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"I have to carry you to reach the main trunk," he said simply. "Unless, of course, you wish to try the 'trajectory' of a solo jump? I promise to watch your form very closely this time. I might even give you a score."

I looked at the gap, then at his broad, solid chest, then back at the gap.

"Carry me," I muttered, stepping toward him and wrapping my arms around his neck before he could ask twice. "But if you drop me again, I am actually going to bite you. And I have very sharp 'star-woman' teeth."

Kaelen didn't say a word. He just scooped me up into his arms, pulling me tight against his chest, and leapt into the darkening canopy.

Chapter 19

Kaelen-Thul

The forest floor at twilight was a realm of shifting ink and bioluminescent ghosts. Carrying Lyra down from the heights had been a test of my own restraint; her arms had been locked around my neck, her breath fanning the sensitive skin of my throat, and the scent of her—sweet, salty, and the lingering ozone of her terror—was a physical weight in my lungs. I set her down onto the soft, damp moss of the thickets, my hands lingering on her waist for a heartbeat longer than necessary before I forced myself to step back into the shadows.

"The canopy is for speed," I said, my voice rasping in the cooling air. "But the floor... the floor is for silence. Here, the Alu’un does not just provide; she tests the depth of your senses. You must know what to touch and what to flee, for even the most beautiful flower can be a shroud."

I moved toward a cluster of low-hanging, bell-shaped flora that pulsed with a hypnotic violet light. "This is Ny-lo. Its nectar will sustain you for days, providing the strength of a full meal in a single drop. But if you touch the leaves, the oil will seep into your pores, and your skin will blister and peel before the moon reaches its zenith."

Lyra leaned in, her eyes narrowing as she studied the intricate, glowing veins of the plant. Even in the dim light, I could see her mind working—the 'scientist' returning to the surface, her fear replaced by that strange, star-born curiosity.

"Violent pigmentation usually suggests a high alkaline content in Earth plants," she whispered, more to herself than to me. "It’s a warning system. Aposematism. If the leaves cause blistering, it's likely a caustic defence mechanism—an evolutionary trade-off to protect the nectar source from herbivores. Is the nectar’s pH balanced, then? Does it have a high glucose concentration? Is it possible the plant produces an enzyme to neutralise the caustic oil once the nectar is ingested?"

I blinked at her, the words she used sounding like the clicking of strange, metallic insects. "It is sweet. It keeps you alive. That is the only 'physics' you need to master if you wish to see another sun."

I moved to a dark vine that looked like a discarded piece of rope. "And this is Zha-shak. It looks like a common root, but it breathes. If you step on it, it will coil around your ankle and drag you into the peat. It does not eat; it simply waits for you to rot so it can feed on the decay left behind."

"Trophism," she breathed, her brow furrowed in a mix of horror and fascination. "A passive-aggressive carnivorous plant. It's essentially a botanical trapdoor spider. The evolution on this planet is... It’s terrifyingly efficient, Kaelen. Everything here is a weapon or a trap. There’s no wasted energy."

She looked up at me then, the gold of the star-flower still clinging to her hair, her blue eyes searching mine. "Do you do this for all your prisoners? The grand tour? The 'How Not to Die 101' lecture? Or am I just a special case?"

The question hit me like a blow to the chest. I thought of the others—the scavengers, the Vakras scouts, the few star-beasts who had crashed in sun-cycles past. I had never taught them the names of the plants. I had never watched them laugh with the younglings. I had simply ended them or let the forest do it for me.

"I have no other prisoners, Ly-ra," I said, my markings darkening to a sombre, bruised purple. "There is only you. There has only ever been you."

She went quiet, the weight of my words settling between us like a physical thing. We moved deeper into the shadows, the air growing thick with the rhythmic, guttural croaking of Ghu-to frogs. I was showing her how to mask her scent by rubbing the crushed, lemony leaves of the K'sha fern against her neck when she suddenly stopped, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

"Kaelen," she murmured, her voice tight and strangely strained. "I... I have a problem."

I paused, my hand instinctively going to the bone hilt of my dagger. "A predator? Did you hear the click of a Stalker?"

"No. I... I really, really need to pee."

I stared at her, blinked once, and then twice. I had forgotten how frequently the star-people had to purge their systems. I gestured dismissively toward the base of a nearby Kelu tree, its trunk wide enough to hide a small herd. "Then go. The moss is thirsty; it will absorb it."

Her eyes went wide, reflecting the forest's bioluminescent glow. "What? Right here? In front of you? No chance. Absolutely not. My species has this thing called 'privacy,' Kaelen. It's a pretty big deal."

I rolled my eyes, a long, weary sigh escaping my throat. "I am a Hunter, star-woman. I have seen the cycles of life from the first breath to the final rot. Your 'purging' does not interest me. But if it offends your star-pride so deeply, go behind the bushes there." I pointed to a dense, shimmering thicket of silver-leafed shrubs. "Do not go far. The shadows have teeth, even when you think they are sleeping."

She huffed, muttering something under her breath about 'savages' and 'lack of basic plumbing,' and disappeared into the brush.

I stood in the clearing, my ears twitching, my senses tuned to the subtle vibrations of the forest. I was thinking of the Council’s warnings, of the way her skin had felt like warm silk against mine in the net, and of the impossible pull she had on my Pulse. My fingers rose slowly, the pad of my thumb brushing across the centre of my lower lip—still burning with the phantom touch of her mouth, still aching with a dangerous, untamed hunger I couldn't rationalise. I was lost in the memory, lost in the rhythm of the woods, until a sharp scream ripped through the air—a sound of pure, unadulterated pain.

"KAELEN!"

I didn't think. I charged. My claws were out before I even reached the brush, my heart thundering with a sudden, cold terror that I had never felt for myself. I met her halfway as she stumbled out of the silver leaves, her face deathly pale, her hands clutching the upper part of her inner thigh.

"Something bit me!" she gasped, her legs buckling beneath her. I caught her, lowering her to the moss as she began to tremble violently. "It was... small. Red. It felt like a hot needle being driven into my bone."

"What did it look like?" I demanded, my hands moving to her leg, pushing her hands away. "Tell me, Ly-ra! I need the name!"