I entered my quarters, and the doors sealed heavily behind me. Silence followed. My palace inside Nox Eternum suddenly felt very far away. Strange. For millions of years, I had preferred solitude. Needed it. The vast empty halls. The endless quiet. The distance between myself and everyone else.
Now the silence felt wrong. Because somewhere else on this ship, Naeris existed. And every instinct inside me demanded I go to her. I dropped heavily into one of the chairs overlooking thestars beyond the viewport and closed my eyes briefly. Immediate mistake. The bond surged harder.
A low growl escaped me before I could stop it. The darkness beneath my skin flared gold and crimson.
Mine.
“No,” I repeated harshly.
Because this—this right here—was exactly why I had avoided attachments for millions of years. Need became obsession frighteningly quickly for Arkhevari males. Especially ones like me. The flaw inside me reacted to Naeris like starving fire finding oxygen for the first time. It wanted her.
Possessively.
Absolutely.
Worst of all, some ancient, shattered piece inside my soul already loved her. This wasn't merely an infatuation, nor was it desire, although that was there. Plenty of it. No, mostly it was recognition. As though I had spent endless lifetimes searching for something I no longer remembered losing.
With a low curse, I stalked toward the doors before I could reconsider. I just couldn't be alone right now. Me, the hermit. The one who always preferred being alone to any kind of company.
The corridors outside were quieter than usual, as if others could feel my agitation and chose to stay away. By the time I reached the breakroom, I had almost regained enough control to pass for civilized.
Almost. Zapharos and Dravok both looked up the moment I entered. And by the comet's tail, from the expressions on their faces, I knew what was coming.
Without warning, my brothers turned on me like twin blades.
Zapharos’ golden aura flared, steady but bright with demand. “If she is your Aelyth, we need to know. Now.”
Dravok’s shadows coiled tighter around him, red threads flickering like warning lightning. “You felt it. We all saw it. The bond snapped into place the second you laid eyes on her. Don’t insult us by pretending otherwise.”
I chose silence instead.
Letting it stretch while I felt their minds pressing against mine, probing, testing the walls I had spent centuries fortifying.
I let them hit stone.
Zapharos exhaled sharply.
“Thyros.”
“She is… complicated,” I finally admitted. That was all I was going to give them. Let them stew. I didn't owe them anything.
Dravok laughed, a dark, humorless sound. “Complicated. That’s what you call the female who just looked at you like she wanted to carve your heart out and hand it back still beating?”
Ella stepped closer, and her green-gold eyes shone soft with understanding that somehow made it worse. “Thyros… if she’s your Aelyth?—”
“I didn’t ask for this,” I cut in, sharper than I intended. The words tasted like ash. “I was not made for balance. I was forged in the wound itself. Whatever she is, she deserves better than a death-bringer who was never meant to have a mate.”
Nadine crossed her arms, studying me with that sharp astrophysicist gaze that missed nothing. “You’re scared.”
I narrowed my eyes but didn’t deny it.
Ella tilted her head. “She knows about Ashera and Caelor…”
I turned to her, grasping for anything that wasn’t the relentless pull still clawing behind my ribs. “You’re the archaeologist. Tell me where she came from. How does a human speak our language in a form older than the Collapse?”
Ella shrugged helplessly, a small, rueful smile tugging at her lips. “I have no idea. Aliens were never really popular on Earth. Especially not in the scientific community. They liked their neatlittle boxes, dinosaurs, evolution, climate data. The idea that we might have been… seeded? Or harvested?” She shook her head. “That would’ve gotten you laughed out of every university on the planet.”
Nadine snorted, leaning against the wall. “Oh yeah. I can just imagine the peer-review comments.Extra-terrestrial influence on human development? Please resubmit with actual evidence, Doctor Phillips. Meanwhile, we’re standing here talking to literal gods who were born inside a black hole.”
