1
Selena
Warmth wrapped around me.
Not the brutal glare of Liskta’s twin suns—this was deeper, steadier. Zyxel’s Rkekh body curved around mine, a living barricade. Crimson-tinted onyx scales held heat the way stone held fire. His tail cinched me in close, an unspoken order:stay.
I didn’t want to move.
The shielded tent breathed with us, colorful fabric swallowing the morning. Outside, the villa kept pretending at peace—the distant splash of the pool, vines whispering in the wind. Somewhere beyond these private grounds the Harvest Festival continued, loud and bright and careless. Yet it was muted by the protective barrier surrounding us, granting a cocoon of privacy that held through the night.
In here, none of it mattered.
The air tasted mineral-rich, threaded with sea salt and Zyxel—spice and earth, the scent that had soaked into my skinovernight. I drew it in slow, letting it sink behind my ribs, letting my body remember before my mind could interfere.
His hands last night. Clawed, reverent. Mapping me like he was afraid I’d vanish if he didn’t memorize every inch. The way he’d cupped my face, kissed me until my thoughts fell apart. The low pulse of his presence inside my skull, voice brushing my mind in the dark—promises that sounded like vows even when he didn’t mean them to.
And then—at the edge, when pleasure broke me open—
I’d felt it.
His thread had hovered at my shields all night, careful. Curious. Waiting. Not pushing, not forcing—just there, patient as a predator whoknewit would get its moment.
In the instant my control shattered, my shields went with it.
Crimson snapped into place.
The bond sealed itself before either of us could give it a name. Whether it was instinct or the Stars themselves weaving it tight, our lives were bound together—and by the end, there was nothing either of us could do without hurting the other.
Now the new connection hummed in my mental web—anchored deep, impossible to ignore, impossible to pry out. Permanent. A crimson base that was entirely Zyxel. It felt different from my bonds with the others. Where Kaede’s thread pulsed with fierce, protective heat, and V’dim and Z’fir’s shared thread carried their quiet steadiness, Zyxel’s was tinged with something scholarly and curious. Inquisitive. Like a mind forever cataloging the universe’s secrets, now turning that same attention to me.
He would get along well with Xylo, for they both peered at the world the same, only Zyxel’s focus on me was as intense as Kaede’s—as if he didn’t believe he was mine. As if I could disappear at any moment.
I slowly traced the ridge of scales above his eye. The texture was deadly under my fingertips—hard, edged, built for war—and still he held himself like I was fragile. Like my body mattered more than battle.
His chartreuse eyes stayed closed.
His tail tightened anyway.
It drew me in until my slightly rounded belly pressed against him. Until the life inside me became part of the embrace, not an afterthought. His head shifted. One eye cracked open, tracking my face with the kind of attention that made my skin go hot.
Safe.
That was what this was. Despite the arena. Despite the empire. Despite the weight of my belly and the weight of my title and the way everything kept trying to fracture beneath my feet—
Right now, wrapped in him, I was safe.
His tongue flicked against my temple. A serpent’s kiss.
“You’re awake.”
“Barely.” My smile pressed into his chest, and his answering hum vibrated through me. “I was enjoying the quiet.”
“As was I.”His mental voice dropped lower, resonant enough to curl heat through my core.“Though I confess I’ve been watching you sleep for some time. You are… beautiful when you are not carrying the weight of worlds.”
My spots flared toward pink, the familiar tingle of bioluminescence responding to my emotions. Even after everything we’d done last night—every touch, every whispered confession, every moment of surrender—his words still made me blush.
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere.”
