Cold slid under Zirene’s ribs.
“The Verya threat may be worse than the Quaww,”Mwe said.“Whatever they want with your Beacon, it drove them across an entire galaxy.”
He’d suspected as much. Had feared it since Ryzen and his brother first arrived with their warnings of hunters from beyond the galaxy’s edge.
Zirene’s claws bit into his palm.“What do they want with her?”
“I don’t have complete answers yet.”Frustration flickered through Mwe’s presence—an emotion Zirene had never sensed from him before, and it made Zirene’s shadow go still. Listening.“But Oeta and I have been sensing disturbances. They’re coming and fast. The Verya aren’t only conquerors. They’re collectors.”
The word landed like a slap.
Collectors.
Hunters who didn’t see lives—only value.
“Selena’s biology,”Mwe pathed carefully,“her ability to bond across species, to carry young from different genetic lines, to bridge gaps that should be unbridgeable… makes her exactly what they seek.”
Specimen.
Zirene tasted iron.
“I will not let them take her.”
“No. You won’t.”The certainty in Mwe’s agreement felt like prophecy.“But you’re being forced to choose. Your borders are under attack. Your commanders need you at the front. And the Verya are coming specifically for the female you love. You cannot be everywhere at once.”
Zirene closed his eyes. His shadow pulsed against the walls, dark tendrils reaching outward before he reined them back through force of will. The familiar cold of his power pressed against his consciousness, offering its endless hunger as a solution—consume the threat, destroy anyone who challenged him, wrap his Nova in darkness so complete nothing could reach her.
But Selena had already lived in cages.
He wouldn’t become another.
Two threats. Two fronts. One of him.
He couldn’t be everywhere. Couldn’t protect everything.
“There’s something else,”Mwe warned.“The Assembly is convening. They’re summoning your Beacon to the CEG Chamber.”
Zirene’s eyes snapped open.“Absolutely not.”
“The Chamber is protected neutral ground,”Mwe countered, tone gentling without weakening.“Surrounded by representatives from every major power. Hiding her won’t save her, Zirene. The galaxy wants answers about the Veryathreat, and Selena—as the Aldawi Beacon and living proof of cross-species unity—is the only one who can speak for your empire.”
Zirene’s breath went shallow.“She’s pregnant. She’s being hunted. Sending her to the Chamber—”
“Right now,”Mwe continued,“the Assembly offers both protection and opportunity. If Selena can rally the CEG against this threat, unite the galaxy’s powers against a common enemy...”
He didn’t finish. He didn’t need to.
Zirene stood in silence, feeling the weight of the empire press against his shoulders. He couldn’t go to the Chamber—his place was at the front, leading his military, showing his people that their Sovereign would fight beside them. Selena needed to go in his place. As Beacon. As the Aldawi representative. As the bridge between species that she’d always been meant to be.
It meant trusting her to survive without him at her side.
It meant leaving her.
Again.
“I need to speak with her,”Zirene pathed, voice rougher than he liked.“Before I decide anything.”
“Of course.”Mwe’s presence began to withdraw.“But don’t wait too long. The Quaww won’t.”
