“An indoor forest.”
Her mouth dropped open. “There is not an actual forest inside this palace.”
“There are several waterfalls, too.”
“Thyros.”
I lost the battle against my grin entirely. Stars, I loved teasing her. But then she stopped walking and looked around more carefully. At the enormous halls. The empty rooms. The impossible scale. And something in her expression softened. “You built all this because you were lonely.”
The words struck deeper than I expected. I could have deflected. Could have hidden behind arrogance or humor. But after everything we had survived together, I found I no longer wanted to hide from her.
“Yes,” I admitted quietly. "But I actually didn't build it. It was already built. I simply chose it."
Silence settled between us. Not uncomfortable. Heavy. The bond pulsed softly, carrying her emotions directly into me. Sadness. Affection. Love so fierce it still startled me every time I felt it.
She stepped closer slowly and touched my face. “You don’t have to be lonely anymore.”
By all the supernovas. The tenderness in her voice nearly brought me to my knees. I covered her hand with mine immediately, needing the contact like air itself.
“No,” I murmured. “I don’t.”
For one dangerous moment, I nearly kissed her right there in the middle of the corridor. Instead, I straightened slightly.
“Now,” I announced with considerably more confidence than I felt, “allow me to show you my lair.”
She snorted immediately. “Your lair?”
“You’ll see.”
I led her upward through the private levels of the palace, far above the grand ceremonial halls and war chambers below. The architecture changed subtly the higher we climbed. Less formal. More personal. The lights dimmed into softer silver hues while transparent floors revealed drifting galaxies far beneath our feet.
Naeris paused several times simply to stare downward. “This place feels unreal.”
“It did before you arrived.”
The words escaped before I could stop them. She looked at me instantly. Emotion flashed across her face so openly that mychest tightened painfully. I was becoming entirely too honest around this female. Not that I regretted it.
Finally, we reached the uppermost level. Massive black doors opened soundlessly before us. And Naeris froze. My chambers overlooked the cosmos itself. Entire walls of transparent crystal revealed drifting nebulae and endless stars beyond. Silver fabrics cascaded from vaulted ceilings while ancient weapons and artifacts lined dark shelves built into the obsidian walls.
And at the center stood my bed.
Naeris stared at it in visible disbelief. Then, very slowly, she turned toward me. “That bed is absurd.”
I looked thoughtfully toward it. “In fairness,” I said gravely, “I had very ambitious dreams.”
Another smile transformed her features. "Was I part of those ambitious dreams?"
I stepped right in front of her, took her face in both hands, marveling how small and fragile it seemed compared to my large palms. "You were every part."
She opened her mouth to reply, and I stole the chance and kissed her. Deeply, pouring all my feelings for her into it.
The kiss wastender and beautiful. But I still wasn’t entirely convinced Thyros' palace was real. Even standing inside his private chambers, I kept expecting the entire thing to dissolve into some elaborate illusion created by cosmic exhaustion and severe emotional trauma.
Because no one should live like this.
The palace itself looked like something ancient gods would build after deciding ordinary luxury was beneath them. Black crystal towers taller than mountains. Floating gardens. Actual indoor forests. Waterfalls that flowed upward because apparently gravity simply obeyed Thyros when it suited him.
And the stars. Stars everywhere. The entire place felt less like a home and more like someone had trapped pieces of the cosmos inside the architecture. Which, honestly, knowing Thyros, was probably exactly what happened.
