“Kaede. If you’d feel more comfortable putting your visor back on, it’s okay. But you don’t ever have to wear it around me. I’m being honest when I say I’m not afraid of you. You have a unique beauty all your own—much like I see in both Xylo and Odelm. I truly don’t see the big deal.”
He tilted his head in my direction and squinted his eyes. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. I mean, I understand you can’t see well in bright lights, so you need your visor, but if we’re ever alone like this, feel free to dim the lights and take your visor off. I bet you’d feel better not having to wear it all the time. It must get annoying.”
I watched him study me and was glad I could finally see his eyes as he did so.
“My visor does much more than protect my eyes from the light, but I’ll think about it if we’re alone like this.”
He turned away from me and grabbed his visor. He reached behind his head, lifting his hair to thread it through the visor’s rear gap. Once the visor was back in its original position, he allowed his hair to fall over it. Using both hands, he pulled the front of the visor down and secured it before pressing a few buttons at the sides. Then he grabbed his drink and took a sip—once again from beneath his cloth drape.
“I appreciate you being honest with me, Selena. I just never met someone who didn’t find me hideous. It’s taking a bit to sink in.”
I smiled and took another sip of my drink.
Perhaps Kaede used his visor as a shield to protect himself from others—to prevent others reacting poorly or rejecting him. More importantly, I could tell—from the quick glance I’d gotten of the inside—it was high-tech. It’d be foolish to assume it was just to protect his eyes or his feelings. I wondered how large a role his visor played in his abilities. He was powerful—he’d proven he could fully control ten drones simultaneously and had mentioned even greater feats. His visor must be part of it and part of why he was so resistant to taking it off.
“Thank you, Kaede. I know that wasn’t easy for you. I’ll remember this moment, and hopefully, we can use it to begin to build a friendship.”
He tilted his head in acknowledgment. “I would like that.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven Odelm
Odelm stood, amazed, in the doorway of the room that now held his belongings.
He knew his collection of instruments took a lot of space—he owned more things than most as the son of two merchants—but he could not believe it all fit, with room to spare. Each of the five spare rooms in the Royal Suites was as large as his entire cabin.
There had been no problem updating his registry. The princes had approved it—perhaps a little surprised—wishing him and Selena well. Xylo had found a few others to help transfer Odelm’s belongings, and the entire move had gone quickly and painlessly. He was the only one still struggling to catch up with the changes.
He glanced at his wristband and noticed the time.
It was getting late.
Odelm closed his door and returned to the social space. Xylo nursed a silver drink, staring out over the terrarium.
“I thought Selena would be here by now,” Odelm said to his nestbrother, concerned at her long absence.
“Check your bond thread,” Xylo said absently, his focus clearly elsewhere. “You should be able to feel her enough to tell she is well. She is with Kaede in his cabin. I am testing him—I want to see what he does with her.”
Odelm closed his eyes and focused on the faint golden thread that connected him to Selena. His bond thread was limited, allowing him only to bypass her mental shields enough to detect any high emotions her aura projected. A few times he’d picked up loudly broadcast thoughts since their bonding, but nothing compared to what the Wudox were able to hear. Right now, her aura was indeed calm, lessening his worry.
“I can sense she is calm, but that does not explain why she is not here.”
Xylo turned around and faced him. “I am assuming she is sleeping, given the peacefulness she is projecting. My question is why she is not sleeping here, where she belongs.”
Their wristbands beeped simultaneously with incoming messages.
Odelm flipped his wristband’s screen up and clicked to read the incoming message.
“SELENA IS SAFE WITH ME IN MY CABIN. WE DECIDED TO COME HERE AND TALK. SHE FELL ASLEEP. I DIDN’T WANT TO DISTURB HER WHILE YOU FINISHED UP. -K”
Odelm reread the message a few times before shutting his wristband’s screen.
He looked up at Xylo.
“I am assuming you got the same message?” Xylo asked, glancing down at Odelm’s wristband.
“About Selena falling asleep in Kaede’s cabin?”
“Yes. It seems Kaede passed my test. Let us go get our nestqueen and bring her back where she belongs.”
Odelm followed Xylo down the hall, but he still could not figure out why Xylo had felt he needed to test Kaede. From what he had seen, Kaede was a respectable male who had been hired to protect her.
Why would Xylo doubt him?
Certainly, some nestmates might feel threatened by an outside male helping protect their nestqueen, but Selena was a unique case. Xylo had proven he was not threatened, given he had not minded Odelm spending so much time alone with Selena. Given all the obstacles facing her, he seemed to feel they could use any help they could get to keep her safe and healthy. But if Xylo saw something that bore watching in Kaede, Odelm would keep a watchful eye on him as well.
As they approached the lift, Xylo stretched a hand out toward a nearby door scanner, but it opened before his hand connected. He paused, glancing with surprise at his hand before walking cautiously through
