"Both eyes, apparently."
"Shut up. I'm Italian. We are not good at hiding our emotions."
As a ripple went through the crowd, Tony turned to see Yamanu striding through the gym doors. The head Guardian was received like a beloved prince, which was infuriatingly enviable.
Tony would love to get a welcome like that one day.
Yamanu's eyes zeroed in on his across the room, and his face split into a brilliant smile. He crossed the distance between them in long strides and pulled Tony into a bear hug that lifted him off the ground.
"Little brother." Yamanu's voice rumbled against Tony's chest. "Tonight, we become family."
"I certainly hope so, but I'm afraid that's not guaranteed." Damn his Italian genetics and the tears prickling his eyes. "The evidence for me being a Dormant is purely circumstantial."
Yamanu set him down but kept his hands on Tony's shoulders. "I have a good feeling about you."
"At the moment, I'm not a great fan of feelings. I prefer cold data."
"Feelings are better than data," Yamanu said, with conviction that didn't brook disagreement. "Data can be manipulated. Feelings don't lie."
Tony had a lot to say about that, but he chose to keep his mouth shut.
"For what it's worth," Kaia said, "I have a good feeling too. And I'm a scientist, so my feelings are basically just really fast subconscious calculations."
"That's not how it works," Tony murmured.
"It's how my feelings work."
As the music stopped and the chatter in the room died down, Tony's pulse spiked, and he turned toward the entrance.
Kian and Syssi walked in, which signaled that the ceremony was about to start. Kian's expression was appropriately somber, but Syssi offered Tony an encouraging smile.
Tony's gut twisted. This was real. This was happening. In a few minutes, Yamanu would sink his fangs into his neck, pumping venom into his bloodstream, and Tony's body would either respond by rewriting its genetic code or it would not and would leave him exactly as he was.
Human.
The fear wasn't of pain. He knew Yamanu would go easy on him, and the bite itself was not supposed to be a big deal.
The fear was of failure, of being just human without that special genetic material that could mean his immortality.
17
TULA
Tony stood in the center of the sparring mat, pale and sweating despite the air conditioning. Shira hovered as close as she could without actually entering the ring with him.
"He looks like he's about to throw up," Esag murmured.
Tula squeezed his hand. "He's nervous. Wouldn't you be?"
"I was, but it was a long time ago, and I was thirteen at the time, not a grown man. Still, I didn't let anyone see how scared I was."
"My hero," she said teasingly and leaned on his arm. "Not everyone is as brave as you are."
Tula wanted this to work, not just for Tony's sake, but for their son. He deserved a father who would be there forever, and not just for a few decades. A human lifespan was a blink of an eye compared to their son's.
Esag probably wasn't looking forward to Tony's immortality, referring to him as theirthree-body problem, a physics joke thatwasn't entirely a joke. Tony was the father of her child, Esag was her mate, and the geometry was complicated.
Nevertheless, Esag came with her to the ceremony and was holding her hand. He was offering his support even though he might prefer Tony to stay human and eventually age out of the picture.
