Taken the risk.
Now?
Now I knew better.
My power was unstable.
Volatile.
A threat not just to myself, but to the structure of the realms themselves.
A misstep.
A lapse.
And I could tear a hole through reality wide enough to swallow entire worlds.
Not a metaphor.
Not an exaggeration.
This was a fact.
And the only thing that could stabilize it was a mate.
I exhaled sharply, pushing away from the column.
No, I would not think about that.
Not here.
Not now.
Not her.
Because that path led to one conclusion.
A claiming.
A bond.
A tether strong enough to ground something as chaotic as lunar power.
And I had already made my decision.
I would not subject anyone to that.
Not again.
Not after—I cut that thought off too.
Hard.
Brutal.
Final.
Because if I lingered there—I would remember.
