We would find the rebels. We would free the descendants of the Arkhevari who had been hidden and exploited for countless generations. And we would show them the truth of who they were. No female born of Ashera’s bloodline would ever again be treated as a commodity. Not while I drew breath.
A pulse of warmth flared through the bond, soft and unmistakable: Naeris.
Hope surged through me so swiftly it nearly brought me to my knees.
Whatever happened next, whatever truths awaited us in Nox Eternum, one certainty burned brighter than all the others: I had found my Aelyth.
And I would spend the rest of eternity protecting her.
I felt her before I saw her. The golden thread between us, which had tormented me for three endless days, suddenly flared to brilliant life. Warmth rushed through my chest, followed by asurge of anticipation so fierce it nearly brought me to my knees. She was coming to me. A savage satisfaction unfurled inside me.
Mine.
The thought rose instinctively, as natural as breathing. The female who had haunted my thoughts and invaded every corner of my existence was walking toward me of her own accord.
I straightened from where I stood in the corridor outside my quarters, my pulse thundered, every nerve was alive with awareness. My aura flared in response, filling the narrow passage with molten gold.
Then the mark on my back moved.
I froze.
A ripple of darkness slithered beneath my skin, spreading like ink through water. The familiar sensation—cold, invasive, wrong—sent a spike of revulsion through me.
“No,” I muttered.
My hands clenched at my sides. The flaw had no place here. Not now. Not when Naeris was finally coming to me. The darkness writhed again, stronger this time, as if something deep within it had awakened. Then a voice slid through my mind.Turn to me, my son.
Ice flooded my veins. I recoiled as though struck.What the fuck? The whisper was unmistakable.
Silken.
Ancient.
Hungry.
Nhal’Vareth.
I had heard the Harrowed One before, in moments of weakness, in the silent reaches of Nox Eternum. But never like this. Never this clearly. Never this close.
You feel her, the voice crooned.At last, she comes to you.
My breathing turned ragged.
"Get out of my head."
She is not worthy of you.The darkness on my back pulsed.She will betray you.
“No.”
The word tore from my throat. I pressed my palms against the wall, fighting for control. The golden thread strained, blazing brighter.She fears you, the Harrowed One whispered.She will abandon you, as all others will.
My vision darkened at the edges.
Kill her.
The command struck like a physical blow.
Kill her now.
