“Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill him. Right now, I probably couldn’t, even if I wanted to.” The obsidian-skinned Drakhin spoke perfect Earthian, without any discernible accent.

Esania stared at him in shock, not quite believing her ears. How?

“I just need him to be quiet for a while.” He tsked and shook his head. “My brother can be a tad overbearing, as you’ve probably realized by now.” Despite his menacing appearance, the Drakhin actually seemed to relax as Imril slumped down onto the cold stone floor, the remaining tendrils of liquid metal disappearing beneath the lavender-white skin of his forehead.

Esania dropped to her knees beside Imril. “What have you done to him?”

The Drakhin waved his hand dismissively before he peeled himself off the wall, rubbing his neck and wincing. “You’ll see when he wakes up. I don’t want to kill him… not yet.” He grinned viciously.

“Y-you’re Mael, aren’t you?” Sara stood with her back against the wall, her blue eyes never leaving the Drakhin’s face.

“Yes, I am. Do me a favor, humans. When he wakes from his slumber, tell him to find me in the Vakarin Plains, on the edge of the Mountain Kingdom. He needs to take some responsibility and come and clean up this little mess that he’s made.”

Esania glared at Mael. “Leave.” Her hand dropped to Imril’s wing and she stroked its pale, leathery surface for the first time. It was surprisingly soft and velvety and warm, and up close, she could see the fine network of blood vessels that coursed just beneath the tough, almost-translucent surface.

Mael chuckled.

“Go away, Drakhin.” Now more than ever, she felt protective of her fallen Drakhin.

The big guy had defended them. He’d been magnificent; vicious and snarling and undeniably protective.

“I have a proposition,” Mael said. “I have no interest at all in you. Clearly, you are his.” His gaze settled on Sara. “But you suit my needs.”

“Needs?” Esania scoffed, beckoning for Sara to come and stand behind her. “And what would those be? If you drain her… her…” she searched for the right word…

“Vir,” Mael supplied, one corner of his mouth quirking upwards.

“Yes, vir.” So that’s what it was called. “If you tap into it now, you might harm her unborn child. She can’t afford to go through this endless cycle of strength and fatigue and hypothermia. Not when she’s carrying a life inside her. Physically, she’s got enough to deal with.” Esania brought her hands together in a desperate plea. “Please, Mael. Don’t do this to her… or the innocent child inside her.”

For a moment, Mael was silent. His depthless gaze pierced right through her, making her want to look away. Looking into his eyes was like staring into an abyss.

She’d never believed in the supernatural, but there was something otherworldly about Mael, giving her the sense that he wasn’t merely a creature of flesh-and-blood.

Imril felt that way too, sometimes, but with Mael, the feeling was stronger, enough to send a ripple of goosebumps down her arms.

“Hmph,” he snorted at last, breaking the hypnotic silence. “Drakhin do not feed from pregnant females.”

“Hey, Mael?” Chin jutting out at a stubborn angle, Sara stepped away from the wall. “Can you guarantee me one thing?”

“Sara…” Esania held up a hand, fearing the impulsive human would accidentally provoke him.

“It’s okay, ma’am. Remember what you said? We’re not in the Serakhine anymore. I can speak for myself.” She walked forward, and to Esania’s surprise, Mael took two steps back, as if he were trying to avoid her. “I’ll ask again. Can you guarantee me one thing, Drakhin?”

“And what might that be?”

“The safety of me and my child. Swear you will protect us at all costs, and I will do whatever you want.”

A chill ran down Esania’s spine. They had no way of knowing whether this Mael character could be trusted. They didn’t know where he came from, or what his place was in this terrifying new world, or what he was truly capable of.

All they knew was that he was strong; strong enough to knock the formidable Imril unconscious.

He didn’t seem trustworthy. He was all snark and dark threats, with only a little bit of restraint thrown in.

What was Sara thinking?

Beneath her hand, Imril’s wings shifted as if in response to her thoughts, but he didn’t stir. His massive chest heaved up and down, causing the gunmetal scales of his armor to shimmer in the sunlight.

He reminded her of a sleeping dragon.

Her tormentor.

Her protector.

Impossibly, Mael’s expression softened. “That… can be arranged. I will keep you here until you have had the child. Don’t be afraid. Despite his foolishness, he is not a complete and utter bastard. He will treat you well, and he is certainly strong enough to ward off the nuisances that currently plague this world.”

“You’ll keep me here…” Sara’s eyes narrowed, a hint of stubbornness creeping into her tone. Esania remembered that tone. In her household, Sara had been the kitchenmaster, and she’d run a tight ship.

She might have been an indentured human, bonded to work for Esania until her debts were paid off, but Sara wasn’t an idiot.

“Yes.” Gathering his cloak of shadows around him, Mael gave her the most intense look. “You and yours will come to no harm from me. I will return.”

Suddenly, the entire room went dark. Esania stood up in alarm, but by the time she was on her feet, Mael had disappeared, leaving nothing but a distinct chill in the air.

Sara turned to stare at Esania, her blue eyes wide. “What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know.” Esania looked down at the unconscious Imril and sighed.

If only this planet had a hyperspeed information network like the Serakhine’s Orb. She would just enter a search term and know everything in an instant.

No, she had to figure things out the hard way, through small clues and observations. It was maddening, yet intriguing, like putting together a puzzle where half the pieces were were missing.

“It seems those two are brothers,” she murmured, studying the elegant lines of Imril’s face. Strong brow, strong nose, strong jawline. Luscious pale lips. Skin that was soft yet hard, millions of microscopic scales coalescing to form a dazzling surface that reflected the light in a thousand different ways.

All framed by that magnificent mane of golden hair.

Somehow, he looked like a cross between a dragon and an angel.

“Well yeah, that’s how the legend goes. Two brothers were created from the blood of a god and the DNA of a Vradhu woman. One fell to Khira. The other was doomed to stick it out on the sentient ship, the Hythra, bonded to her for all eternity. Out of spite, he created the Shadowring, anchoring it to the ship so it would remain even when he left.”

“Sounds like exactly that—a legend.” Esania stopped just short of running her fingers along the impossibly elegant planes of Imril’s face. How could this creature have a god’s blood running through his veins? In her tightly regulated world, there were no such things as gods and monsters.

“No, they’re the real deal. Think about it, ma’am.”

“Esania,” she corrected. “Just Esania.”

“Esania, then. Think about it. One radiates pure energy, the other darkness. Their appearance is scarily similar to the holograms I saw. They hate each other, and I’m pretty sure the dark one’s clinically insane, but they can’t kill one another.”

“Now you’re making me wish I went on that little excursion to the hologram ruins.”

“You really missed out. It was fascinating.”

“I hate hiking,” Esania said dryly. Growing up in the temperature-regulated habitat-domes of Mars, she wasn’t used to natural landscapes.

In fact, they scared her a little bit.

“Well, that’s all I know anyway. We were only there a short time, and the Vradhu never explain anything to us. If they really are Imril and Mael, then they’re very scary, and really strong. Better to be on their side, don’t you think?”

“Is that why you agreed to Mael’s demands so easily?”

“Agreed?” Sara laughed as she ran her hands over her growing baby bump. “Put it this way. If he wanted to take me, he would have. If he wanted to kill me, he would have. The only thing I have to bargain with is…”

“What?”

“A promise.”

“They do seem to have some sort of honor system…”

“If they’re anything like the Vradhu, then…”

Both Esania and Sara looked down at the unconscious Imril. He lay on his back with his wings splayed across the floor, arms outstretched, his chest moving slowly up and down.

He looked like a fallen angel… with scales.

“Wow, he’s… massive. Bigger than Mael, bigger than a Vradhu. Holy moly. Look at those muscles, those claws, that skin. I think the legends are real, I really do. When he took me, I couldn’t do anything, he’s that strong. I seriously thought he was going to kill me.”

Esania put a finger to her lips. It was weird to be talking about this larger-than-life Drakhin while he was in such a vulnerable state.

“I wonder what’s happened to Calexa and the girls,” Sara said quietly. “I hope they’re okay. He kind of… helped the Vradhu. You should have seen it. He just incinerated the blue guys. They didn’t stand a chance.” A blank look spread across Sara’s face as she shook her head, her eyes glazing over. “I’m not sorry he killed them, though. I get the feeling they wanted to capture us, as if we’re somehow valuable to them. Don’t know why. You know, it’s a weird thing to be looking down on him like this. I feel like he could wake up and any moment and—”

“He could wake up at any moment,” Esania said. “Perhaps he can even hear you. That’s why I want you to go to the other side of the room and sit down.

“What?”

“We wait until he wakes up. I can’t predict what he might do.” She didn’t want Imril to touch Sara’s vir under any circumstances, mostly for Sara and the baby’s sake, but she could admit to herself that there was a selfish reason for it too.

Only she should give Imril vir.

“What about you, ma’am?”

“Sara, can you just for once stop asking questions and trust me on this?”

“Yeah, I guess I can. Your instincts have been pretty good so far.” Sara started to walk, her boots echoing hollowly on the cold stone floor. “Oh, and Esania?”

“Yes, Sara?”

“Thanks for having my back. Again.”

Esania shrugged. What else was she supposed to do? As much as Primeans had tried to distance themselves from the ancestral race, humans and Primeans were intrinsically linked, and now more than ever, they needed to stick together.

She of all people should know.

Ignoring the fact that Imril had already sucked a torrent of vir from her body, Esania reached out and pressed her fingers against his forehead. She could feel it now; the flow of her innate energy as it passed into his mysterious body. He was like an empty vessel that could never quite become full, and she was his source.

He needed her. It was so damn strange. Even though she was bone-tired and the tips of her fingers were starting to turn cold, there was something slightly addictive about the feeling of being his food source.

Her heartbeat slowed.

Her limbs became loose and relaxed.

A pleasant tingle spread over her scalp and down her back. Part of her was tempted to curl up against him and let him absorb every last drop of her vir, but that would mean certain death.

She was slowly becoming addicted to the very thing that could kill her.

“Hey Imril, wake up,” she said softly, hating to see him laid low like this. The thought of escaping never really crossed her mind, because really, where would they go?

Into a hostile forest, where blue-skinned aliens in flying ships waited to capture them?

No thanks.

She would rather take her chances with this strange Drakhin.

Something warm and hard closed around her wrist.

His hand!

Golden eyes snapped open, transparent second eyelids flicking back and forth as catlike pupils widened then narrowed.

Golden eyes glowed.

And she was completely, utterly captivated, unable to move, unable to do anything but stare into his mesmerizing eyes.