The Quoram Effect (Tales of Quoram #1)
Chapter One
He’d returned—the looming shadow sitting at the table behind me. This dream had haunted me every night for the past seven months. The same tedious questions and growing doubts. The same impossible stranger.
“Why do you keep visiting me?” I refused to acknowledge my unwelcome guest with eye contact.
Instead, I remained standing at the inwardly curved window of my unlit lounge, watching the soundless routine of spacecraft entering and exiting the Central Docks of the four-ringed Argentum Space Station.
It was a habit of mine, even when I was awake, but as always during this recurring dream, the glow of the purple-and-silver planet sparkling below drew my gaze downward towards the centre piece of our civilisation, of our existence—Quoram.
Absorbed in its perfection, my eyes traced a beautifully formed silver storm cloud spiralling across Quoram’s atmosphere.
Though hurricanes and earthquakes riddled the world rotating miles beneath me, I longed to be one of the lucky people given sanctuary down there—those who had found their Damson and lived a more natural life on the surface.
I craved freedom from these metallic walls and artificial lights.
I wanted to breathe fresh air, to feel unfiltered sunlight on my face, to swim in healing waters that soothed the body and mind.
But I’d forsaken my chance to that happiness years ago, and the mythical figure sitting behind me knew it.
“You know why I’m here, Remi. Why don’t you come sit with me?” Like smooth, molten steel, his voice slowly pulsed liquid fire down my spine. And as if he commanded my very dream, the power behind his placidness was a silent command I could not resist. As usual, I found myself turning to him.
Lounging in one of my plush dining chairs, the purple-eyed man with long silver hair sat nonchalantly, the violet glow of Quoram highlighting his sharp, sculpted features.
Dressed in the same ornately embroidered dark suit he wore every night, he gestured to the chair opposite him.
With a reluctant sigh, I obeyed his soundless instruction.
“I don’t want to talk about this again,” I said, unable to look at him as he poured a glass of lilac wine.
“I’m here, aren’t I? Isn’t that a sign you need to discuss this? About your connection to Torz Benoit.”
I sighed again, kicking myself for falling asleep while thinking about the man I had known since I was fourteen. The man who excelled in position and rank. The commander who was a catch for any woman—any woman would be lucky to live a life with him here aboard the Argentum Space Station.
The thought was hypocritical—painfully so.
“What is it you want to know?” I mumbled.
My visitor took a sip from his wineglass, drawing out the question I already knew he was about to ask. “Why did you reject the bond?”
Predictable.
I rolled my eyes, failing to restrain the irritation bubbling upwards, and the sharpness of my response was as pointed and penetrating as a blade. “You know why.”
“Tell me again.”
Inwardly, I groaned. “We both rejected it.”
“Yes, but make me understand why.”
“We were young,” I blurted, my exasperation peaking. “Inexperienced in the ways of adult responsibility. I don’t know. We had no intention of settling down on Quoram to start a family.”
“That’s not what the bond is solely about, Remi.”
Lifting my heavy eyes to the stranger across the table, I became trapped in his powerful gaze. It was bizarre how every aspect of him, from his voice to his posture, held an otherworldly energy that left me both terrified and enthralled.
He wasn’t a mortal man, that was for sure, yet I found his rugged beauty mesmerising.
Elegant but masculine, he was the epitome of the Damson God.
I’d grown up reading plenty of fairytales about him with his striking purple irises.
Eyes that lapped with taunt as they stared me down, churning those fairytales into a twisted nightmare.
Shaking my head, I pushed the daunting thought away.
This is a dream. He isn’t real.
“Isn’t that why you choose Damson couples?” I asked, my voice now tempered. “To copulate and breed…to produce more energy for your magical planet?”
Those purple eyes narrowed, sending pellets of derision my way. “I chose you and Torz because you needed each other.”
At that remark, I stiffened, swallowing down the scalding burn of regret that spiralled into a torrent of defensive thoughts.
“I don’t understand...” The chime to my despair bounced off the metallic walls of my dream-state apartment. “Why did the bond have to snap in so early for us? Why couldn’t it have happened a few years later, when…when we were older? When I was old enough to understand my own heart.”
“So, you’re saying you understand it now?”
“No…I don’t know—”
“If your heart knows what it wants, Remi, I strongly advise you to follow its desire.”
I huffed a despairing laugh. “I’m not going to chase a pointless dream.”
“There is no harm in trying—”
“How can I?” I snapped. “Why would I set myself up for rejection…risk everything I have? I’m lonely enough as it is. Torz…he doesn’t see me in that way. He never has. I’m just…just…”
“The trusted lieutenant he looks out for. Yes, you’ve told me this before.”
“Then why are you asking me the same questions?”
Irritating me further, the suave deity leaned back casually, sipped his wine, and hummed his amusement. “Time is ticking, Remi. And living with regret can tear the soul apart.”