either. It’s fucking spectacular. White light leaks through the pores of her skin and I know that if her eyes were open right now, she’d be aiming beams of light at me.
I come. I come hard. Grunting and pushing myself deeper and deeper inside her.
But in that moment I can see her clearly. Her glow illuminates her face and…
I let out a long breath. “Corla?”
Her eyes open. And I was right. She’s aiming her light at me. I have to close my eyes to avoid the sting of brightness.
She closes them again and the room darkens enough for me to look at her.
“Corla,” I pant, unable to believe my eyes.
“Fuck you,” she says, pushing me off her.
And I’m so stunned, I don’t resist. Just topple off to the side. She turns her back to me and I… I’m suddenly at a loss for words.
Where am I? On Harem?
“ALCOR?” I whisper out loud, hopeful. Please. Please, for the love of the sun, be here!
But there’s no answer.
I look at Corla’s back. She’s still glowing a little. The light she emits makes her whole body glisten in the returning hazy darkness.
“Fuck you. I’m going to sleep for a minute because I’m tired. Don’t wake me up.”
“Listen—”
“I said,” she growls, “I’m going to sleep for a minute. I’m fucking exhausted after that light show. I just told you I didn’t like it.”
“Oh.” I’m… a little bit speechless. And now I feel bad. Guilty, actually. Because if I had known it was Corla I’d have been… gentle.
Maybe. Or maybe not. Maybe I’d have been even more of a brute?
Maybe I’d have wanted to punish her for leaving me alone to fight this war by myself twenty-one years ago.
Maybe I’d have fucked her unconscious. Or unleashed a real light show.
I don’t fuck a lot of princesses. I’m their boss in the harem. Feels a little… exploitative. But some of them, when they’re released from their servitude, want to fuck me. And when that happens I let them. So I know what a real light show looks like.
I have fucked a silver princess exactly one time. The day of the breeding ceremony back when Corla and I were sixteen. And none of the princesses in my harem could compare to Corla in her state of unbridled virgin passion.
But the reds put on a good show.
This wasn’t Corla at her best. It was still pretty nice, don’t get me wrong. But if I had known I had Queen Corla underneath me I would have made her come harder.
I sigh and put my hands behind my head, staring up at the ceiling. Her glow is dying down now, but not completely gone.
This is not Harem Station. I know that for sure. The ceiling is too low and there are water stains on it. Like the plumbing is bad on this station. Not even the worst apartments in the lower levels have a ceiling like the one I’m looking at.
But it is a station. I know that for sure. I can feel the slight centripetal force of artificial gravity. I’ve lived in a spin my entire life. It’s sort of comforting. And I can hear the environmental units humming in the walls. When you live on a station in the middle of the deep dark, that constant hum is something you’re always checking for.
That hum is life.
Corla breathes softly next to me and I take a moment to fully appreciate the luck of this new situation.
I know I’m not supposed to be here. I get it. I’m inside the fucking spin node. And maybe this isn’t real, but this moment feels real enough for me. It feels like a fucking gift.
She is sleeping in a bed next to me. And if I get a choice of staying here or going back… well, I’m fucking staying.
Twenty-one years ago I met my soulmate. We took each other’s virginity. And then we went our separate ways.
Star-crossed. For all eternity.
I didn’t like the idea back then but let me tell you, I like it a whole lot less now.
I’m not giving her up.
I’m not leaving.
I’m not going back.
And go back to what, anyway? Luck’s violence? Jimmy’s crazy obsession with Earth? Nyleena’s doomed pregnancy? The threat of Delphi and Tycho exploding the universe? Valor and Veila controlling time and taking over my station? Tray gone or… something? Draden—dead or not, he’s not Draden anymore. Serpint is really the only brother I have left. If Corla wasn’t in bed next to me I might go