Torin
“Never.” The answer is immediate. Absolute. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. This—” I touch the golden veins running through my scales. “—is proof I chose love over fear. Chose evolution over stagnation. Chose you.”
Through the bond, I feel her relief. She tries to hide it, but I know her too well now. Know she worries about the cost of what we’ve become. About whether I resent the transformation. About whether I wish I was still just a Deep Runner instead of something unprecedented.
“I love you,” I tell her. “I love who you are. I love who we’ve become. I love the future we’re building. I wouldn’t change any of it.”
She kisses me—soft, grateful, perfect. When she pulls back, her expression has shifted to something I can’t quite read. Nervous? Excited? Both?
“Good,” she says. “Because there’s something I need to tell you.”