18. Thyros
The words landed like a blade between my ribs.
Even though I'd already stolen glimpses into her past, this time it hit me with more force. For just a moment, when she said that this Kael’Varyn had freed her from the Temple, she had opened herself up, and I snuck in.
I wasn't proud of it, but getting a glimpse of what my Aelyth had been through, the way she had been used…
a breeding program. They had planned to use Naeris as a vessel.
To force her to carry children for their twisted ambitions, to treat her body like livestock while her spirit was caged.
A deep rage rose in me, dark and volcanic.
The flaw on my back burned. The Abyss inside me whispered sweet, violent promises, how satisfying it would be to hunt down every Sythari priest who had ever touched her and make them scream for centuries. Slow. Painful. Personal.
I barely stopped myself from demanding names.
Zapharos spoke before I could. “No reason to linger. We have what we need. The Shard waits in the Abyss.”
Ella let out a low, pitiful sound, and Zapharos embraced her, whispering words into her ear that nobody could hear, but their meaning was easy to decipher.
I didn't fully understand her calling, but from the moment I’d become Executioner, when the one who held the title before me succumbed to Nox Eternum, nobody could have stopped me from fulfilling my duties, so I understood Ella's reluctance to leave hers.
Xandros looked pained; it was also easy to see that he'd rather go with us than stay here and play babysitter to Naeris' prisoners, but that wasn't my problem either.
Ashley and the females hugged, then we were finally outside in the hallway.
Naeris looked up at me with an unreadable expression. “I should be there when we bury Marek.”
I moved without thinking at the mere thought of being separated from her. My hand rose, cupping her cheek with a gentleness I didn’t know I possessed. Her skin was warm beneath my palm. The golden thread between us sang at the contact.
“If you really feel the need to stay,” I vowed, “we will. But right now, it is more important to save the living than to mourn the dead.”
She searched my eyes for a long moment, then gave a small, reluctant nod. The understanding in her gaze eased something tight in my chest.
“I still need to say goodbye to my crew,” she gave a derisive, humorless laugh, "or what's left of them."
I moved to follow her when she turned and started walking down the hallway, as every instinct screamed at me to stay at her side. But Dravok and Zapharos fell in beside me.
“A word?” Zapharos clapped me on the shoulder.
Both Dravok's and Zapahros' minds were wide open for me to read what they wanted. More information on Naeris.
“What she just told all of us is all I know,” I said out loud. “Had she told me more, I would fill you in, only as far as it didn’t break her confidence in me.”
Dravok studied me for a beat, then nodded. Zapharos did the same, respect flickered in his amber eyes.
“We’ll be on board our ship, waiting,” Zapharos announced after his quick scrutiny. “Hurry up.”
He didn't need to tell me twice. I turned and went after her, knowing she would have gone to where her crewmates' quarters were. I found her in the hallway. Rylan was there—too close—gripping her arm. His voice was low and urgent.
“Stay with us, Commander. Whatever those golden bastards want, we’ll protect you. You don’t have to go with them.”
Naeris laughed in his face. The sound was sharp and dismissive, edged with the same fearless defiance that had undone me from the moment I met her. It should have been like music to my ears. I should have taken satisfaction in her rejection.
Instead, I saw red.
One instant, he was standing there, bold enough to imagine he could shield her from me.
The next, his eyes were bulging in shock while his boots kicked uselessly through the air.
Without conscious thought, I’d crossed the distance between us in two strides, closed my fist around his throat, and lifted him off the deck as though he weighed nothing.
I slammed him into the nearest wall. Metal groaned, and bone cracked beneath my grip with a deeply satisfying sound. His scream echoed through the corridor.
It wasn't enough. Not remotely enough.
A savage fury surged through me, hot and absolute.
I wanted to tear his arms from his body for daring to touch her.
For presuming he had any right to stand between us.
For speaking to her as though she required his protection.
As though she was not bound to me by the will of the cosmos itself. As though she were not mine.
The thought hit with the force of a supernova.
Mine.
Not as property.
Not as a conquest.
But as the female written into the very fabric of my soul.
The one being in all creation who could steady the darkness inside me. The one I would burn galaxies to protect. My fingers tightened. His face darkened to a dangerous shade of purple.
A fractured wheeze escaped him as his hands clawed at my wrist.
I leaned in until my face was inches from his, allowing him to see exactly what he had awakened.
“If you touch her again,” I warned in a low and lethal voice, “I will scatter what remains of you across the stars.”
Every instinct I possessed urged me to finish it. To crush his throat. To erase him. Only the faint touch of Naeris’ hand against my arm kept me tethered to reason.
“Thyros!” Her voice cut through the haze.
Dravok and Zapharos were suddenly there, grabbing my arms, pulling me back.
“Easy, brother,” Dravok growled.
I snarled, still straining toward the human who was now slumped on the floor, clutching his broken arm and gasping. Naeris stepped between us, her hand pressed firmly against my chest. The contact grounded me instantly. The golden thread flared hot between us, pulling me back from the edge.
“He’s not worth it,” she said softly, eyes locked on mine. There was no fear in them, no judgment, only understanding, and something warmer that made my chest ache.
I forced my fingers to unclench. The rage ebbed, but it didn’t disappear. It settled into a low, protective burn in my veins. She was mine to protect now. And I would burn worlds to keep her safe.
Our ship hummed softly around me as it cut through the void, heading deeper towards the darkness I called home.
Most of the crew had retired for the night.
I should have done the same. But restlessness made me get up and go in search of her.
I walked through the dimly lit corridors until I reached the common observation lounge. Naeris was already there.
She stood alone before the floor-to-ceiling viewing window, arms wrapped loosely around herself, staring out into the endless black.
The ship’s interior lights were low, so the stars outside burned brighter, vast fields of them, swirling nebulae glowing in deep purples and fiery oranges, distant galaxies like scattered diamonds on black velvet.
A massive, slow-turning spiral arm of the galaxy dominated the view, its core pulsing with ancient light.
It was beautiful in a way that made an Abyss-born male feel small.
She saw my reflection in the glass before I spoke.
“Can’t sleep?” she asked softly, without turning around.
I shook my head and moved closer until I stood directly behind her. Close enough that I could feel the warmth of her body. Smell the scent of her hair and skin.
“I felt you awake,” I murmured.
A small smile curved her lips in the reflection. “I’m sorry?”
“It’s not your fault.” I rasped, unable to control my timbre. Her nearness intoxicated me.
We fell silent, simply staring out at the cosmos together.
The view was breathtaking, raw, untamed, filled with colors and light no planet-bound being could ever truly understand.
A distant supernova bloomed on the edge of sight, a slow explosion of gold and crimson painted the darkness for a few eternal seconds.
“It’s so much prettier out here,” I said quietly.
Naeris leaned back just slightly. Her shoulder blades brushed my chest. The contact sent a jolt through me.
Making me yearn for more. Always more with her.
Something uniquely her made my blood run hotter.
My hands flexed at my sides, fighting the urge to wrap around her waist and pull her fully against me.
She let out a soft breath. “It’s funny… space looks just the same on this side as it does where I grew up.”
She turned then, slowly, until we were almost nose to nose.
Well, would have been, if she were taller.
As it was, it was her nose against my chest. She had to tilt her head to look at me.
Her luminous eyes locked onto mine. The golden thread between us flared bright and urgent, singing with raw need.
The air crackled. I could feel the heat of her breath on my lips.
My heart hammered against my ribs as every instinct screamed at me to close the last few inches.
“Tell me about your Dark Abyss,” she whispered.
“It’s not mine,” I contradicted, completely mesmerized by the way the starlight played across her face. “Never has been.”
The pull between us was magnetic, undeniable.
My hands rose of their own accord, hovering just above her hips, trembling with the effort not to touch her.
Her lips parted slightly. The bond thrummed so loudly I was sure she could hear it too.
For one suspended, electric moment, nothing else in the universe existed, only her, only me, and the vast, beautiful darkness stretching out behind us like a witness.
I had never wanted anything more in my entire existence.
And I had never been more terrified of what would happen if I finally took it.