I wanted to slam their skulls together.
I didn’t want this. I didn’tdeservethis. The flaw inside me—the wound I had been born from—had no right to something as pure as her. I was the last of us, the broken one forged in the aftermath. The executioner. The weapon that should never have been given balance.
Stay away from me, Naeris.The thought was a snarl, directed at myself as much as her.
Ella stepped forward before the silence could stretch any further. Her voice was warm, steady; her calm centered Zapharos, and the few dark fissures that had appeared in his aura retreated.
“Hello,” she said gently, switching to the same ancient-inflected Arkhevari through the translator. “My name is Ella. I’m human, like you. We’re not here to hurt you. We came because something ancient is waking up, something the Arkhevari call the Harrowed One. It lives in the Dark Abyss, and it’s been feeding on them for eons. We believe the answers are on Earth… and that humans may be the key to stopping it. That’s why we’re here. To find the truth before the darkness swallows everything.”
Naeris didn’t move. Her eyes flicked from Ella to me and back again, wary and calculating beneath the cold white lights of the holding chamber.
Zapharos inclined his head slightly. “We need to know what you know about the Dark Abyss. About Earth.”
The silence stretched. Naeris leaned back against the wall of her cell, crossing her arms slowly.
“And I need to know why giant alien warriors are holding me prisoner,” she replied coolly. “Yet somehow I suspect only one of us is getting answers today.”
Xandros huffed something that sounded suspiciously like amusement.
Ella stepped closer to the energy barrier. “We’re not trying to hurt you.”
Naeris’ gaze sharpened immediately. “No, you’re just imprisoning me. Entirely different.”
I almost smiled. Stars, this female had claws.
Ella sighed. “Okay, fair.”
“That’s probably the first honest thing anyone has said to me in days,” Naeris allowed.
For a moment, we all just stared at each other. Then Ella straightened suddenly.
“Oh. Right. Introductions.” She pointed at herself awkwardly. “Like I said, I’m Ella.”
Naeris blinked once, like the concept itself surprised her.
Ella gestured toward Zapharos next. “Big brooding one is Zapharos.”
“I do not brood,” Zapharos rumbled immediately.
“You absolutely brood.”
Naeris’ mouth twitched slightly.
Ella pointed toward Dravok. “Tall, terrifying, and emotionally constipated is Dravok.”
Dravok looked unoffended by this description.
“Astoundingly rude for someone I rescued repeatedly,” he observed dryly.
Then Ella gestured toward me.
“And this is Thyros.”
The moment my name left Ella’s mouth, something changed. Naeris went very still. The bond between us tightened violently. Her gaze locked onto mine.
“Thyros,” she repeated softly.
Stars. The way she said my name sent heat directly through my bloodstream. The flaw stirred immediately beneath my skin in hungry response.
