I drove both blades through its chest. It convulsed once and crashed to the deck.
Silence fell, broken only by our ragged breathing and the distant sounds of battle throughout the ship.
Naeris stood amid the carnage, her chest heaving, her knife dripping black blood, a smear of soot darkening one cheek. Her eyes blazed with adrenaline and defiance. She looked like a goddess of war.
I stared at her, and awe swelled in my chest until it nearly eclipsed everything else. I had known she was brave. I had known she was stubborn. I had known she was dangerous.
But watching her throw herself at a Moggaddesh twice her height without a moment’s hesitation, watching her read their weaknesses in seconds and fight like she had been born for this… it filled me with a fierce, bone-deep respect I had never felt for anyone except my brothers.
She didn’t need the flaw. She didn’t need me to become the monster. She was my equal. My partner. My Aelyth. And by all the stars, I had never desired her more.
Through the bond, I felt her own wave of awe slam into me, bright, fierce, and laced with heat. She had seen me fight. She had felt the power Ididunleash. And the way she looked at me now told me everything.
She still wanted me. Exactly like this.
I reached for her, my hand trembled as I cupped her face, my thumb smeared the soot across her cheek.
“Naeris…”
“I know,” she whispered, pressing her forehead to mine. “I felt all of it. You were magnificent. And I still want you so badly I can barely think straight.”
I shuddered, pulling her tighter against me. The bond blazed white-hot between us even as distant fighting still echoed through the ship.
Around us, the corridor was a ruin of shattered Moggaddesh and black blood. Fighting beside her without the darkness felt… right.
Like I was finally enough.
“Thyros!”
Her scream ripped through the corridor. Four more Moggaddesh poured through the breach, straight for us. We had let our guard down. One heartbeat of relief, and now we were going to pay for it.
Not today.The Harrowed One chuckled deep inside me, low, silken, amused.
Dark power surged through my veins, stronger than I had ever felt before. Cold. Ancient.Hungry.It flooded every cell, singing promises of effortless victory. I hated it. I hated how good it felt.
With one hand, I yanked her hard against my back, shielding her. With the other, I thrust my palm forward and unleashed a roiling ball of black-gold energy. It slammed into the four Moggaddesh like a miniature sun gone supernova. Their armor didn’t just melt; itvaporized. Flesh, bone, and obsidian plating disintegrated in a single blinding flash, leaving nothing but scorched deck plating and the acrid stink of ozone.
The roar of power that tore through me was nothing like anything I had ever felt. It was intoxicating.
Yes,the Harrowed One purred, velvet and venom in my skull.You can have it. All of it. Come and stay by my side, my son. Mine.
I tilted my head as the power crackled along my skin like living lightning. Part of me recoiled in revulsion. This was exactly what I had spent centuries fighting against, the flaw that made me less than my brothers, the darkness that had always marked me as broken. If I let it in any deeper, I would lose myself. I would become the weapon the Harrowed One wanted: unstoppable, merciless,empty.
But another part—a part that was growing louder, stronger, more insistent with every battle—cravedit. The relief. The freedom. No more endless restraint. No more clawing to staygood. Just pure, limitless power that could end every threat before it ever touched her. Temptation began sinking its teeth in deeper than it ever had before.
Naeris’ hand slammed against my back, right over the burning mark.
“Come back to me,” she yelled fiercely, her voice cut straight through the dark whispers.
“Right now, Thyros. I’m not afraid of your darkness, but don’t youdarelet it take you from me.”
Golden light exploded through the bond. The obsidian cracks in my aura shuddered violently. The Harrowed One shriekedin fury and recoiled. Slowly, painfully, the darkness retreated. I dropped my hand and staggered. My breathing was ragged, my chest heaving. But she was looking atmelike I was the only thing in the universe that mattered.
“Naeris…”My beautiful Naeris, what would I do without you?
Wow.
That felt incredible. I stood in the wrecked corridor with my chest heaving, my knife slick with black blood, and realized with a rush of almost giddy exhilaration that I hadn’t known how desperately I needed a good fight. Not a controlled sparring match. Not a carefully planned rebel strike.
