She severed their mental link, sliding back into her flyer, gritting her teeth.
In moments, she was navigating the neon-drenched arteries of the city.
Idan sent three urgent pulses into her mind, each more frantic than the last, until he retreated with a guttural curse.
Sheba transmitted a neural ping, sighing in relief when she got a response almost at once.
Soon, she landed her craft on the pinnacle of Sable HQ and headed to the penthouse.
The elevator doors slid open to reveal Selene in a silk robe and oversized fluffy slippers.
Sheba fell into her sister’s arms.
‘You look like you’re ready to go ten rounds with a backwater Allorian wrestler,’ Selene murmured.
She pulled back just enough to steer Sheba toward the massive, deep-seated sofa in the living room.
‘Hot drink? Or do we need the hard stuff?’
‘Give me heat, comfort, and chocolate, honey. If I go with alcohol, I’ll turn feral.’
Selene bypassed the bar for the high-tech replicator.
She returned with two mugs of steaming hot cocoa, topped with an aggressive amount of marshmallows.
‘Like we used to indulge in back in the day,’ she said, handing one to her sister. ‘Kainan’s out cold, the kids are down, so talk to me. You and your warrior-god are tussling, aren’t you?’
Sheba rolled her eyes, but her expression softened despite the frustration.
‘Idan is incredible, Selene,’ she confessed, her fingers trembling against the warm ceramic. ‘He cares for me with a divine intensity that’s sexy asfokk, but his vigilance is starting to feel like a cage. He’s monitoring my every move. He vibrates with stress if I’m out of his line of sight for five minutes. Now, paradoxically, he won’t let me go with him and Molan to Enia. I love how much he’s all-in, but I’m suffocating. How do I break down his illogicalwall of protectionwithout breaking us?’
Selene leaned in, her gaze narrowing on her sister, her utterance soft.
‘Honey, you have to call out the friction he’s creating. Period. You need to remind him that he can’t breathe for you or walk your path. He might think his 24/7 surveillance is the only way to keep you safe. However, he needs to hear, loud and clear, that your strength isn’t some fragile glass ornament he has to guard.’
Selene’s tone shifted, gaining a more clinical, no-nonsense edge. ‘If I were you, I’d demand to know what he’s so terrified of. Don’t let him use ‘I love you’ as a hall pass for controlling behavior. It’s not. Force him to face why he’s carrying so much anxiety. Tell him you’ll signal when you need an anchor, but you aren’t going to exist as a projection of his past trauma. This isn’t just ‘overprotective,’ Sheba. He’s bleeding his angst all over your life, and it’s hitting a point where it’s disrespectful to who you are as a partner.’
Sheba stared out at the sprawling city lights, the truth of her sister’s words settling deep.
‘Leaking his angst onto me,’ she repeated. ‘That’s what it is. He’s treating me like an asset he can’t afford to lose, instead of a grown ass woman who’s lived through her own hell.’
She let out a shaky breath, her gaze dropping to the melting marshmallows.
‘If I keep soothing his trauma, I’ll turn into a shadow of myself. I’m a Senior Head Nurse, forfokk’ssake. I’ve made many life-and-death calls in my lifetime, but I’m letting him act like I can’t cross the street without a leash.’
Selene reached out, squeezing her sister’s knee.
‘Naam. You’re his woman, not his ward. If he wants a future, he has to trust that the woman he loves is just as tough as the god he is, in her own way.’
Sheba nodded, the steel returning to her spine.
‘Santehon,’ she murmured. ‘I’ll have a chat and explain it to him. But for now, I need a break from our ‘divine’ drama. How are your terrors doing? Still keeping Kainan and you on your toes?’
Selene let out an amused huff. ‘Oh, you have no idea. We got a call from the academy yesterday; the twins decided to lean into their ‘identical’ status to ace their exams.’
Sheba grinned, already knowing where this was going. ‘Don’t tell me they pulled the old switcheroo again.’
‘They freakin’ committed academic fraud,’ Selene said, half-exasperated, part-impressed. ‘Despite being carbon copies, they’re polar opposites in the classroom. Jax is an ‘A’ student in English, painting, and history, while Leo excels in calculus and advanced physics. So, Leo spent Thursday morning knocking out a triple-weighted math exam for Jax, whilst Jax sat in the art studio and produced a hyper-realistic landscape for Leo’s portfolio. They didn’t get discovered until the art teacher found ‘Leo’, who all of a sudden knew how to use a palette knife without stabbing himself. The mathematics professor realized‘Jax’ was done an hour early with his test and was lobbing paper balls at others because he got bored. Kainan tried to look stern when we picked them up, but I caught him fist-bumping them in the flyer. I’m raising tiny, genius delinquents, Sheba, and my husband approves.’
