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

By Tylen’s admission,he’d never felt anything like this before,though.That had to mean something.The Regent certainly thought so,or he wouldn’t bestow such an important position upon someone without the specific training for it.


“Do you wish to accept his offer?”I asked.


In the face of his reality,my joy began to subside.“Because of his position.”


“No.”He pulled back,his arms slipping to wind loosely around my waist.“Because I’d be an idiot to turn it down.It’s giving me a future I didn’t know I could have.You and I get the chance to find something real,my family gets the honor of my position,and I get to have a job that actually means something.”His beautiful eyes sobered.“Are you asking because you want to go home instead?”


Chapter 25