It wasn’t the first time they’d held a feast celebrating their victory, but this time, it was a grand thing. Never had they possessed this: the resources of an entire world. Still feeling weaker than he cared to admit, exhausted, Kai would have greatly preferred not to attend it, but his absence would have been noted.

The weather was kind, and no hall was grand enough to host their nation, so the feast was held in the streets.

The drums played a beat that reverberated through the entire city of Rumaul, intoxicating, thrilling. His people laughed, drank, fucked right there outside, barely bothering to hide in the shadows.

Kai rarely danced, but tonight he was almost tempted. The enthralling beat resonated in his very heart. He felt the energy vibrate, calling to him in a strange way.

A few males and females came to attempt to coax him into joining them, but he remained seated in front of the main residence, deflecting their invitations as best he could.

“I wondered when it’d happen,” said Krane, after observing him in silence for a good half hour.

“Finally saying whatever you have in mind?”

A good thing, too. The staring had been annoying.

“Aye. You depleted your energy. You need to recharge.”

Kai tensed, neither denying nor confirming it.

“For most people, that would happen practically every day, after so much as using their mind to heat up a cup of tea,” the know-it-all explained. “But the amount of power you have? Well, takes a lot to zap you.”

It made an awful lot of sense, and, yet again, Kai wondered how Krane always had all the answers. It killed him, but he asked, “Recharge?”

The male standing to his left waved toward the crowd before them. “You see them do it. Now, and behind closed doors. Your power is molding energy as you see fit and releasing it into the world. Recharging it is harnessing it back in.”

Kai frowned, not understanding Krane’s meaning.

“Have you ever caused terror, pure terror, and enjoyed it?” asked the old male.

He remained silent. He caused terror every time he appeared in front of his enemy. And yes, a part of him enjoyed it, basked in it.

“Feelings are a powerful thing. They create an energy that stays right there, floating in the air. Unless it’s harnessed, of course. Consciously or not, mages absorb it. Feed on it.”

Now that the male put it into words, Kai knew what he meant. When his enemies trembled before him, it enthused him, increasing his reach through their mind, his power over them. He’d had no idea why, until now.

“’Course, you don’t need to stick to horror and doom.” Krane tilted his chin toward a female who had been attempting to catch Kai’s eye for a while now. He’d thoroughly ignored her. “Fucking someone senseless does the trick, too. Pleasure is a feeling. A powerful one. The most powerful one, some might argue.”

Kai snorted.

He hadn’t touched a female in a long time. He didn’t have the time for a casual partner. When his body desired release, he took matters in his own hand, always visualizing one face; that of the female he’d long ago seen himself standing next to. Stupid, but touching anyone else almost felt like a betrayal to a female he didn’t yet know.

“Suit yourself.” Krane shrugged. “But there’s no one for you to torture right now, and you won’t get better quickly without harnessing. Bet the headaches are a killer.” They were, but Kai said nothing. Krane wasn’t done talking. “Simple, ordinary feelings, they’ll feed you over time. You’ll be just fine in a week or so. Or, you could give a pretty thing one orgasm, and boom. Healed. Just like that.”

More silence. Krane wasn’t one to give up.

“Just saying, Kai. Today, you’re just a little out of sorts, but there could come a time when you’re completely depleted. When ninety-nine percent of your power is used up. You need to get used to this. It’s part of what you are.”

Kai finally spoke. “Stay out of my business.”

The old male never would.

“You know, considering the way you scan faces through the crowd, I guessed you’re waiting for someone. Anyone can see it.”

The male always saw too much. Damn him.

“Whoever you’re waiting for, she isn’t here. She could be getting fucked herself right now, as we speak.”

Kai was on his feet, facing Krane, looking at him in a way that would have made most tremble. The male smiled, glad he’d managed to get under Kai’s skin. Dick.

“And I’d wager she wouldn’t want you to suffer, or put yourself in danger by remaining weak.”

Those words echoed through him, sounding true.

If the female was a mage, and she was feeling like this right now—heavy, nauseous, with a throbbing, lingering headache that wouldn’t quit—he’d want it to stop. He’d want her to get better right then.

“You’re turning into a good man, Kai. This won’t change it. Sex is as casual as you make it. Tell her what you want from the very start, explicitly. Always pick a regular. A mage will take your energy, too—and that’s intimate. Give her pleasures. You don’t have to let her return the favor.” Krane explained the rules Kai would live by for over a decade. Then, he cracked a smile. “And who knows? Maybe by the time you find that person you’re looking for, you’ll know your way around a clit. Might come in handy.” He winked before walking back into the darkness of the residence.

Kai watched him leave, yet again wondering how the male appeared to know almost everything.

Krane could be mistaken, of course, but the old male had never said a thing that hadn’t turned out to be true since the day they met.

He turned to the female who was still looking at him purposefully, playing with her hair. She was confident in her sexuality, and quite beautiful, too. Kai couldn’t find it in himself to desire her. But for this experiment, she’d do.

He crossed the street, and, as he advanced, her teasing smile disappeared; she took a step back, as though suddenly questioning her resolve now that he was closer. Her back hit a marble column. Kai reached her and bent forward.

“Your name?” he asked.

“Bettra,” she whispered, her bottom lip trembling.

Kai scanned her mind without being intrusive, just glancing at the surface through her eyes. “You’re no mage.”

She shook her pretty curls. “No, my sister’s one of you. My whole family came two weeks ago.”

Kai wondered if Krane had been able to tell somehow.

“You wanted my attention, Bettra. Now you have it.”

She breathed in sharply, but despite the small spike of fear, Kai felt, and smelled, her arousal.

“I’m not going to want more than one night,” he told her softly. “You understand?”

She nodded, her curls bouncing.

“Well then.”

He had her curls bouncing again soon.

Kai hadn’t been certain he’d actually take her. He hadn’t wanted it, not really. Krane had prescribed an orgasm, and he’d planned on administering one before walking away, but after making the girl scream at the top of her voice with his fingers inside her, something primal, bestial, in him, took over. He fucked her for hours.

The old male had been right. The symptoms were gone, and he was back to his better self in no time. All that remained of his discomfort was a slight self-disgust in the morning. Kai wasn’t simply back to normal; he’d never been stronger. Without any effort, he could feel every single Evris breathing in the building. He could feel his wolves, tell where they were.

He’d taken Bettra to the principal room in the residence he was occupying. Before fucking her in there, he’d intended to claim this room as his. Instead, he gave it to Hart, packed his things, and picked another suite, adding another rule to Krane’s; he wasn’t bringing females into his space ever again.

Kai did the one thing that helped calm him down: he took a knee, and breathed in and out, eyes closed. This should have looked like a submissive stance, but no mage would think so. They were so much more powerful when they cleared their minds, calmed down. When he knelt, those around him knew to be careful.

He wasn’t preparing a large discharge of energy this time; just trying to think. When he got up again, he’d decided to accept this—his indifference mixed with his self-disgust. He accepted that he would do it again, next time his energy level went down. The encounter truly had made him more powerful. If fucking females he was indifferent to was part of him, he wouldn’t deny himself. He had to survive. Nothing mattered more than living to see the day he’d glimpsed in his vision.

This was perhaps the first thing that molded him into a dark, coldhearted, ruthless monster.

The second step was losing wolves.

* * *

After Tenera, the rest of the Krazu system fell to their rule within a year. Until then, they’d been quite informal about their quest, but as more planets were added to their territory, it became necessary to have a governing body set up. Authorities, enforcers, and people they answered to. They were a nation, and nations had leaders.

Kai wasn’t much for politics. Talks and negotiations bored and frustrated him. He had no desire for power. Only peace. Building a world where their kind would be safe was his purpose, his goal in life. And finding that scarred woman one day, would be his reward. Nothing other than those two ends mattered to him.

Thus, he was quite stunned when the bulk of his people proposed to name him their ruler. Kai frowned, looking around the crowded hall, as though expecting a better option to materialize itself. But there was no one. Hart was the best second option, but Hart hadn’t started this. Kai had. He wasn’t the man their enemy feared and respected in equal parts. Kai was. Thousands of Evris looked to him, silently, expectantly.

“I’m no warlord,” said Kai, his voice carrying through the vast hall. The words felt like lies. He pictured that image that never quite left his mind. For once, instead of looking at her, he focused on himself – more specifically, his habit. A long white cloak with gold trim. Funny how he’d never stopped to really consider the implication. He’d be a warlord one day, if that vision came to pass.

“I wasn’t born for this. Trained for this. Educated for this. I have no inclination for this.”

At his side, Sky bumped her head on his leg, as though encouraging him to keep talking.

“But none of us were meant to have a place in this story. They would have us dead. For the last years, the last decades, every day we drew breath, we resisted their prejudice, their hatred, their tyranny. Surviving was our victory.” Kai got up as the crowd nodded their agreement. “As I stand before you today, I’ll tell you one thing. The world we’ll build for our children will be better than this one. A kingdom where order and peace are law. Even if we need to forge it in fire.”

The crowd cheered. Those words echoed through space and time, and, far from there, hearing every word clearly, Nalini bit her lips. So, that was it. Darkness was really coming. It meant Enlil’s end, but at what price?

The members of Kai’s fleet, mage or otherwise, were called “insurgents.” People talked of them from one end of the sector to the next. Their numbers and their monopoly in a consequential system made them a force impossible to ignore. Soon, politicians and nobles started to openly support them. As they annexed more territories, their influence grew exponentially.

Kai took to wearing white; white and red. That way his people immediately recognized him, even at a distance. He heeded the little lady’s advice and had a mask forged for when he appeared in public. A mask his enemies knew to fear. First came the messengers. Then the politicians. Kai Lor only appeared when the insurgents were done talking. He only appeared for destruction.

He left servants and children alive. Everyone else burned.

Imperial year 1219, when Nalini turned seventeen, Kai held three systems out of the nine in the Ratna Belt sector. The insurgents had become a growing concern, and Enlil decided to fight fire with fire. He went to the Wise and told them of mages in his sector. He demanded that he be allowed to train his own battalion of mages for his protection.

The Wise knew better than to deny his request. Exchanging glances, the four women and two men nodded in unison. “It is time,” they agreed.

None of them had expected that the prophecy would be easily thwarted. Killing those who developed aptitudes had only been a way to delay the inevitable, until they couldn’t hold off the danger any longer.

So, they started to plan.