Hello! TAYRYM releases on Monday, and I've been sharing excerpts from the story all week. You can find the others here...
Below is today's excerpt. Happy reading!
Tayrym has dreamed of becoming a Galactic Defender since meeting the infamous Bryce when he was just a boy. Finally an adult and awaiting the day cycle he is set to leave for training, Tayrym learns his long-time crush shares his affections. Now, he’s unsure whether he wants to leave, which dream matters more.
With the threat of being sent away for his sexuality haunting him, Guri keeps his feelings for his former classmate to himself. Even with a new progressive ruler on Hemera, he still hides his attraction to the young man. But when he catches the other shadowing him, Guri decides to take a chance. The only problem is, the man of his desire is leaving the planet soon. Possibly forever.
With obstacle after obstacle in their path, will Tayrym and Guri ever have a chance to be happy together? Or are they destined to fulfill their dreams light years apart?
CHAPTER 1-4
“I should go, too.” Tayrym pulled at the
hem of his shirt, still unsure why Guri had asked him to stay behind when all
the other players had left.
“Please, don’t.” Guri gripped his arm. “Not
yet.”
With the other’s hold on him, Tayrym
swallowed his nerves. “Why? What do you want?” His skin beaded with sweat from
his crush’s touch, and his legs felt as if the bones in them had disappeared.
He didn’t know if he could handle being around Guri much longer without passing
out.
“To catch up.” Guri squeezed his arm before
he let go. “It’s been too long since we last talked.”
Tayrym huffed out a deep breath, trying to
figure out what he was missing. “We barely talked when we went to school
together. You don’t know enough about me or I you to catch up.”
Guri pushed his tongue into his cheek,
making the skin stick out. “Things were different at school. Maybe I wanted to
get to know you but didn’t know how.”
Or maybe he didn’t want to be seen talking
to the clumsy, awkward kid in the class. Even as an adult, Tayrym still resembled
that kid. But he hoped Defender training would change all that, make him more
confident, athletic, everything Guri was. And he wasn’t. “I don’t understand
why.”
With the twitch of his head and the way he
twisted his shirt in his hands, Guri seemed nervous for the first time, ever.
Tayrym understood the feeling. But why? Maybe he was asking the wrong questions
to figure out his crush’s reason for talking to him. “So, you and Sol live
together?”
Guri furrowed his brows, relaxing his grip
on his shirt. “Um, yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck, somehow managing to
bring Tayrym’s attention back to his muscular chest and biceps. “He took me in
after my family died in the Erebus attack. Hakon lived with us, too, until he
got married.”
Living with teachers for the past five
Galactic years? He never would have guessed that about Guri. Not that his crush
was a bad student, but his attitude toward the teachers while in class must
have gotten him in trouble once he arrived at home. “And you’re friends, then?”
Guri laughed and smacked his thigh. “That’s
funny. He tries to act like my father but ends up being more like an older
brother. Hakon was the same way. Makes me sometimes wish I lived with the other
three, but it would be even worse with them.”
“Really?” Tayrym doubted Coop and the other
two he lived with would be as concerned with being a father-figure to Guri. Not
from what he’d observed. After all, Guri and Coop had been best friends in
school. Their bond, how touchy they’d been, had often resulted in Tayrym
leaving school jealous.
“Never mind.” Guri tugged on his arm,
walking deeper into the woods. Away from the well-worn paths. “I want to know
about you. Tell me, what’s with you and the princess? I always see the two of
you together.”
“Gwenodyn?” Tayrym stumbled trying to keep
up. When had Guri seen them together when Tayrym hadn’t seen the other except
on the field for weeks? “Um.... We’re friends?”
“Just friends?” Raising his eyebrows, Guri
stopped and crossed his arms. “You don’t sound so sure.”
“Well, yeah, she is my friend.” Tayrym
shifted from one foot to the other, his cheeks warming. “My best friend,
actually. We grew up together.”
“But, you want something more with her.”
Frowning, Guri took a step back.
“No!” Tayrym shook his head. “No, no, no.
Just friends. I don’t want anything more.” His heart raced. Fornax! Had he said to much?
“Why not? She’s really pretty.”
Tayrym tried to read the other’s hard
expression, but he couldn’t. Was Guri interested in Gwenodyn? The thought felt
like a punch to the gut. Rolling one hand in the other, he tried to ignore the
burning in his cheeks and ears. “She’s um...not my type.”
“Really?” Hands behind his back, Guri gave
him a smug smile. “So, what is your type then? Who is your type?”
Tayrym gulped, trying to swallow down his
nerves, yet it didn’t help. With his crush right in front of him, he could
easily confess his feelings and hope they would be returned, beginning a
wonderful and long relationship. But what if his feelings weren’t returned? Or
worse, if Guri was setting him up? Planned to expose him for being homosexual?
To have him sent away like his brother had been? Even though the queen already
knew, she might still enforce the rule if enough people found out and objected.
And, of course, they’d object.
Guri licked the corner of his mouth, Tayrym
unable to avoid staring at his lips, waiting for him to do it again. The other
stepped forward, well into Tayrym’s personal bubble. “Am I your ideal type,
Tay?”
Tayrym’s breath caught in his throat. He
couldn’t think, only stand there while Guri moved dangerously close. Then the
other’s lips were on his, plying and pleading, everything Tayrym had ever
dreamed of. Yet, he couldn’t react, his entire body unresponsive to how much he
longed to be an active participant in the kissing and touching.
Just as fast as it started, the kiss was
over, a frown etched on Guri’s face. “I’m sorry.” He pushed his cheek out with
his tongue again. “I guess I interpreted you wrong.” He glanced behind him.
“I...I’ve got to go.” He jogged away, heading toward the path back to the
village.
As much as Tayrym’s heart screamed at him
to chase after Guri, he still couldn’t move. The guy he’d crushed on for the
last Galactic year had kissed him. And now.... Now, he was letting him run
away?
Tayrym snapped out of his trance, racing
through prickly vegetation and over fallen branches in an attempt to catch up.
“Guri! Wait!”
The other slowed, but didn’t stop. Tayrym
finally caught up and yanked his arm, trying to swing him around. When Guri
turned, Tayrym ducked, expecting a punch in the face. Not the first time the
other had punched a guy for grabbing him. But instead of a fist, Tayrym saw a
tear trail down Guri’s cheek, from his wide, fear-filled eyes to his pouty
bottom lip. “Please don’t tell anyone I did that.”
Tayrym stepped back, not understanding the
other’s request. “What? Why?”
Guri focused on the hole he was digging in
the ground with the toe of his boot. “You know Queen Lalia well. I don’t want
to be sent away. I thought you were the same as me, but I was wrong. Can we
please just forget it ever happened?”
All this time, he’d worried about the same
thing, kept his feelings hidden from his crush while Guri battled with the same
fears. A giggle escaped as a wave of relief swept through Tayrym.
“This isn’t funny.” Guri clenched his
fists. “My life’s on the line. I don’t want to die out there. I don’t want to
end up like your brother. We’ve all heard the rumors.”
Mention of Myar sobered him quickly. “I’m
sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed.” He rolled his shoulders back. “It’s just, the
reason I didn’t kiss you back. I thought you were trying to set me up, would
claim I initiated it and have me sent away.”
“So.” Guri ran a hand through his hair,
moving it off his forehead. A far more attractive style in Tayrym’s opinion.
“You wanted to kiss me back?”
“That depends. If you’re setting me up,
then no. How could you do such a thing?” Tayrym gulped, his palms sweaty. “But,
if you kissed me because you actually like me—”
Guri clenched the front of Tayrym’s shirt
and yanked him behind a large ropral tree. They were chest to chest as his
spine hit the trunk. He was trapped, though he didn’t mind, unsure if his crush
truly stood in front of him, or if it was an elaborate dream. His heart raced,
and he couldn’t avoid the other’s intense stare.
“The second one.” Guri’s lips crashed onto
his. This time Tayrym didn’t hold back. He rested his hands on Guri’s waist as
they tasted each other for the second time. Yet, Tayrym hungered for more.
Their tongues danced with desperate rhythm, and he pulled Guri closer. He
couldn’t believe everything he’d dreamed about was finally coming true.
Guri pulled away, leaving Tayrym gasping
for breath and in confusion. Had he done something wrong? Was he a bad kisser?
His stomach sank. Or maybe he’d trusted Guri too easily.
Tayrym dared a peek at the other, hoping
for an answer regardless of how much it hurt. But the way Guri darted around
nearby trees as if looking for something, only led to more confusion.
“Did you hear that?” Guri asked continuing
to eye the area around them.
“Hear what?” During their kiss, he hadn’t
heard a thing, all sound disappearing except the beating of his own heart.
Every other sense had been attuned to the kiss. Nothing else.
“A twig snapped.” He continued to search
the woods. “Then leaves rustled, and I heard something run away. Someone was
spying on us. I’m sure of it.”
Tayrym’s stomach sank. His dream had
finally come true, and someone else had ruined it. Probably Gwenodyn wanting to
witness his first kiss so she could tease him. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Guri stiffened and narrowed his
eyes. “You didn’t do anything wrong unless you kissed me and didn’t mean it.”
“No, not that.” Tayrym shrugged. “I just
don’t want us to get in trouble. Not when I enjoyed that so much.”
Guri returned and cupped Tayrym’s hand in
both of his, a shy smile across his lips. “I’ve got to go, but come to my home
at sundown. We’re the last one on Ramy Lane.”
As Tayrym nodded, his crush raced through
the woods, out of sight in a blink, as if he’d imagined it all.
