The claxon blared through the cool darkness of Melodia’s temporary quarters. Essen gasped as he flung the covers back from his small cot, his foot slightly cold from being on the floor all night. His silver eyes flashed around for Melodia, which left him with an uneasy realization. A few weeks ago, he couldn’t sit in the same room with her, now he searched for her like a lost boy. Essen clutched at his chest. What the hell was that creature doing to him?
The Cazadora was already awake and dressed in the regal black and gold of her order, a mane of pristine feathers around the collar. She jerked her chin up a hair, a small acknowledgement that she had indeed allowed him to sleep in and that he needed to get out of bed. He didn’t know whether to thank or curse her under his breath. On one hand, the extra sleep was nice, but he wouldn’t need it if she wasn’t dragging him along on her exhausting hunts. Essen clenched his teeth from the pain in his hip as he stood. It didn’t matter what he thought, he belonged to her now, however long that would last.
Luz 86b stank like sweat and hopelessness. This far outside of the Sanctuario sector they stopped naming planets. The only reason this many rusted factories were on this forsaken rock was due to the resources the mines pulled from the mineral rich earth. Fat smokestacks belched yellow crackling smoke that fogged what parts of the sky that could be seen through the immense bulk of the tireless factories. The arcane haze stung the back of his throat as the mining car sped along the monorail. Clacking ramshackle boxes like this were the only way to get around. Flying was not possible in the eccentric energies the factories gave off. Anything in this hazy concrete jungle was for mining or refinement, and even a figure as illustrious as a Cazadora of Her Inquisition was forced to take a mine tram like a common digger.
Essen eyed the workers on their way to the nexus, studying their ore-stained faces. He recognized that aura of resignation. Just like him, they knew they were expendable, and if their superiors wanted them to work for sixteen hours, either they did it, or someone else would. His eyes slid over to his mistress who kept the shoulder spanning brim of her gaucho over her face. She stuck out like a towering goddess in this place, the black scales of her sword cloak glittering from the sickly yellow night sky. At least the workers understood their worth. As for him, he wasn’t so sure what Melodia needed him for. She was a beautiful dragonesa, a scion of the Los Ascendidos, storied and regal as a statuesque cathedral. What was a washed up voidrigger compared to that? Nothing, and that was easier to replace than a refinery operator.
So much sulking made him yawn for his double rod cot, and he stretched his muscles to squeeze the melancholy out of his body. What he would give to be asleep and ignorant of that inevitable fate that awaited him.
“Sleepy,” Melodia asked.
With her hat so low he didn’t expect her to be paying attention to him at all. The last thing he needed was to look like some useless lay a bout that needed to nap every five minutes.
“Just waking up is all, Cazadora.”
Her hat lifted, allowing him to see the doubtful frown on her red lips.
“Hmph. Still waking up after an hour and seventeen minutes?”
He shrugged.
“I didn’t get breakfast,” he said.
Melodia raised a single obsidian claw to her chin in mock thoughtfulness.
“How odd. This is the first time you’ve asked me to feed you…”
Her claw slid down her neck and to the crow-faced studs on her armored corset and tapped the metal over her breasts.
“…And in public no less.”
Face hot with embarrassment, Essen turned his entire body away.
“People food. Humans need… Ya know what I meant.”
She let him recover for a pensive moment.
“Why would you need human food, broodling?”
Essen clutched at his chest, swallowing nervously as the alien creature twitched inside of him. Nebulose energy spilled out of it when he remembered it was there, poking at his thoughts with its unnatural, whispery tendrils. He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes tight and drove the alien presence away.
“I’m still human,” he said more to himself than to Melodia.
“No,” she said, her large hand coming to rest on his shoulder, drawing him closer. “You’re still tired.”
Hiding him under the shade of her wide brimmed hat, Melodia tucked him into the crook of her long and powerful arm.
“But…” he protested.
“Hush.”
The smoky scent of spiced vanilla and tobacco clung to her, the smell now almost more familiar than his own. The hilt of her sword prodded his rib and he adjusted himself, cuddling up to her completely by accident. Essen’s skin prickled as questioning stares of the workers on the monorail wandered over to him, watching a grown man be tucked under a woman’s arm like a obstinate boy who needed a nap. Only to the outsider did this look so wholesome. He knew better. It was only a matter of time. People don’t stick around unless there’s a reason to. However, Melodia was surprisingly warm, and her presence had a way of making his eyelids heavier than they should be.
She took the armored cloak and draped it over his face, closing him in the darkness of her familiar scent and warmth. The rhythmic bump of rail lengths and Melodia’s strong heartbeats lulled his eyes closed.
‘Enjoy it’, said a hopeless voice inside him, ‘it won’t last.’
And it never did. Almost as quickly as it came, the comforting darkness lifted. It was darker in the tunnels but even the flickering tram lights made him squint. Every day light grew a little more unpleasant, his hunger a little more stubborn and the whispers a little louder.
He was on his back somehow, his head cradled on Melodia’s comfortable thighs. Her gold irises watched over him from beneath the wide shade of her hat, the very same color as setting suns. That stoic face gave nothing away, but the gentleness of her voice was as warm as a familiar blanket.
“Better?”
He nodded and tried to get up but she put a hand on his chest, holding him in place. Melodia leaned down so only he could hear.
“I hope so, for your sake. Stay close to me. These tunnels aren’t secure.”
The Cazadora’s warning chilled his blood. Swallowing, Essen whispered back.
“Why?”
She hauled him up and straightened his lightly armored jerkin, her hands fussing over the haphazard state of his gear.
“Monsters, little one.”
I’m nearly done with this novella. Thank you for reading.
Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/xukphy/wip_bloodstar_empire_abandoned_f45_m25_gentle
>let’s play https://linktr.ee/taisygold
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