We all knew what that meant. We had danced around it for weeks, used metaphors ofbindingandmergingandenergy transfer, but the reality was far more carnal. To give her the raw power, she needed to crack the sky and open a door to Olympus, we couldn't just hold hands and chant. We needed to pour our essence into her through the oldest, most primal connection inexistence. We needed to claim her, body and soul, in a ritual that would leave no part of her untouched by us.
If she would let us. If she could survive us.
Flynn looked down at her unconscious face, brushing a stray lock of black hair from her forehead. His expression softened into something devastatingly tender, a look that made him seem far less like a monster and far more like a man. "She said something about getting food."
"She was delirious," I dismissed instantly, pacing a tight, agitation-fueled circle. The energy in the cave was oppressive, and my skin felt too tight for my body. "She just collapsed from catastrophic magical exhaustion. Her mind was misfiring."
"Or," Flynn countered, looking up with a glint of his usual roguish humor returning to those predator's eyes, "she realized that before we engage in the cosmic, soul-shattering sex required to turn her into a god-killer, she probably needs a sandwich. She's starving, Kaelen."
Thane let out a puff of air that might have been a laugh, or perhaps just a release of pressure. "The Wolf makes a valid point. Biology precedes theology. She needs food. Water. Physical rest. Then... the ritual. Or at least we talk to her about it. Honestly. Openly. So she can make the choice."
I stopped pacing and looked at them. My brothers. We had shared a cage for a millennium. We had shared pain, madness, and the screaming silence of the void. Now, we were going to share the one thing that mattered more than freedom.
And I wasn't sure I could do it without tearing them apart to eliminate the competition.
"I do not know if I am capable of this," I admitted, the words tearing out of me, jagged and raw.
Flynn narrowed his eyes, his muscles tensing. "Capable of what? Performing? Don't worry, old man, I can pick up the slack if your stamina is failing in your advanced a?—"
"Sharing her!" I roared, the dragon fire flaring around my hands, illuminating the cavern in sudden, violent strokes of orange and gold. The heat spiked, turning the water in the air to instant steam.
The Skal flinched violently, letting out a pathetic mewling sound and covering its head with its claws.
Flynn didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. He just held her tighter, anchoring her against the blast of my temper. "You don't have a choice, Kaelen. Neither do I. Look at her. Really look at her."
I looked. I forced myself to see past the prize and look at the woman.
Aria was pale, her skin translucent enough to show the blue veins beneath the fading gold marks. She looked fragile, breakable, like fine porcelain that had been tossed into a rock tumbler. She had saved us. Again and again, she had thrown herself into the fire for us. She had rewritten her own soul to accommodate ours. She had given us more freedom in weeks than we’d had in eons and hadn't asked for a single damn thing in return.
"She belongs to all of us," Elias said softly, stepping into the flickering light of my anger. He didn't raise a shield; he just offered the truth. "The Gate required four keys. The prophecy requires four pillars. If you try to keep her for yourself, Kaelen, you will break her. And the realms will shatter in turn."
The truth of it settled on me, heavy and cold as the stone beneath my boots. My possessiveness was a luxury we couldn't afford. It was a remnant of the solitary apex predator I had been designed to be, not the component of the unit I needed to become.
"I know," I grated out, the fire around my hands dying down to a sullen simmer. "But knowing it and enduring it are two very different realities. When you touch her... when I see your handson her..." I looked at Flynn, baring my teeth in a grimace that was half snarl, half confession. "The dragon wants to clear the board. It wants to burn everything that isn't me."
"Then leash the dragon," Flynn said, his voice surprisingly calm, devoid of his usual mockery. "Because if she wakes up and you're growling at us like a jealous dog, she's going to think she's just a bone we're fighting over. She needs to know she's the pack leader, Kaelen. Not the prize."
He stood up, adjusting her weight in his arms effortlessly. "Now. I'm going to take her to the fire. Elias, can you scavenge for something edible? Thane, can you maintain the perimeter?" When I didn't move, solidified by my internal war, Flynn looked over at me again. "And you? You're going to stare at that wall until you can look at me touching her without turning into a flamethrower. Do we have a deal?"
I clenched my jaw so hard I felt a tooth crack. The muscles in my neck jumped. "Deal."
Flynn nodded, sharp and quick, then turned and carried her toward the pathetic little fire we had built earlier. Thane moved to stand guard once more, clapping a hand on my shoulder as he passed. It felt less like a gesture of comfort and more like being patted by a boulder.
"It gets easier," Thane mumbled, his voice low and rumbling like distant earth tremors. "Once you realize that loving her means letting her be loved."
I watched them go, seething, aching, terrifyingly empty.
I turned my back on them, facing the black, oily water and the whimpering monster on the bank. I needed a target. I needed something I could control.
The Skal watched me with its multiple, muddy eyes. It smelled of fear, brine, and unchecked submissiveness.
Orders?it projected, a wet, slithering sound in the back of my mind that made me want to scrub my brain with steel wool.
"Guard the tunnel entrance with Thane," I commanded, my voice flat and vibrating with command authority. "If anything enters that isn't us... eat it. Slowly."
Compliance,the beast gurgled. It dragged itself toward the tunnel entrance, its claws clicking rhythmically on the stone, a nightmare obediently finding its post.
I walked to the edge of the water and stared at my reflection in the dark glass. The face staring back was sharp, angular, and probably older than the surrounding stone. The eyes were pools of liquid gold, burning with a hunger that scared me. It wasn't just desire; it was consumption.
