DEX
DEX SAT ON the edges of the crowd, watching the dancers and enjoying the feel of two mugs of Jurum thrumming through his bloodstream.
This was the type of place he lived for. Dancing women, so beautiful and full of life that he should have been desperate to join the crowd. He’d been asked several times to dance, once even by a woman who’d even offered to buy him a mug of Jurum as she approached him on the edge of the crowd.
She could have been the woman of his dreams. But tonight...Dex didn’t care.
In truth, all he cared about was catching a glimpse of Andi in the crowd.
Andi, with her “stab you in the balls and laugh at you as you scream” eyes.
Andi, who flung insults as sharp as her electric swords.
Andi, who’d stolen his heart and later his ship.
Andi, whom he’d betrayed.
Andi, Andi, Andi. Her name echoed through his mind like a flock of Adhiran siren birds.
“Crap,” Dex muttered.
Something was truly wrong with him. Maybe he’d fallen ill. Maybe Alfie had given him too strong of a painkiller when the AI had patched him up on the ship a few days before.
Or maybe, an obnoxious voice in the back of Dex’s mind whispered, being back here, on the planet where you once had the luxury of being Androma’s, is screwing with your brain.
Dex shook his head. He’d been on land for far too long. Once he was back on board his ship, locked in close quarters with Androma Racella, he’d come to his senses again and realize she had absolutely no interest in a future with him.
He had hoped that telling her the truth about what happened years ago would help mend the break between them. That they could start over—maybe they’d never again share the intimacy they once had, but perhaps they could have become friends.
But since their conversation, Andi had done her best to avoid him. He hadn’t pushed her. He knew she needed time to process the truth, and perhaps she’d never forgive him.
Perhaps true forgiveness—a resurrection of their past—would never come.
Dex shook his head and turned his attention to his third mug of Jurum for the first time since he’d bought it. He’d been too busy with his stupid, traitorous thoughts to pay attention to what was really important to him.
Getting star-blindingly drunk.
Right as he lifted it to his lips, the liquid having long since stopped bubbling, his gaze drifted to the dance floor that was slowly expanding into a circle. Dancers swayed left and right, clapping and stomping their feet to the steadily growing beat.
As they twirled and parted into halves, Dex caught a flash of white and purple hair. A woman with her arms raised to the sky, her hips swaying like they were rocking in time with a hidden current.
His heart eased a bit at knowing where Andi was.
As if that mattered. He didn’t care. He knew he didn’t care, and yet his mind—which he was absolutely certain was malfunctioning now—was tricking him into thinking that he did.
“Idiot,” Dex murmured into his mug before downing the contents in a single chug. He knew he’d regret it tomorrow when he woke up.
Androma.
Her name whispered into his mind. Past the Jurum, past the wall he’d tried to build up.
He saw for the first time that she was the main spectacle the circle had been formed for. This Andi was so unlike the one he knew. She glided across the sand as if it were a polished dance floor. She spun in circles and twirled through the air, landing lightly as a feather. Her arms and legs performed dances of their own, flowing with the wind that fluttered through the desert.
She was sound and wind and movement. The elements that made up the world were hers to command.
And in this moment, he could see only her.
The rest was background noise.
Dex watched as she swayed forward and grabbed a hand in the crowd, bringing the observer into her dancing spell. Though his mind felt stuffed with cotton, Dex could still register the annoyance he felt upon seeing that the person was Valen.
The pretty little package all tied up like a bow, ready to be delivered to General Cortas.
Valen seemed cast in a shroud of undulating shadows as she danced around him. He stood there in a trance of his own, eyes glazed over, body barely rocking to the music.
The crew joined them, Breck and Gilly and Lira laughing as they danced around Andi.
She laughed with them.
The sound of it made Dex’s blood sing, but the laugh hadn’t been for him, and at the thought of that, fury raced through him, shocking him like a spark of fire.
Damn it all to hell and back.
Even with his head muddled by Jurum, Dex couldn’t blame the intoxicating brew for what he knew he was about to do.
Tonight, he was going to be an idiot.
He would deal with the repercussions tomorrow.
He moved forward on instinct, breaking through the crowd, their cheers roaring against him.
“Andi.” His voice was a low, purring whisper. Smooth as the Jurum running through his veins.
She wasn’t his—never truly had been, and never would be.
That was what undid him.
She didn’t see him approach at first, but when she spun around, she stopped, gaze transfixed on him. Valen’s eyes widened, and he took a step back, then another, until he faded away into the crowd.
“Dex,” Andi said.
At first Dex thought she was going to punch him for interrupting her show.
He braced himself for the impact, readied himself for a fight, despite the warmth running through him, the ground undulating beneath his feet like rocking waves. But instead of curling her fists, Andi did the complete opposite.
She ran to him, leaping the last few steps into his waiting arms.
“Dance with me,” she whispered, her breath tickling his lips.
Her words were full of such passion, Dex almost fell.
Her lips were so close as she pressed her body against his.
“Andi,” Dex breathed her name like a sigh. “We shouldn’t do this.”
And yet as he held her in his arms, pressing her tightly to his chest, he didn’t want to let go. There wasn’t any space between them, and he reveled in their closeness, in the familiarity of it, the strong sense of balance between the two of them that had always made them so great.
“We should,” she said.
So long, he’d wanted this without even knowing.
His mind screamed at him to stop, that she wasn’t thinking straight, but his body hungered for more. She was looking at him like she used to, long ago. Her fingers were digging into his back.
The world around them fell away. The past disappeared, swept away in an instant.
Just before their lips touched, the desert exploded in a blast of fire and light.