Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

SLYDAR

Waking up tangled in Rory was the only way to go. Oh, sorry you'll never know for yourself. So, let me tell you about it.

Sly.

I know, baby. I got you. I pressed my hips into hers, pushing against that spot that needed me most. You can let go, Rory. Don't worry, baby. I feel how bad you need it.

Sly!

Yeah, let it rise, babe. That's it. Good girl.

I forgot to talk 'cuz she crested, and it ripped us both in two. That's how good it was waking up next to Aurora Grace.

Or, rather, that's how good it was when we'd been in my wagon. The starliner across the galaxy was another matter entirely.

Whose brilliant idea was this? I complained.

Let's blame it on Uncle Ronnie.

The shower was nice for a starliner, but we had eleven people crammed into four cabins sharing one bathroom. There was a potty schedule. If anyone got a stomach bug, it would be a disaster.

You wanted to know what it was like traveling across Andromeda, didn't you? Well, imagine your family in a hotel with no where else to go for two straight weeks, all sharing one bathroom. That's how great it was.

Yeah, lovebirds Slydar and Rory had to share a bedroom with her Auntie and Uncle. Even better. Doesn't this space romp sound like a great time? You're ready to book a flight, I know.

Ronnie's a hero, Rory. We can't diss him, I told her on the mental plane.

Laughter from my girl. Her uncle was a hero. He'd gone all the way to Maglen Galaxy to rescue a friend from his own stubbornness and had managed to convince my directionless siblings to get their shit together. Hero.

So, I put away my bad mood, got dressed, and Rory and I headed to the kitchen to start breakfast. Oatmeal for the lot of them. It went on that way for two weeks.

We stopped at Slourend Four to tour the Cavern of Lights I'd heard about my whole life. It was the miraculous place on Muller's home world that drew Talented like moths to a lantern, and I got to see where my dad grew up.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The cave and its crystals were worthy of the title "Like Nothing Else in Andromeda," and even better, I got two nights in a jungle hut with Rory. I've already told you how good it was to wake up with her next to me, so Slourend got five stars from me.

Then we made surface fall at Nineton on the sphere called Uno, and woah. Sure, I'd watched the videos of Borden growing Five Spheres out of the ground, but even that didn't prepare me for a city that was made of moonstone (or something like it).

Confused? Well, not all Talented are like me— just mental talkers. Borden Sloan was a true magician. You can read about him in Books 2 and 3, but I'll give you the short of it: I sense minds. Borden senses minerals. Then he communicates with them. Tells them what to do. They melt, move, and reshape themselves into whatever he commands.

Yeah, imagine him standing on a cold, snow-covered tundra, hills not far off, sun low in the sky. Then the snow starts to shift. It's quiet, eerily so, and something that looks like milk starts flowing out of the ground and pushing upwards. The liquid flows, moves, shapes itself into a city, and solidifies. That's the man who planned and built the Five Spheres colonies for the special.

I was a believer. A convert. I'd probably go radicalized. And checking into our hotel turned me into a zealot.

Oh no, the building was made from Borden's stone, but the rest of it was just like normal. Only, Rory and I got a suite on the twenty-ninth floor with a balcony that looked over the whole city of Nineton, so we could see everything.

All the people milling below. The beauty of buildings that looked like sculpture. And the research hospital across the street where my dad had an appointment with Dr. Marks, cyberneticist to the renegades.

I went with my dads when they saw the specialist, but waited in the lobby, listening to music and trying not to worry. Slick kept an open connection to all of us, mentally telling everyone what the cyberneticist said about dad's cancer-riddled foot.

She was willing to operate, but first she wanted a cancer specialist to evaluate the staging in case things had changed in the weeks since treatment had been delayed.

It was good news. And even crazier, the doctor knew my dad had hacked his relay. Yeah, he had a metal shoulder and arm from a bad accident years ago. He'd gotten off-the-records cybernetic surgery. It hadn't gone well 'cuz of infection, but he survived and got better with a special nutrition plan and love from my other dad Slick.

It hadn't taken him long to hack the cybernetic relay in his brain that made the metal arm move. Once he'd done that, he could control any wireless tech with his thoughts alone. Which was amazing, but just gave him another reason to fear authority.

He was afraid if someone found out, he'd get taken to some type of lab or something. He probably wasn't wrong about that. So, it was just one more reason he hid himself away.

Then he'd gotten melanoma and survived for eight years no problem. Until it came back. And now, he'd go through another amputation and augmentation.

Rory ran her hands over my tense shoulders. I remembered to relax. I was on a strange planet with miraculous surroundings and even more unbelievable people. Nothing was familiar, but with her by my side, I wondered if it could eventually feel like home.