TheAbyss’s corridors were quiet. Most of the Royal Guard were resting, and the ship had that hushed, waiting quality that came with travel through deep space. My footsteps echoed softly against the deck plates as I navigated toward the guest quarters where Ryzen had been assigned.
What was I doing?
The question circled in my mind as I walked, and I didn’t have a good answer. Ryzen had already given me so much—his protection, his trust, his willingness to stand between me and the dangers that kept finding us. He’d fought for me in the arena. He’d trained with my mates. He was training me to expand my mental strength and range, in hopes that I could help rescue his brother, who might be the key to ending this war.
And now I was going to ask him for something forbidden. Something his people had outlawed for generations.
I stopped outside his door.
The metal was cool beneath my knuckles when I raised my hand to knock. I hesitated there, suspended between the corridor and whatever waited on the other side.
This was a big ask. Personal. Intimate in a way that went beyond bodies—beyond even the bonds I shared with my mates. This was souls. This was forever.
I knocked anyway.
The door slid open to reveal Ryzen’s quarters—sparse, military-neat, with none of the personal touches that made a room feel lived-in. He’d been meditating, I realized. There was a mat laid out near the viewport, and his hair was loose around his shoulders, the emerald streaks catching the ambient light.
“Selena.” Surprise flickered across his features before he smoothed it away. “Is something wrong?”
“No. Nothing’s wrong.” I stepped inside when he gestured me in, the door sliding shut behind me. “I need to ask yousomething. And I need you to be honest with me, even if the answer is no.”
His head tilted—that curious, assessing look I’d come to recognize. He didn’t speak. Just waited, patient as stone, while I gathered my thoughts.
“Your spirit daggers.” I met his eyes directly. No point dancing around it. “I can touch them. I’ve done it before—and you’ve given me one to hold. But I can’t summon them. Can’t wield them myself.”
“No.” His voice was careful. Measured. “You can’t.”
“Is there a way?”
Something shifted in his expression. The openness that had been there a moment ago shuttered, replaced by something older. Warier. The look of a man who’d just realized where the conversation was heading and wasn’t sure he wanted to follow.
“Only one.” A long silence stretched between us. I could see him deciding whether to tell me—weighing the consequences against the truth. “And it’s forbidden among my kind.”
“Tell me.”
He turned away, moving toward the viewport. The stars painted silver light across his profile, catching the faint glow of the emerald runes that traced his skin. Even at rest, they pulsed with a life of their own—tied to his spiritforce, to the soul that powered them.
“Bonding.” The word came out rough, like it cost him something to say it. “Sharing souls. Merging spiritforce.” He turned back to face me, and his eyes were darker than I’d ever seen them. “It’s why my people have resisted it for generations. Prevented it. Forbidden it. To share a soul is to become...” He paused, searching for the word. “Entangled. Forever.”
Entangled.
The word hung between us like a physical thing. I thought of my mental web—my golden threads connecting me to Zyxel, toKaede, to my Circuli mates, to the Destima’s mental web. Those connections were part of me now. Permanent. Precious.
But this would be different. Deeper. A merging that went beyond the bonds I already knew.
“Why is it forbidden?” I needed to understand the history. The weight of what I was asking.
“Because it can’t be undone.” Ryzen’s voice was quiet. “Once two spiritforces merge, they remain connected until death. And among my people...” His jaw tightened. “We’ve seen what happens when bonds are forced. When souls are stolen. The Verya used to do it—take our strongest warriors and bind them against their will, turning their own weapons against their families. Others forced mating pairs, assigning and arranging two strangers to merge their spiritforces together by the abilities, spirit weapons and mental strength to create a stronger and more powerful generation to control.”
Horror crept through my chest. Stars. No wonder they’d outlawed it.
“I’m sorry.” The words came out before I could stop them. “I shouldn’t have asked. I didn’t know—”
“You had every right to ask.” He cut me off, not unkindly. “You’re walking into danger. You want to be able to defend yourself. That’s not unreasonable.”
“It’s asking too much.”
I meant it. Already I was backing away—not physically, but mentally. Closing down the idea before it could take root. This wasn’t a small favor. This was his soul. His forever. I had no right to ask for that, no matter how desperate I was.
