The Wind and the Horizon (Book 2 in the Starborn Series)

Chapter Forty-Seven

May awoke slowly; a measured and drawn-out exhale.

As her mind slid from a pool of sleep to the shore of wakefulness, she became aware of someone was watching her. There was a soft depression in the mattress beside her, indicating her watcher was sitting close.

It wouldn't be the first time May had awakened to find Em watching her sleep, a soft smile on her lips and love shining in her diamond blue eyes.

Reaching out, May fumbled for Em with a blind hand. She wasn't quite ready to commit to waking up yet, and she kept her eyes closed in protest.

Her hand landed on a small head covered in course, closely cropped hair. May frowned. It felt nothing like the silver wisps of Em's.

A giggle startled her.

Her eyes snapped open to find a cherubic face grinning back at her.

"Omi!" May gasped, jolting upright. She was completely awake now.

"Hi, auntie!" her nephew chirped, excitement sparkling in his obsidian eyes. He scampered across the mattress and into his aunt's waiting arms.

May clutched the boy close and blinked away tears of surprise and happiness. She had forgotten everything - WIND, what had transpired between her and Em, the fact that she was back in Omea after so long away - and had been certain she was waking up to just another day with the woman she loved. Half of her heart was already in mourning over the fleeting dream, but she was too overcome by the delight of being reunited with her nephew to grieve too deeply.

"Look at you!" she exclaimed, peppering kisses all over the boy's face and hair. "You're all grown up! I almost didn't recognize you!"

How could a single year change so much? When May had last seen Omi, she saw a tentative, wobbling toddler. But the boy in her arms was a child of stretched limbs, with a sure grasp and defined features protruding through the receding baby fat of his cheeks. He had even lost his first tooth.

"You grew up too, May," Omi said, cradling her face between his two small hands. His eyes searched her face with youthful curiosity.

May laughed. She hadn't considered how much she had changed until she reflected on the version of herself Omi was seeing now. He had never known her to have long hair; she had shorn it off when he was still an infant. Now her strawberry curls - tighter now that they had been reintroduced to the island's humidity - fell past her shoulders. May combed a lock through her fingers; she had always looked older with long hair. And then there was her body. When May lived in Omea, she had only ever been lean and lanky. Any muscle gained through dance hadn't been enough to counteract the long, doe-like slenderness of her limbs or lack of womanly curves. But a year of travel and experience had given May a new kind of definition. Now she wasn't just in good shape: she was strong. Omi's fingers gripped into his aunt's toned arms and she cradled him with calloused hands.

Yes, it was no wonder Omi looked at May as though she had been gone for a lifetime.

The sound of the door creaking stole both of their attention. Tiio Alana, May's mother, peered into the room and sighed.

"Omi, what did I tell you about waking your auntie?" she admonished with a softness that said she didn't really mean it. "She needs her rest."

"She's been asleep for two days," Omi complained, crawling higher onto May and wrapping his arms with a childlike protectiveness around her neck.

May tried to laugh, coughing instead through her nephew's tight grip.

"It's okay," she choked, gently prying Omi's arms loose. "I was ready to get up anyway."