No. She couldn’t.
His Nova had never been the type to stay safe. It was one of the reasons he loved her—and one of the reasons she terrified him.
“How much time do we have?” Selena asked quietly.
The question landed heavier than any command he’d given that night.
Zirene didn’t lie. “Royak is already en route to the front lines. Once we land on Destima, I’ll leave shortly after.” His hand tightened briefly at her waist. “Your princes will have time before the Aldawi female fleet arrives alongside your Royal Guard. They’ll hold the Sol system.”
He exhaled slowly. “Then you’ll leave for the Assembly. Gather allies. Rally a united front against the Varya.”
Selena was quiet for a long moment, the weight of their dreaded future settling between them. Then she lifted her gaze to his—not panicked, not afraid. Just achingly steady.
“Then come to bed with me,” she said softly. “Let me have you while I still can. Before the clan fractures and we’re pulled in different directions.”
He leaned in, pressing a final kiss to her forehead, letting his shadow curl around her in a brief, instinctive embrace—like he could memorize the shape of her this way.
“One last command,” he murmured against her hair. “Then I’ll come to you. To the nestbed.”
He forced himself to step back. To turn. To walk toward the door—already wishing he could return and lie beside her, just Zirene and Selena, before duty tore the universe in half.
“Zirene.”
He paused without looking back. If he looked back, he might not leave.
“Promise me that you’ll come back to me once the war is over.”
His claws curled into fists at his sides. “Always.”
Then he stepped through the door, leaving his heart behind.
The war room awaited. His commanders awaited. An empire awaited.
And somewhere in the darkness between stars, enemies gathered—Quaww fleets burning through Aldawi space, Verya hunters tracking his mate’s unique signature, traitors lurking in the shadows of his own military.
Zirene would find them all.
He would burn them.
And he would come back to her.
4
Selena
The royal lobby felt too quiet without him.
Zirene’s shadow still clung to the edges of my vision—phantom darkness that had wrapped around me moments ago, fierce and desperate and full of promises he might not be able to keep. His kiss still burned on my lips. His words echoed within me.
Then come to bed with me. Let me have you while I still can.
He’d gone to give his final commands. To prepare for a war that would tear him away from everything we’d built.
My palm found my belly—the slight swell that was becoming harder to hide. Kaede’s daughter grew inside me. My clan was fracturing. War had found us.
And all I could think about was the faint thread pulsing at the edge of my mind.
Not one of my bonds. Not crimson like Zyxel’s new thread, or the fierce protective heat of Kaede’s, or the steady warmth of my Circuli nestmates. This was something different: thin, fragile, threaded with pain I hadn’t asked to feel.
