A way to protect them both. A way to secure this connection. A way to ensure they both remembered.
Maybe she’d bitten him once to establish an anchor, a person she could always come back to for the truth.
Maybe she’d bitten him because they were in love.
Maybe she’d bitten him because she knew he was the one for her.
Maybe she’d bitten him because he’d wanted her to.
Or maybe she’d bitten him to save herself.
Whatever the cause, it no longer mattered.
Because his soul already knew the truth. Her past motivation served the sole purpose of bringing them together today, to this very moment, to this current reality.
For him to make a decision.
To either solidify this connection and cement them together for eternity.
Or to give her up forever.
Because there would be no coming back this time, not with everything they both knew now. A war was coming. It was time to pick a side.
And Balthazar chose Leela.
He chose them.
He chose their future, their world, the existence where they faced her kind as a unit with the full force of Hydria behind them.
He chosefate.
His lips curled, giving Nythos pause. For a brief moment, she appeared relieved, as though she’d expected that expression from him the moment she’d appeared.
But this smile wasn’t for her.
It was for Leela.
“As it turns out, I do have a choice,” he told Nythos, his palm wrapping around Leela’s nape as his gaze met hers. “And I choosethis.”
She blinked up at him, the only part of her seeming to be able to move.You’ll be tied to me forever, she whispered, understanding what he was saying via his choice.
I choose this. I choose us. I choose our bond.Because it was the only way to secure their future.
It was also the only thing that feltright.
You’ll be tied to me foreverechoed through her mind, ensuring he heard it.
She was telling him he might not be able to be intimate with another soul ever again, which was a huge sacrifice for him to make. Her, too, because she liked to play just as much as he did.
But it didn’t matter that he’d be tied to her forever because…
“Sweetheart, I already am,” he replied, bending to sink his teeth into her neck.
She gasped in response, her mind rioting with surprise and elation.
Then the sweet ambrosia of her blood touched his tongue.
And he swallowed.
