Arashu's Gift

Chapter 24

They remained looking at each other as if trying to decipher one another. The subharmonic melody in his chest resounded clearly in his ears. It was a song of hope –one he hadn't felt in many years. And it was for her, despite her human ears being unable to hear it. Suddenly, Shepard's demeanor turned to concern and doubt.

"What happened to you that morning on Nos Astra?" Shepard asked. "You were so different from the previous night. I need to know."

Thane sighed, lowering his gaze and biting his lower lip. He took her hand in his. The warmth of her human skin overwhelmed him. It was like holding a drop of sun. He caressed the back of her hand with his thumb, feeling the soft texture of her skin. He brushed the soft protuberances of her veins with his fingertips, trying to interlace his fingers with hers.

"The Broker almost killed you too, Shepard," he whispered with his gaze focused on their hands. "I shouldn't have kissed you that night." He raised his eyes towards her. "Any other night, by all means. Yet on the eve of the attack on the Shadow Broker base and without knowing how much my venom would affect you ..." he let out the air from his damaged lungs with a choked cry.

"Please don't get me wrong. I've recalled the memory of that night more times than I dare to confess," he tightened the grip of his hand on hers. "I noticed something wasn't right with your armor. You kept on fighting but something in your body language didn't make sense. Your rounded shoulders, your curved back ... you were in pain. When I saw you thrown against the wall and then motionless on the floor ..." Thane searched deep in her green eyes for the confirmation that she was understanding his words. Shepard observed him in silence with a tensed brow, and yearning eyes filled with something he wasn't entirely sure he was able to provide. "It was my fault."

Shepard launched herself towards him, taking him into her arms. She clung to his shoulders, holding him by the nape to nestle him against her neck. Thane hugged her around her back tentatively, not knowing himself completely worthy of her embrace. He let out the accumulated air against her skin in a single flow, like the relief of finally coming home after a long day of work.

"It wasn't your fault," she said against his ear.

His frills reacted to her voice, searing with heat.

"I've never felt something like this for someone from another species," Thane confessed in her ear. They broke the hug to look at each other. "I'm not sure what to do now or how to proceed."

Shepard kissed his lips. It was a delicate, chaste touch. However, by taking him by his cheeks with both hands she was conveying without words that she accepted him as he was. She was accepting him with all the differences separating them. The heat of her soft lips made him resound another song trapped in his chest for her.

They broke the kiss. Shepard questioned him with her eyes.

"You're vibrating," she said, caressing his frills. The touch stole a few beats from his heart, the sensation nestling directly in his crotch.

Thane took her hand, kissed it, and placed it on his chest. Shepard stared, stunned.

"If you could hear subharmonics, you wouldn't doubt for a second what I feel for you, Shepard."

She questioned him with her eyes, her mouth half-open and her brow raised in fascination.

"Isn't there a way for my translator to help me hear them?"

"I'm afraid not," Thane said, smiling, as he caressed her cheek with his knuckles.

"What did you mean when you said the Broker almost killed me too?"

Thane trembled. Her question rattled him, propelling him to stand up. He walked towards the rail of the balcony. He turned and as he saw Shepard still on the bench, he extended his hand to her as an invitation. She approached.