Nothing has ever excited Tylen Merodine more than being invited by the Regent himself to celebrate the first solar eclipse in his planet’s recorded history. It’s the party of the millennium, and if he has to restrain his normal exuberant instincts to fit in, that’s what he’ll do to be a part of it. His good intentions vanish, however, the moment he’s presented to the Regent. Because there, in a gilded cage, playing music unlike anything Tylen’s ever heard, is the most beautiful alien he could imagine. For more than twenty years, Dek has lived in captivity, performing at the whim of those who see him as an animal. The Regent is just the latest in a long line of owners, and while he’s kind, he’s still blind to Dek’s sentient nature. Only music gives Dek a voice, until Tylen breaks the rules and sneaks in to see and speak to him alone. The time they have together is stolen and precious, the minutes ticking away until the eclipse is past and they have to go back to the way their lives were before. But when the Regent shows an unexpected interest in Tylen’s future, they begin to wonder if their worlds need to remain so separate ...

Aria of the Eclipse

When he stopped,I had to blink twice to recognize the conservatory door infront of us.


“Go ahead,”the Regent said,stepping out of the way.“Open it.”


He wasn’t kidding.The set of his mouth,the tone of his voice,they both said he knew,that somehow,some way,he’d found out I could break in at will.


My free hand slipped into my pocket,gripping the scrambler so tight my short nails cut moons into my palms,but the world had gone watery as the rush of fearful tears filled my eyes.“Please don’t punish Dek,”I whispered.“This was all my idea,my doing.”


The Regent frowned.“Do you really think I’m the sort of man who would hurt someone like Dek?”


I had to blink to see him more clearly.Was he really so clueless?“You keep him in a cage.”


His mouth thinned into a hard line.“I’m not having this conversation with you out here where anybody can hear us.Open the door,Tylen.That’s a command.”


Chapter 23