"Are you?" Vraax's humor was hard to miss.
"I think now I am."
"Good, me too."
A gagging sound escaped me; they were going at it again. "Your presence made everything easier, and your help is appreciated." And then a little bit lower, "Plus, I needed your help to get those females to Astrionis."
"Come again?" Sloane dug in, determined not to make this easy for me.
"I can't go to Astrionis, and I couldn't very well drop them off at their doorstep like a basket full of kittens, now, could I?" I reminded her.
"How do you know about the kitten and basket thing?" Sloane demanded.
"You picked up on that, didn't you?" I grinned.
Her chin jerked forward, and she widened her eyes at me, her entire expression demanding more of an answer. New amusement rolled through me. "What?" It was too much fun to rile her up.
"Kittens?" She insisted.
"I might have picked some things up from Ella." I skirted the truth, which was that I had been picking through hers and Vraax's brains whenever I had a chance. Mostly, when she got all hot and bothered about me, it was easy to intrude on her mind then, without her noticing.
"You mean you got into her brain and dug around?" She theorized, not realizing how close to the truth she was, only that I respected Ella too much to do that to her.
I shrugged. This entire interactionwasn't going anywhere, and suddenly, I was tired. I just wanted to be with Ella and get a few hours of sleep.
"If you ever put her in danger again," he stepped in front of me.
Really tired now of all this, I placed my hand on his shoulder. "She never was in danger, my friend, I assure you."
Vraax looked perplexed but nodded.
"Did you just fuck with his mind?" Sloane demanded.
I shook my head. "No," I lied. "But we have a connection, just like you and I do." The truth of my words shut her up. The connection was there. Undeniably so.
I could tell the notion bothered Sloane, and smirked. "Don't break your head, Sloane; you won't figure it out. Our bond is millions of years old."
"Explain," she ground out, and I groaned. I’d thought this would make it faster to get back to my suite. But I had underestimated Sloane's determination. A sudden wave of pride for her rushed through me. I didn't know who these humans were, how they had gotten entangled in this cosmic drama, but I knew with certainty that she and Vraax were part of what we, the Arkhevari, had created. One might call it fatherly pride building within me. The Darlams were my children, and Sloane by default, because she was Vraax’s Soulweb mate.
That was the only explanation for elaborating to them, "Millions of years ago, longer than your human mind can even comprehend. My ancestors spread out over the universe, shaping it, creating planets?—"
She stared at me with her typical nonplussed attitude. "Is this the part where you're telling me you're some kind of God?"
I felt her dread of my answer, and I smoothed it a bit—What can I say? I just felt in a generous mood. "To you we might be."
"So you created the universe?" It had been a long time since I had spoken to a child, but she reminded me of one right then. Always asking more questions.
"The universe always was and always will be." I gave her the only answer her brain could digest right then.
"But you said your ancestors…"
"You hear what you want to hear, what fits into your narrative, but trust me, your human minds cannot understand or accept what I'm trying to explain." She was really trying my patience, and any benevolence I had felt toward her began to recede.
Just to prove I was right, she crossed her arms over her chest, "Try me."
With a sigh, I humored her some more, "We spread out over many planets; on some, we bred with the local population. We were arrogant and foolish and lost everything because of it." The memories of our darkest time filled me, and blackness was pushing against me, wanting to be set free. I looked into Sloane's eyes, hoping she would finally get the message and leave me alone, "No, I will not tell you more. This is all you get, but believe me when I say that your species and mine have been entangled fora long time."
Of course, she wasn't. "What about the Darlams?"
