It could claw at every fracture in my soul.
But as long as Naeris believed in me, it would never own me.
Before I could answer, Zapharo's voice exploded over the comm. “Alert. Unknown vessel docking. Battle stations immediately.”
The deck lurched beneath us. A deep, resonant impact reverberated through the ship. Then another. And another. Weapons fire. The hum of the vessel shifted as shields flared under the assault. Red emergency lights flooded the corridor. Naeris and I stared at one another. Our foreheads were nearly touching, and the bond between us blazed brighter than ever. But one realization stopped me from claiming what was mine.
The Harrowed One had found us, and he didn't come alone.
The wall to my left exploded inward. A deafening blast tore through the corridor, hurling jagged shards of metal and sparks in every direction. I reacted on instinct, seizing Naeris aroundthe waist and shoving her behind me. My aura flared molten gold as I dropped into a fighting stance.
“Moggaddesh,” I ground out.
Three of them stepped through the breach, walking siege engines of obsidian armor and glowing orange fissures. The lead one threw back its ridged skull and roared. The flaw inside mesurged.
Black fissures spiderwebbed across the deck beneath my boots. Cold, ancient power flooded my veins like liquid night. Through the bond, I felt Naeris’ reaction slam into me, shock, awe, and something darker, hungrier.
How the hell did he do that?Her thought hit me clear and bright.He just shattered those bastards.
Flashes poured back at me through the golden thread: jagged images of the Harrowed One’s endless voids, the primordial darkness I carried, the terrifying beauty of the power I was about to unleash. She saw all of it. She sawme.
And she still looked at me like I was a god. A dark god of vengeance given flesh. The realization nearly undid me. I moved.
The lead Moggaddesh didn’t just die; itshattered. My blade came down, and the darkness devoured it from the inside before the armor plates could even hit the deck. Black-gold arcs ripped through the air. The creature exploded outward in a rain of obsidian shards and molten orange blood.
More poured through the breach. Five. Six. A whole boarding party. I let the flaw take the leash. Reality bent around me. Black tendrils of power lashed out, lifting one Moggaddesh off its feet and smashing it into the wall hard enough to crater reinforced steel. I drove my hand straight into the glowing fissure of another’s chest. The creature convulsed as the darknessateit alive from the inside out.
The flaw inside me screamed. It wantedout. It wanted to beunleashed. It wanted tofeed. I fought it back.
Naeris didn’t hesitate. With a battle cry that nearly matched the Moggaddesh's thunderous roar, she launched herself forward. Straight at another monster. For one stunned heartbeat, I could only stare.
Then pure terror and fierce pride detonated inside me at the same time. This reckless, magnificent female was going to get herself killed.
Not under my watch.
Naeris already had a blade in her hand. With astonishing grace, she planted one foot against a jagged section of the wall and launched herself upward. For one breathtaking instant, she seemed to fly, all dark curls and lethal intent. On the downward arc, she drove the knife straight into the Moggaddesh’s glowing eye.
The creature bellowed. Black blood and vitreous fluid exploded across the corridor. It reeled backward, clawing at its ruined face. But while she hung suspended, it swung its massive hand toward her waist, talons spread wide enough to cut her in half.
I brought my sword down with a roar. The blade cleaved through the creature’s arm just above the elbow. Bone, armor, and flesh parted in one savage stroke. The severed limb crashed to the deck.
Naeris twisted in midair with impossible agility and landed in a low crouch, already balanced and ready.Great Darkness.
There was barely time to register how formidable she truly was. The Moggaddesh staggered, roaring in agony. Naeris surged upward and slashed across the exposed fissures in its throat. Molten light spilled from the wound. The giant collapsed with a thunderous crash.
But two more were already charging through the smoke.
Naeris moved to meet them with a ferocity that stole my breath.
She was fast. Not Arkhevari fast, but precise and utterly fearless. She ducked beneath a sweeping claw, drove her blade into the glowing seam beneath one creature’s ribs, then spun away before it could crush her. The wound didn’t kill it, but the beast roared and stumbled.
The second Moggaddesh lunged for her.
Again the flaw roared, again I pushed it back.
I intercepted it with enough force to shake the deck. My sword bit deep into its shoulder while Naeris darted behind it and buried her knife into the exposed tendon at the back of its knee. The massive creature buckled. I severed its head in a single stroke.
The final Moggaddesh turned toward Naeris, ember-red eyes blazing with murderous intent. Before it could reach her, she drew a compact blaster from the small of her back and fired two rapid shots straight into its eyes. The creature howled, staggering blindly.
