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“Well, at least there are my sisters-in-law,” he told her with a smile. “And soon to be your sisters-in-law. They have enough personality for one hundred earth beings. And I have enough love for you for one thousand of them.”
Cora grinned at him as they made their way from the parking bay to Levi’s house—their house. He was determined to make her feel welcome there, as though it were her own. And if she didn’t, he would buy another, without even thinking.
“I can’t believe I get to live here with you,” Cora gushed as they entered the house.
It wasn’t anything extravagant, but Levi had curated it with care, and he was proud to bring Cora there to present it to her as theirs. He never wanted her to feel that she was in his space. It was hers just as equally.
“I want you to change whatever you’d like,” he told her. “We can bring some of your things here if you want. Or buy new things. There’s a bazaar of used items, which are prized here for having had the love of a previous owner. This day of the week is the one with the greatest supply.”
Cora smiled. “Then let’s go!” she told him, jumping up enthusiastically. “I want to see everything Noxxa has to offer!”
Before long, the home had been transformed into a beautiful mishmash of their styles. Most of the furniture remained the same with the addition of a handcrafted wooden chest that Cora had fallen in love with at the market.
Cora, it turned out, wasn’t just a talented computer engineer but also a skilled painter. During their first few weeks in the house together, she produced a series of gorgeous paintings depicting three landscapes—one Terran, one Lorr, and one Noxxan.
They became the focal point of the living room decor, and Levi smiled every time he saw them.
Other bits and pieces found their way into the home, from local artisanal crafts to some of Cora’s belongings that her parents brought her from Earth.
“We’re so happy to see you settling in together!” Cora’s mother told them when they came to visit.
Her father, Walter, clapped Levi on the back. Despite their difference in stature, and in status, Levi very much felt the intimacy of the gesture.
“You’re a good man, Levi,” he said, smiling broadly. “I know you’ll make a wonderful husband.”
“Mate,” Levi replied smiling.
Walter laughed. “Right,” he responded. “That, too.”
The two of them shared a laugh, and Levi felt that all was right in the world. On the brink of their bonding ceremony, his brothers all loved Cora, and her family was clearly fond of him. He couldn’t have been happier.
“I can’t wait for the ceremony!” Cora’s mother, Eileen, announced as she helped Cora go over the plans for the big day. “But are you sure you don’t want something more extravagant?”
Cora grinned, catching Levi’s eye.
“No, Mom,” she said good-naturedly. “After everything we’ve been through together, the simpler the better.”
Levi laughed as Cora grinned at him. He would have been willing to give her the world if she’d wanted it, but Cora had insisted their bonding ceremony be a simple, homey affair.
In the weeks they’d been living on Noxxa, they’d spent every weekend at the flea market, gathering rare and beautiful secondhand items for not only their home but for their bonding ceremony. To Levi, it felt much more intimate than some of the opulent ceremony planning he’d seen, and Cora seemed to love the warmth of it even more than he did.
There was one more thing though—something her mother had brought that Levi was apparently only allowed to see on the day of the ceremony. Nobody would give him any clues, including his Terran sisters-in-law. Everyone just kept saying he’d be sure to like it.
When the day of the ceremony came, they held it in their own home, with only a small group of close friends and family sharing it with them.
Levi had asked his oldest brother, Kozien, to officiate their bonding, and Cora’s little brother—who had taken to calling Levi “bro” almost immediately—took the traditionally human role of best man. Since the position didn’t exist in a Lorr ceremony anyway, none of his own brothers minded.
The king, of course, was simply the king.
Cora refused to see Levi until the ceremony took place, a Terran custom. He wondered what the surprise could possibly be, but when she stepped into their living room, he realized it was the dress.
Cora looked absolutely stunning in a way that literally took his breath away. Her long curly hair was piled high on her head, which showed off her bare shoulders and décolletage.
Levi didn’t know anything about dresses, but from the other bonding ceremonies he’d attended between his brothers and their Terran wives, he could tell something was different about this one. It was much more delicate than any of the dresses his sisters-in-law had worn. As Cora walked toward him, he saw it must have been handmade. It looked old—in a timeless, elegant vintage style—and he wondered where it had come from.
“You look incredible,” he told her as they stood side by side in the center of their home, about to be bonded.
Cora blushed a little, but didn’t reveal the origins of the dress until after the ceremony.
