Whoosh.

There was something hard and cold beneath her. Esania blinked, trying to find her bearings.

Where am I? What just happened?

Darkness surrounded her. She sat up and looked around wildly. Behind her, something—someone—let out great shuddering breaths.

He coughed. He gasped.

Mael.

He took me through, I don’t know…

A portal? Had Mael created a portal through time? Through space?

Anything was possible on Khira. Just like the Medusa had done when it ripped through the Netherverse, they’d skipped through time and space, only Mael could somehow accomplish such a thing using his will alone.

But Esania didn’t care about all that now.

“Where is he?” she demanded, feeling her way around on the floor, totally blind in the darkness. There was a strange smell in here; the smell of cinder and ash and death. “Imril?”

She could feel his life ebbing away through their bond, but the sensation of closeness was palpable.

He was here!

“Imril!”

No response.

But a familiar sensation crept over her, even as Mael backed away.

Her vir was drifting toward him. Even though he was unresponsive, his body was absorbing her energy. Esania latched onto the sensation and followed it.

Her elgida started to throb again.

He’s here!

Her bare hands slid over something impossibly smooth and yet hard at the same time, like velvet over steel.

His body.

Cold!

Imril had always felt blissfully warm, and now his body was cold. As she ran her hands over him, guided only by touch, her vir flowed into him, becoming a powerful torrent.

Stars, he was weaker than ever. What had happened here?

“Imril, wake up,” she pleaded. “Wake up!”

In the background, Mael’s breathing was harsh and labored, and he groaned deeply, as if in pain. Despite his obvious suffering, he stayed strictly outside her radius, not drawing on her vir at all.

Esania barely noticed. She was entirely focused on Imril, on his still, lifeless form. She couldn’t detect a heartbeat. He didn’t even breathe. The only thing giving her hope was the fact that he continued to draw upon her vir.

She ran her hands over the powerful contours of his body. He was naked; she couldn’t feel any remaining traces of his dark armor. Her fingers met the bony curve of one of his wings. Imril was lying on his side, curled up in the fetal position, his wings outstretched. That was as much as she could make out in the darkness.

Something warm and wet and sticky seeped through the thin fabric of her dress. Blood? Was this his blood?

But she couldn’t see a thing.

“Mael, help me,” she said softly as she found the strong curve of his jaw. Her fingers traced over soft lips, over proud cheekbones and his imposing brow, finally reaching his soft hair. “I need to see what’s going on.”

There was a pause, then…

“I can’t bring the light,” Mael whispered, his voice cracking. “Only he can. If I come close to you as I am now, I will take all of your energy. He needs it more than I.”

Esania’s right hand was really throbbing now, the skin under her elgida growing hot. The sensation wasn’t unpleasant though, just… strange.

The silence stretched between them, punctuated only by the quiet sounds of Mael’s suffering.

“Traveling through the void really hit you hard, huh?” The words came out as if she were in some sort of surreal trance. She lay down on her side next to Imril, facing him, not caring that his blood seeped through her clothes. Esania placed her hand on his chest, willing her strength into him, even as she grew weaker.

“I’ve never taken another through the void. Even when I’m on my own, it’s a supremely difficult and dangerous feat. I didn’t know if it was possible.”

“But you took me anyway?” Perhaps Esania should have been angry, but she wasn’t.

“I had no choice.”

“You would have risked my life… for him?”

“He is my brother.”

Perhaps Esania should have felt chilled to the bone that Mael could so easily sacrifice her life, but instead she felt relieved and strangely grateful.

“If my concentration had lapsed even just for the shortest time, I would have been lost, too.”

Oh.

Esania ran her fingers over Imril’s powerful chest, desperately wanting him to wake up. We’re just fumbling in the dark without you, Imril. Wake up!

Then his chest moved. Up. Down.

He coughed.

A breath!

Hope surged in her chest.

“He’s alive,” Mael rasped. There was a note of relief in his voice. “My brother isn’t so easily killed.”

“When you first encountered each other in the tower room… why did you fight like that? I got the feeling you were trying to kill each other.”

Imril’s arm twitched. Esania curled her fingers around his powerful biceps. He’s alive!

“After I escaped the Hythra, I was mad. Utterly mad. I did some bad things to my brother and his people.”

Imril’s arm moved again. Suddenly, it was curled around Esania’s body, fitting perfectly into the curve of her waist, squeezing tightly, his muscles flexing.

He’s alive.

A soft groan escaped his lips. His head shifted, moving closer to hers. His sensual lips met her forehead, and he kissed her gently. “I think you just redeemed yourself, Mael,” he rumbled, and Esania snuggled closer, the flow of her vir a rich, unstoppable torrent.

Yours. It’s all yours, Imril.

His hand closed around hers, and he sent a gentle stream of power through her elgida. Warmth spread through her body, suffusing every part of her, from her hand right down to her toes.

She closed her eyes and sighed in relief as she grew weaker still, as Imril’s undeniable need consumed her.

So tired…

So weak, and yet she was ecstatic.

He’s alive!

“And you are incredible,” he murmured, his powerful arm tightening around her body.

Esania let herself be consumed by him, not caring that her strength was fading away.

He kissed her on the lips; a long, slow, lingering kiss that made her want to surrender everything. His hands were everywhere, velvet-tipped fingers running over her shoulders, her neck, face, her hair.

Gentle. Reverent.

He kissed her again, and a soft glow sparked between them, illuminating Imril’s face. She stared into golden eyes that held thousands of years of longing.

But there was something else there too, something raw and pure and innocent.

Imril went very still, his gaze piercing right through her. “I’ve done some terrible things in my life, Esania. I have been merciless and immoral and I’ve killed far too easily. This… what you see here is the aftermath of my ignorance, my recklessness.”

“Why are you saying this to me?”

“Because now I understand.”

“Oh?”

“The value of an existence.”

“You only get one, you know.”

“I only want one.”

Esania’s heart fluttered as a thousand and one questions raced through her mind. “That’s easy enough for someone as old as you to say. What’s the average lifespan of your species, anyway?”

“I don’t know.” Somehow, he managed to look apologetic. “Our sire only told us what he wanted us to know. There are so many gaps in our knowledge.”

“Well, my kind only live for a hundred-and-thirty years or so, so you have to make the most of it.”

He was going to outlive her, perhaps by thousands of years, and yet here they were, lying on the floor and staring into each other’s eyes, contemplating the meaning of their existence.

“No,” Imril growled, pulling her closer. “When it’s complete, the elgida binds your soul to mine. You will live for as long as I do.”

So I’ll live for thousands of years… perhaps longer?

The thought was both thrilling and terrifying. “You didn’t tell me that when you started.”

“Is that an objection?”

“No. All of this… it’s just a lot to take in.”

“Nothing you can’t handle, though.”

“True.” Since landing on Khira, she’d been forced to deal with all kinds of stressful and terrifying situations, and somehow, she’d survived.

And now she had a fierce, fire-wielding Drakhin all to herself.

Hardly able to believe her luck, Esania ran her hand over his chest, her fingers gliding over the smooth surface as she admired his perfectly honed form. Her hand dropped lower, tracing over impossibly well developed abdominal muscles, until she felt…

Blood.

“You’re hurt,” she whispered, bringing her fingers up to her face. Bright cerulean blood glistened on her fingertips.

“Almost killed me,” Imril whispered, a faint smile curving his lips. “Maybe this was the reason I had to start the elgida before I left you.”

Esania shuddered. “I wouldn’t have felt it, otherwise. I wouldn’t have known that you were hurt…” Dying. Now she understood how he was able to read her so easily. If her vir gave away just a fraction of the emotion she felt from him, then she was an open book.

There were no secrets between them.

Not now, not ever.

Imril held her tightly, shifting one massive wing so it curved over her body, enclosing her in a protective cocoon. “Fate,” he whispered. “You came to me for a reason. You’re mine now.”

As her energy melded with his, as he drank from her until her limbs grew heavy and her eyelids drooped from sheer exhaustion, Esania closed her eyes and let go, allowing him to possess her completely.

She never thought she’d ever allow another being to have such complete power over her, but right now, she didn’t care.

She could feel his emotions; a rich, dark, complicated song of shadow and light that radiated from his body, growing stronger and stronger as he drained her vir.

He would never hurt her. He would never abuse this power he had over her. She knew it with absolute certainty, because they were bonded.

And the most astonishing thing of all… the most sublime, impossible, wonderful emotion coming from him right now?

Love.