put my creative curses in it.

"What happened to Nayth and Ryst, Peydran?" Borden demanded.

I rubbed the heels of my hands into my eyes and sent a zillion commands to all the tech, returning it to its rightful places. Nika was in the office going through the bookshelf.

I went to the fridge, but there wasn't anything in it, of course. Why didn't I bring some ale with us? I sent a request to Amran to bring up ale and snacks and motioned to the dining room.

"We might as well sit down and get comfortable. Look, we don't know what happened, Borden. You were at the concert. You're supernatural. You know Ryst is supernatural. Something inexplicable happened to them last year. I looked everywhere. There were no bodies. They didn't disappear into the woods or the desert. All of their belongings were here in their house. Their porter was here, all their shoes, all their things. They didn't leave. They didn't die. They didn't go off sphere."

"The best thing I can tell is that they vanished into thin air. Ren and the boys still hear them regularly in songs and dreams. I felt Nayth once about six months ago, and then you were at the concert just now. The whole reason Dwin and Euri put on that concert was to communicate with their Uncle Nayth and Aunt Ryst because they wanted to tell them how much they love them. I don't know that I can tell you anything more than that. Ask me anything, and I'll tell you the truth."

Nika was pulling books off the bookshelf, one at a time and rifling through the pages like she was going to find some clues or something. Amran came in with a load of ale and snacks, then quickly retreated. I dug into some nori rolls with avocado and cucumber, and Ren passed around bread and cheddar spread.

Borden nodded, "Fair enough. From my perspective, Klear Caarmidee, Nayth's dad, finished his term as Minister. He left Carmidee Manufacturing to me and recommended me for Sturm Minister of Manufacturing. Then he retired to Floria to be with Fahnca and Freya, and I rarely ever hear from him. He hasn't been to LaGrange in over a decade."

"Nayth finished his Galactic Ministry position and for all intents and purposes retired. He was still President of Carmidee Hospitality, but he made Rahel CEO and pretty much left everything in his hands. I asked Klear once if we should be worried about Nayth and all he said was, 'My son wants to live a quiet life with his wife. We can let him have that, can't we, Borden?' It's like the Carmidees stopped existing."

I hadn't known that about Klear. I'd been too busy raising my kids and living life to pay attention to what was happening on other spheres.

"But two decades ago when we met Ryst, before they got married, Annika and I told them our plans. We showed them my Talent, and Nika's. No, she doesn't reshape matter with her will. Nika just knows intrinsically who is trustworthy, and she can tell when people have Talents."

"So far, our kids haven't shown obvious signs of being like me, but they aren't exactly ordinary either. For decades, we've been working on the Five Spheres." He nodded to the mini-planets he'd made out of thin air.

"We came to Shurwinn networking. For years, I've been getting to know Shurwinn in the Ministry and through Carmidee Manufacturing. No one knew I was Talented until yesterday when I met with Sorchen Duvald and a group of people she recommended. I showed them exactly who I am and told them exactly what I want to do because my wife knew that I could trust all of them with the truth."

"What we found out in return was such a shock, I'm still not sure I can believe it. Did you know that the sphere you live on is only one of fifty-nine Shurwinn colonies, Peydran?"

My face contorted in confusion. "What?"

Borden nodded. "All ten of the spheres in this system are Shurwinn, though they don't use that name or reputation. They're independent. And across Andromeda, there are forty-eight more Shurwinn spheres. The Five Spheres that I just made models of? Those are the Five Spheres that Nika and I want Produced by Peydran to help us colonize. Five Spheres for Talented. And apparently, augments who can control tech will be needing a safe harbor too."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"What?!" I screeched. "What the holy fucks are you talking about!? Spheres of Talented? Augments? Are you insane?" Screeching. I screeched at the crazy man.

Ren, however, leaned forward in his chair, intrigued. "Plauda? Trearen? All the spheres of our system are Shurwinn?"

"Practically speaking, yes. Sorchen can tell you all about it. They don't call themselves 'Shurwinn,' but when they left Earth centuries ago, the separatists colonized fifty-nine spheres, not just your home world. Shurwinn was the only one that went loudly into the 9 Galaxies declaring themselves to be isolationist. That was intentional. This sphere took the heat so attention was diverted from all the other colonies."

"At first, all fifty-nine spheres had a plan to work together. But time happened, and people stopped caring. They settled on their spheres. All of the colonies were successful, and their shared history was lost to time. Some people remembered, and the stories were recorded."

"Sorchen said it's easy to find the truth if you look for it, but people don't look. So, most of the people from these fifty-nine spheres are like your family. They don't know the history, and neither does the rest of the Known Cosmos."

"Holy fuck balls." My whole world re-wrote itself, trying to make sense of this. "Why the hell do you need to colonize more spheres, Borden? Can't you just move your family here?"

He shook his head. "No, firstly, the population of Shurwinn is becoming a problem. How do you think you were able to settle Centre so easily, so quickly? Where did 150,000 people come from practically overnight? Because the oases are bursting at the seams, and you don't have anymore land to develop. Within a generation, the Shurwinn need to migrate or you're going to run out of room. Your Ministers know this. They support my vision. I'm an answer to a need they've known about for decades."

"Secondly, because Nika and I want to do something good for the Known Cosmos. Think about it, Peydran. Ryst isn't Shurwinn. She's from Starlend. Nayth's Florian/Sturm. Nika is from Trauton 4. How many other Talented are there spread across the 9 Galaxies? There have to be others."

"Not to mention whatever you're doing with tech. I can't believe you're the only augment who has figured out how to control tech. Doesn't everyone deserve a home where they can feel safe and be themselves? That's what I want to accomplish for my kids and their kids and future generations."

I was rubbing my hands over my head when Nika said, "Here. Finally. This. What is this?" pulling a thin wood box off of Ryst's bookshelf. She brought it over to the table and slid it in front of me.

"Humph," I said, running my human fingers over the black symbol burned into the lid of the box. "This is an ankh. It's an Ancient Earth symbol meaning 'eternal life.' Ryst saw it in a vision when she was in a coma on Starlend. It's what started it all."

Ren was humming "Stars Dancing" as I lifted the lid off of the box. Inside was a piece of thick parchment paper with Ryst's handwriting on it. Borden, Nika, and Ren gathered behind me, reading over my shoulders as I read Ryst's letter.

Being of sound mind, I, Ryst Nova-Carmidee, hereby bequeath my entire estate

and all I own to Peydran Crieve-Madrano.

Furthermore, in one-hundred fifty years time,

I allow the full contents of this box and the book in it to be published in its original form.

Along with that, I allow the publication of all I have written,

including the hand-written journals which are stored under my bed.

So let it be written and let it be known.

Ryst Nova-Carmidee.

6/13/2057

"Ryst, what did you do? What did you know? What did you see, Ryst? Why the fuck didn't you tell me?" I whispered.

"Is this legally binding?" Borden asked.

Ren and I both nodded and said, "Yes," at the same time.

Borden got up and went into the bedroom and came back carrying a large black container. Inside were stacks of spiral notebooks. Ryst's journals.

I returned my attention to the little wood box on the dining table in front of me and lifted the letter out of the box, pulling out the small book that was inside. It was so pretty. Delicate. Pink ribbon and cream silk. I opened the cover, and found the true title page of a book I'd published on stream decades ago.

Within and Without:

A Tindin Journey With Erotica

by Ryst Nova

"Nayth's copy," Ren said, reminding me of something I hadn't thought about in years.

"Wait, Ryst is Sibsil Creed?" Annika asked. "Well, hells bells! Talk about secrets. When we will ever get to the bottom of all of this? I always thought this book was a lark! And now— wait— is it all true? Those stories? Is that what really happened with the two of them?"

"Nayth did say she found him in dreams," Borden reminded her.

Ren nodded, "It's all true. It really happened."

I nodded confirmation.

"Well, I've got more for you, Peydran. Brace yourself for the next wave." Annika opened her shoulder bag and pulled out a small, worn book and slid it in front of me. "This is from Nayth's antique book collection. I found it three days ago. You'll want to see what's inside."

I ran my fingers over the title on the front of the book, but I couldn't read it.

"It's Sturm," Borden said, "It says The Pathless Path. Nayth read it when we were fourteen."

I opened the book and inside was an envelope with my name on it. Sands! Not another letter.

Being of sound mind, I Nayth Nova-Carmidee

hearby bequeath my entire estate and all that I own to Peydran Crieve-Madrano.

6/13/2057

File name: Untold Stories

Passcode: 8675309

My stomach fell and kept going down, down, and down. "Is this legally binding?" I asked, my voice flat.

"Yes," Borden replied. "We didn't look at the files, but I brought drives for you in case you can't access his pad."

"Why didn't they tell me?" I demanded in a whisper. "What is this?" I was practically hissing.

"Pey'o, this is the tangle. I don't think they knew—"

I cut Ren off. "They knew something, Ren! They knew enough to write these documents. Then they hid them! They could have told us!"

Ren kept shaking his head, "I don't think so, Peydran. Not this time. I don't think they really knew. The tangle wasn't like that. All they probably had were tiny threads, and they probably just wrote something down, not knowing what it was about. Like when I sometimes jot down song lyrics in the middle of the night then find them weeks later having no memory of it."

"I don't think they knew, but I think this is the real tangle. It wasn't Centre Oasis. It wasn't their marriage. It wasn't their wedding. It wasn't Within and Without. It was all of that, but it was the Five Spheres and the Talented and the future of Shurwinn. That's why Ryst always said it was so big. Because this is so much more. Do you think Ryst really knew that there were fifty-nine Shurwinn colonies on other spheres?"

I sat back, shaking my head and rubbing my eyes. My head was going to explode.

"What else? Does anyone else have anything insane to say tonight? How much more madness do we need to talk about?"

Borden chuckled, "I'm all out of good news. But if there's any clues in all of this, it looks like Ryst foresaw you'd need 150 years to produce this."

"Produce what, exactly, Borden?" I snapped. "And 150 years— what? Am I going to live to be 200? Is that what Ryst foresaw? I'm an augment, not an immortal blood-sucking vampire from a fantasy graphic for fuck's sake!"

Ren giggled. I was losing it, and he thought it was funny.

"Stop that, Ro. I'm about to lose my mind and say something I'll regret later, so do not goad me right now," I commanded him.

Ren pinched his lips together. "I love you, honey," he tried.

I stood up, pacing like Ryst used to do. "Curse you, Ryst Nova. And all your fucking stars. 150 years. What does that even mean?"

I raised my fist to the sky, "Nayth Carmidee, you bastard," I shouted at the ceiling. "What the fuck did you do? I do not want your stupid money and your stupid hotels. Do you think I have time to run your dumb businesses for you? What the fuck am I supposed to do with these stupid, stupid letters!?"

"You're not even dead, you damn bastard. What am I supposed to tell the banks? Or inspection? 'I'm sorry officer, they disappeared into thin air. No, my husband and I didn't kill them and bury them in the desert. Everything is completely normal in Centre Oasis. All above board. Ship shape. My life makes perfect sense. Nothing to see here!"

Ren, Borden, and Nika doubled over laughing. I couldn't laugh yet. I was lost in madness.

"Raaaaargh!" I shouted. "WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO, RYST?!"

Every speaker in the house blared to life playing "Dream! Dream with me now. Sing with me always. Sing from your heart a song from the stars. Sing with me always. Dream with me now," and I hadn't been the one to start the music.

I stopped, dead still, and listened to the song my sons had written a few minutes ago. Where did the recording come from? The song ended and everything went quiet.

I sat down at the table, heels of my hands rubbing my eyes. "Borden, I want nothing to do with Carmidee Hospitality."

He nodded, "Okay Peydran, I can help you. You can sign it over to Rahel. You don't have to own it if you don't want it."

"What am I going to do with Nayth's fortunes? I don't want that kind of money. I don't think Nayth even wanted it."

"I can think of five things to do with it," Borden said, nodding to the mini-spheres that rested on the table in front of us. "You can handle Five Spheres, and now you have the money for it. And I think that's probably why Nayth left everything to you."

"Peydran," Ren said. "It's going to be okay. I'm gonna help. We're going to figure this out. I promise. I know it's going to be okay. We're going to be okay. You're going to be okay."

He slid his fingers through mine, and I believed him.