“You never told me that.”
“No one ever asked.”
She turns in my arms, legs draped over mine now, one hand pressed to my heart.
“And this one?” she asks. “The one you’ve been teaching me?”
I lower my forehead to hers.
“It’s for claiming. For saying: here is where I stand. And these are the souls I protect.”
Her breath catches.
I feel it before I see it—the shift in her. The way her hand tightens on my chest. The way her lips part without speaking.
Then she sings again.
And this time, the sound vibrates through my bones, curling around the cavity of my heart like silk.
I pull her in, mouth at her throat, not for heat or hunger—but awe. She’s always been sharp, always been fire—but now she’s something more.
She’s becoming.
And she’s doing it with me.
We collapse backward onto the cushions, the world fading behind the walls we’ve rebuilt in our own image. She laughs aswe land—deep, unguarded, a sound I never thought I’d deserve to hear from her.
And I think?—
This.
This is what power is for.
Not conquest.
Not control.
But for creating space where joy can live.
Where a woman forged in courtrooms and bloodstains can learn ancient songs meant to keep love alive.
Where I—a killer, a monster, a relic of extinction—can be soft.
Just for her.
The gala smellslike silver and desire.
Not the cheap kind. Not desperation wrapped in perfume and fake politeness. No, this is the real thing—power, worn like cologne, tasted like sharp citrus over smoked spice, seeping into every breath like an invitation and a warning.
The Aurora Domes rise overhead in glass crescents that refract the sky into ribbons. Northern lights slither across the firmament in slow, hypnotic waves—green bleeding into violet, curling into blue so deep it looks like the skin of gods. The atmosphere filters the heat just enough that you feel alive without sweating through your collar.
Speaking of collars?—
Mine is too tight.
But she picked the suit.
Black, tailored, molecular-threaded, with Reaper runes embroidered along the spine in dark silver. Subtle. Dangerous. Regal. The kind of thing meant to silence entire rooms with one step.
