Aelyth, the old word reverberated through me, not like a title claimed but like a truth uncovered. To be what we were born for, we would have to speak vows. Trade names. Mark and be marked. We were not there. But we were close enough to feel the gravity of it, how the universe itself tilted around a bond like that.
“Ella,” I said aloud, because names matter, and because the way the syllables shaped my mouth felt like prayer. “If I fall, you run.”
“No,” she said, calm as dawn. “If you fall, I climb. I'll climb any stupid abyss I have to, whatever it takes to get you back.”
I kissed her forehead. Who would have thought my little human was such a brave warrior? I'd already realized how stubborn she was, but she was also brave. I pressed my mouth to her hair and memorized the smell of her.
Another spark entered my mind. Curious, laughing this time.You’re smiling, she sent, not with words but with that living shape again.
“I am,” I admitted. “Do not tell anyone. I have a legend to maintain.”
She snorted, which made the tether fizz, and I decided I liked that sound.
I rolled to my side and propped myself on an elbow. She didn’t shy from my gaze. Most males never met it for long, too much black in my eyes, too much history. Ella’s stare was steady and mercilessly kind.
“We are not yet bound,” I said. “Not in the old way. If you ever wish to step back?—”
Her fingers tightened in my hair. “I’m stepping forward,” she said. “If you’ll have me.”
“Ella.” The word broke like a wave over sand. “I will have you until the stars freeze.”
The tether jumped in affirmation. The gold in my aura widened another fraction. A new sound came then, not from either of us—the low hum of the ship shifting course. The universe, ever jealous, had noticed we were not looking at it.
I didn’t move. Not yet. I stole a few more moments, then another, cupping her face in a palm that had ended kings and carried worlds and now shook because it had found something more terrifying than the Abyss: a reason to stay.
"I need to talk to Sloane and Vraax," I told Ella a little while later. She was snuggled into my side and ready to fall asleep.
The mention of Sloane's name made her sit up. "Who is she?"
Our connection was deepening, and I couldn’t deny therush of satisfaction that coursed through me when I felt a thread of jealousy coming from her.
"She's nobody." I pressed a kiss to her mouth.
"You don't fight shoulder to shoulder like you did with anobody," Ella contradicted. "You don't get up in the middle of the night and leave your Aelyth's side to talk to anobody."
I couldn't hold the smirk building around my lips back any longer. "And how do you know that?"
"Know what? Which part?"
"The part that I won't leave my Aelyth's side for anobody." I clarified.
She shrugged, "It's common sense."
"Hmm, is that so?" I teased. She glared at me.
"Alright," I conceded. She needed to know everything. She needed to know what we were up against, the fight ahead of us, the war. Sloane's and Vraax's involvement, the emperor. All of it. "I met Sloane through the emperor of the Pandraxian Empire. She was our go-between until we could meet. She is about to become the emperor's Chief Intelligence Officer."
"Oh," Ella looked impressed. "That explains a lot."
While I got dressed, I filled her in on the many species the Arkhevari had seeded—Darlams among them—scattered across the universe for centuries in the hope of finding our Aelyth. Somehow, the Ohrurs had taken Darlam and used the males as their own elite guardians, assassins, and whatever else one was willing to pay a high price for. And for whatever reason, now they were tryingto breed Darlams. It didn't make any sense,yet, but it also wasn't my fight. I refused to take that on. I had enough on my plate.
Ella looked thoughtful, "We should help them."
"Absolutely not," I declined. "I'm taking you to the Pandraxian emperor. He and I need to talk, then I'm going back to Nox?—"
"You're not going anywhere without me," she declared, surprising me when she sat up on the bed, fisting my shirt and pulling on it to emphasize her opinion on the matter.
"You'll be safe there," I assured her, "Emperor Dary?—"
