NAYTH

  “Kiss Me Always”

  alone like the tide

  questions of a storm

  tear in the moonlight

  and always you, baby.

  besame siempre

  nunca dejes.

  skin on skin

  hips on hips

  lips on lips

  and

  always you, baby.

  besame siempre

  nunca dejes.

  kiss me always

  and never stop

  don’t you stop.

  File name: Untold Stories

  Passcode: 8675309

  I could stay like this forever. And ever. My right arm was around my Methela’s waist, holding her to me, our legs entangled. Tonight she was looking at me, not resting her cheek on my heart like usual.

  I had my eyes closed, and held back the smile that wanted to break out while she traced my cheekbones, my jaw, my neck, looking at me with tenderness and love. She held back a smile too, knowing that I was holding back my smile and knowing that she knew. It was a lot of knowing.

  But mostly she knew I loved her. She finally really knew. And I knew that she loved me back. There had never been any doubt about that. So, I was just lying there letting her love me tenderly, and she was finally ready to.

  She'd finally figured out that this is all I wanted in the world. That I’m a big, soft fool who just wants to lie here smiling at her and feeling her loving me.

  She did love me. Ryst Nova was made of love. She’d asked me if I thought her incapable of hate. I did. I didn’t think Ryst could hate anyone. Be angry? Yes. But she didn’t hate her ex-husband. She’d be genuinely upset if something bad happened to the bastard.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  If Ryst hated anything it was suffering. She loved everything and everyone so much that she couldn’t stand the thought of anyone suffering. She was made of love. And I got to be the one she aimed all that love at.

  Her hand traced down my shoulder and her lips followed. Yeah, Ryst, just like that. Kiss me anywhere and everywhere.

  I saw an image that kept running through her head. My dad, holding her against him, pelvis to pelvis, teaching her the wedding dance. Freya had threatened me with bodily harm if I told Ryst anything at all about the wedding. “Swear it on your left nut, Iqui.”

  “I obediently swear on both my testicles and my manhood to not tell Ryst anything about this wedding. Shall I repeat it on my knees, sister?” She'd just smirked.

  Freya was loving the fake power of being our wedding planner. Freya didn’t know that Ryst didn’t need me to talk out loud. Ryst had been pulling things out of my brain for four years. And maybe longer.

  I couldn’t tell why Ryst kept thinking about dancing with my dad, though. Was it bothering her? She didn’t feel bothered. It was a lot of pelvis, if you weren’t used to dancing Floreno. So, yeah, I supposed I could've been a bit weirded out to dance like that with her grandfather, Denten, if I weren’t Florian.

  I decided to test the waters and held an image in my mind for her to pick up. Freya had only needed to show me the dance once. And Ryst probably didn’t know that it was a variation of a traditional Florian Bride and Groom dance.

  So, I thought really hard about dancing the whole thing through with Freya. Ryst's head popped up. I smiled a big smile then wished I hadn’t stopped her from kissing my shoulder.

  Her eyebrows were raised. Then she got an “Oh” look on her face as understanding fell into place. She just nodded, “I thought so.” So, Freya must’ve sworn her to secrecy too, but she’d obviously figured out that my dad was teaching her a bride and groom dance.

  “Is dancing with Dad making you uncomfortable, Ryst? I keep seeing snatches of it in your mind.”

  “Oh,” she shook her head and screwed up her eyebrows. “No, no, not bothering me. Klear is an excellent dancer, and a great teacher. And his mind is— umm. Hee, hee— his mind is clear. He is full of love and affection and kindness. He’s a big softy in a stodgy suit.”

  Yeah, that was my dad. Ryst had him figured out pretty quick. Perceptive, my Methela.

  “But, well. I danced in Shurwinn. I learned all the dances. They have amazing music and dances, Nayth. You’ll love it. Love it! Bhangra! The drums. I got private lessons.”

  She showed me her memories of Shurwin. How in her martial art, Tindin, sparring was called dancing. She showed me learning the Tindin forms with Denten and sparring as a master of the flow. She showed me her dance teacher and how she'd learned Shurwinn ballroom dances, line dances, and more.

  She’d been nervous because of the Talent, and her teacher had been great with her. Ryst loved Tindin, and she loved dancing.

  I felt it, felt how much she loved those memories. She loved to dance because that was how she felt free and boundless— like she could stretch out beyond her body, beyond the vast desert, and beyond the night sky when she moved through the flow and through the dance steps.

  “Then I danced with Jasen at Alen’s wedding,” sadness entered my Methela’s face as she remembered that night. “And I went home and wrote you a letter saying maybe my Talent wasn’t bothering me as much as it used to because I didn’t really want to connect to other people that intimately. That really, I only wanted to be close like that with you.”

  It was time for the naked portion of the evening to be over. My Methela had danced twice with my dad. She'd danced with a teacher on Shurwinn. She'd danced with Jasen.

  “Then I had the best dream, Nayth.” She showed me the dream in her mind, and my soft heart melted even more.

  “I think I might even like that dream more than the first dream I had where I met you. Or maybe it’s just the continuation of the first dream. It was us. We danced. We danced, and we were starlight. It was the best thing I’ve ever felt.”

  “Let’s get dressed, baby,” I said pulling on my lounge pants. I led her out to the garden, cuing up a sexy boy band song I wrote called “Kiss Me Always.” I played it on repeat— a syrupy song that had a good beat underneath the sappiness. One that encouraged Floreno pelvis rocking.

  In the moonlight, I danced Floreno with my Methela for the first time. She already had the steps from dancing with my father. She knew how to rock her pelvis and sway in time with mine.

  Our bodies already knew the dance. Our hearts already knew the song.

  We’d done it before hadn’t we? We’d always been dancing like this—me and Ryst, with the stars watching and the light of two moons kissing our skin.