Chapter 7 #2
“I wish we’d met differently,” I said sleepily. “In a coffee shop, maybe. Or at a space port while you were delivering something normal like textiles or food processors.”
He paused, then said, “What is cof-fee?”
I giggled. “It’s a popular Earth beverage. A little bitter, but oh wow, when it’s prepared right, it’s the best thing in the world.”
He smiled back. “What would you have said to me? If we’d just been strangers meeting in a…cof-fee shop?”
I thought about it, picturing a world where we weren’t bound together by ancient alien consciousness and life-or-death stakes. Where we could just be two people getting to know each other at our own pace.
“I would have asked if you were new in town, because you looked a little lost. And then I would have recommended my favorite drink and asked if you wanted to sit together.”
“And I would have said yes,” Rykar said quietly. “Even though I never sit with strangers in any type of shop.”
“Why would you have made an exception?”
“Because you’re beautiful, and you look like you’d have interesting things to say.”
My heart skipped at the simple honesty in his words.
No one had told me I was beautiful in a long time.
Not since the beginning of my relationship with Thomas.
I wondered if Rykar had noticed the same things about me that I’d been noticing about him—the way conversations felt easy when we talked, how the room seemed smaller and more intimate when we were alone together, the growing awareness of each other as more than just people thrown together by circumstance.
But sleep was winning the battle against consciousness, and with the Sola giving me some much-needed peace, my last coherent thought was wondering if we’d ever get the chance to find out what might have happened between us in that hypothetical coffee shop.
I woke to urgent voices in the corridor outside our suite. Rykar was already up, pulling on clothes with the quick efficiency of someone accustomed to emergency situations.
“What’s happening?” I asked, though my body was already answering with a spike of psychic feedback that told me the ancient Sola was agitated again.
“Emergency meeting,” Rykar said grimly. “Apparently, the other Solas are still experiencing fluctuations from yesterday’s experiment.”
We dressed quickly and made our way to Ledos’ atzan, the open-air atrium at the heart of his Sola.
The space was beautiful, with curved walls that rose up toward a transparent ceiling, showing the sky above.
Plants cascaded from multiple levels, and the sound of running water created a peaceful atmosphere that was at odds with the tense faces of the assembled lords.
Kael, whom I had not met before now, stood at the center of the group. His gold eyes scanned each face. “The situation is escalating. Three more system failures overnight, and Grael’s Sola is reporting communication difficulties with her consciousness.”
“The ancient Sola’s psychic disruption is spreading,” Zurian added, his scholarly demeanor unusually grim.
“Whatever bond she’s trying to form with Rykar, through Maya, it’s now affecting the entire network of connected Solas.
And no,” he paused to look at me, Cleo, and Zara, “it’s not directly the result of your experiment.
My Sola thinks this would have happened anyway.
Your Sola…” he turned to Rykar when he said this, “is stuck. Either physically or mentally. She is a living thing, after all.”
“If we can’t get her unstuck,” Damiron said, “we will have no choice but to force the Sola back into dormancy and sever the connection.”
“I thought Solas couldn’t be put back into dormancy,” I said.
Damiron nodded. “That was my less blunt way of saying, we’d let the Sola die.”
“That would also kill Maya,” Rykar said sharply.
“Better than losing seven established Solas and endangering hundreds of thousands of lives,” Damiron replied without hesitation.
I felt the blood drain from my head. The practical part of me understood his logic—from a utilitarian standpoint, my life wasn’t worth risking an entire civilization. But the human part of me wasn’t ready to accept that death sentence for me or the Sola.
“There’s another option,” Savair said quietly. All eyes turned to him. “Rykar accepts the bond. He becomes the ancient Sola’s lord, establishes proper communication, and brings the situation under control.”
“I’ve told you, I can’t understand her,” Rykar said, frustration evident in his voice.
“This is where we need to think outside the container,” Ledos interjected.
“It’s outside the box,” Rayna murmured, her lips twitching.
He raised one brow at her with a crooked grin.
“Right, as always, my queen.” They exchanged teasing looks and he drew Rayna’s hand to his lips in a dramatic kiss.
“We must think outside the box. Maya suggested days ago that perhaps Rykar needed to access the Sola’s heart chamber and make contact with her heart crystal. ”
“We also said that the Sola doesn’t appear to be developed enough to have formed a proper heart chamber,” Rykar protested. “Or, it’s buried underground with the rest of her.”
“Then we find it,” Grael said in his quiet, deadly tone. “We mount an expedition. Find a way into the developing Sola structure, locate whatever serves as her consciousness center, and you make contact.”
“And if it doesn’t work?” I asked.
The lords exchanged glances, and I saw the answer in their expressions before anyone spoke.
“Then we proceed with Damiron’s solution,” Savair said gently. “We force dormancy and accept the consequences.”
The weight of that proclamation settled over the group like a shroud. Either Rykar accepted the bond and became a lord, or I died and the ancient Sola was destroyed.
“If you agree, Rykar, the expedition leaves in six hours,” Scaron said. “The other Solas can’t maintain stability much longer.”
I looked at Rykar, seeing the war playing out behind his silver-blue eyes.
He was being forced to choose between his fears and my life, between his past failures and an uncertain future.
The guilt and responsibility he’d been carrying for ten cycles had led to this moment, where someone’s survival once again depended on his choices.
“Of course, I agree,” he said in a voice that sounded half choked. “I’ll try to find her heart chamber.”
Relief and terror warred in my chest. Relief that he was willing to try, terror at what might happen if we failed.
“I’m going with you, naturally,” I said, the words out of my mouth before I’d consciously decided to speak them.
Rykar hesitated. “It’s dangerous.”
This really wasn’t up for discussion. “I’m already connected to her consciousness, and we need to stay together, right? She’s attached to both of us.”
“Maya is going.” This came from Zurian’s mate, Bryn, who looked like a Valkyrie with her strong features, long blond hair, and metal cybernetic arm. “But, Rykar, understand—this is your last chance to accept what the ancient Sola is offering. If you can’t establish the bond…”
“I understand,” Rykar said grimly.
As the meeting broke up, the planning and logistics of our expedition into the ancient Sola began. I found myself reaching for Rykar’s hand. He looked surprised but didn’t pull away, his fingers intertwining with mine in full view of everyone present.
It was a small gesture, but it felt like a promise. Whatever happened underground, we would face it together. And maybe, if we survived this, we might finally get the chance to discover what could grow between us when an ancient alien consciousness wasn’t trying to kill me.
The ancient Sola pulsed at the edges of my awareness, and for the first time since this all began, her chaotic whispers almost sounded like approval.