Is there anywhere Kronos can hang out?” she asked the stunned guards still behind her.

They hesitated for half a beat.

“Yeah. Yeah, sure. We’ll take him down to training. My lord?” Ollis checked it was all right.

Kai finally turned.

He’d removed the mask and the pieces of armor, yet it felt like he was even more imposing now.

“Thank you, Ollis.”

The enforcers practically ran out of there, urging the boy to follow.

“You terrorize them,” was the first thing Nalini said.

Kai’s dark eyes set on hers, and a slow smile spread on his face.

“Actually, both Park and Ollis are friends of mine. You’ll find that it’s you they aren’t sure about.”

He paced like a wolf, deliberately slow, walking in circles, occupying the entire space.

Nalini sat on an ergonomic chair next to a mini bar. Hiding her anxiety as best she could, she investigated the contents of the cold compartments. She wasn’t much for spirits, but well, it had been one of those days.

“Drink?” she offered.

“I don’t drink.”

“Not even today?” she asked. Then she laughed; how silly of her. Today might fuck with her mind and her nerves, but it was just another day for him, no doubt. “Well, more for me.”

She poured herself a couple of fingers of a clear, sweet liqueur. Kai observed her every motion before closing the distance between them, coming to stand right next to where she’d sat.

Breathe, she admonished herself, in vain.

His fingers brushed hers as he seized the glass she’d just poured.

“Very wise of you.”

He took the glass and moved to sit on the armchair right in front of her as she poured herself another one.

Even then, his imposing stature dwarfed hers.

“Hardly.”

Watching him was too unsettling, so she looked around. The spaceship’s cabins had been designed to look homey; this one, in any case.

“Not what I expected,” she admitted.

“No, I’d wager not. You thought I’d cage you. Bind your wrists. Torture you, no doubt. Keep you locked in a barren room and hit you when I cared to.”

She shrugged unapologetically. “You might have learned by now. If you go prying through people’s minds, you might not like what you see.”

He lifted a brow. “I’m not trying, Nalini. You broadcast your every thought.” That teasing smile flashed again. “I would have expected so proficient a psychic to be better at keeping her shields up.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Sixteen years,” he mused, “since we were last in the same room. Fourteen since you saved my life for the second time. And two since one of my men killed your child.”

She looked away. Even just thinking of that day still felt like plunging a sword through her beating heart.

“It’s been a long time.” He downed his drink in one go. “Tell me.”

Nalini frowned. “What?”

“Everything.”

Those eyes. That look. She couldn’t take it, and couldn’t look away, either. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought he was sending some compulsion to bend her to his will, but she would have felt it. This was no order. He was… asking her to share her life. Why, she didn’t know.

“I watched it all,” he said. “My men made a short cut through your life to give me an idea, but I pulled all the recordings and fast-forwarded through them. Sometimes, when I have time, I pull some of them out. I watch you getting shocked in your cage. Then I remember why I'm doing this. I've seen it, I don't need information. But tell me what it was like for you, back then. What you’ve done with your life since. You went off radar. How? What was that place I saw last year? Tell me.”

He made it sound like he was simply curious about her. She knew better than to think that was all. He was a warlord. He wanted—

“Stop assuming.” An order. He softened it, by adding, “Everything you guess about my intentions is entirely erroneous. Look for answers if you must.”

Was he truly inviting her into his mind?

“Yes. Yes, I am, Nalini.”

“Will you stop reading my mind? Ever heard of the word private?”

This time, his smile showed white, white teeth. “I told you. I’m not looking. You’re broadcasting.”

She wasn’t. Right?

“Go on, look.” His words were a caress. “I dare you.”

That was unfair, and showed how well he understood her. He shouldn’t have; as he’d pointed out, they’d met less than a handful of times. But already, he knew she couldn’t resist bets.

Sighing, and bracing herself for the upcoming battle, she concentrated on him, both her eyes gold. They returned to blue almost immediately, finding his shields down. Open.

Her hand, that had instinctively moved to reach toward him, lowered, dropping at her side.

His mind was peaceful. Quiet.

Loving.

He thought of nothing else than caring for others. He’d been right. Nothing she saw computed with her vision of him.

Traveling through his thoughts, she saw him looking for her through time, searching, always keeping his ear on the ground about her location. And she saw his goal. His intention.

Protecting her, the child he owed everything to. She’d earned peace. She’d earned safety.

Then, there was that day, the day when he finally found information about her. Seen the recordings, and realized—

She hit a wall for the first time.

He was done sharing.

Nalini almost protested, tried to hit against the wall, but she stopped herself. Already, she’d pried more than she was entitled to—if anyone was entitled to a glimpse through someone else’s mind at all.

“I’m not the monster you think I am,” he said softly.

He really, really wasn’t.

Feeling the need to justify herself, she stated, “I saw that you were Darkness. And you can mold Starfire, Kai. I…” She stopped, realizing she was making a bigger mess of things. “I’m sorry. You’re no monster at all. I just saw so many visions of destruction.”

“Oh, I am a monster, little lady. Just not one you should fear.”

He got up and made them a second drink.

“You saw me bring ruin and fire. To protect those who can’t fight for themselves, I have, for years now. Wars aren’t pretty.”

She accepted the drink he handed her. He then remained standing and started slowly pacing again.

“You talk of your visions. Have you ever seen my wife?” he asked. “My children?”

Nalini was shocked. She shouldn’t have been; back in the day, whenever a guard had managed to get her alone for a minute, they would ask the very same question. Would they be married someday, have sons or daughters? But it didn’t seem like the sort of concern she would have anticipated, coming from him.

She shook her head. “Sorry, no. It doesn’t mean you never find anyone; I don’t see everything.”

Kai laughed. “Of course you don’t.”

She could have offered to look for him. Give him answers if she could find them. She remained silent.

Back at the spot where he’d been when she’d entered the room, in front of the window, he asked again, “Tell me. I’d like to get to know you.”

Nalini bit her lip. Her life hadn’t been pretty at first, and then it became boring before taking a turn for the weird. She’d never spoken of it. Why would she? There was no one she trusted, save for Krane and Kronos, and the kid had followed her every step along the way since they met. As for Krane, the old male had seemed to know most things about her; and if there was anything he didn’t know, he hadn’t bothered to ask.

But she talked; she owed him that much. And, wordlessly, with a rapt attention, never interrupting her, he listened.

Finally, she was done. After a long silence, Kai laughed. “Krane is a Wise. I should have known.”

She would have thought that he’d ask after his brother first, expecting either hatred or curiosity about him, but on that subject he remained silent. She got it. She wouldn’t have had much to ask about her family, either.

She had to point out, “I realized that right away.”

“Yeah, well, not all of us are seers. Besides, I met him when I was very young.” He added, “Glad to know Nox is well.”

“You know his wolf?”

Kai nodded slowly. “Left Haimo with me a long, long time ago.”

This time, it was her turn to ask, “Tell me?”

And to her surprise, he ran through the thirty-five years of his life, baring them to her with little to no filter, gruesome details and all. Unapologetic. True.

She wondered how long they’d been talking by the time he stiffened, touching the comm device fitted along his jaw. “Got it. I’ll be on the bridge shortly.”

“Sorry for keeping you. I guess you have a lot to do. Worlds to run and all that.”

How laughable it was to her, when she didn’t always remember to pay her comm bill on time.

Kai remained in his place of choice for a few moments. “I keep my word. Should you wish to, we’ll drop you off in a safe system. But you have a place here.” She made no immediate answer, and he didn’t seem to expect her to. “You’ll have clearance on all levels. I’ll get someone to take your fingerprints later, to let you access restricted areas. And they’ll drop a comm. Go as you please.”

On that note, the warlord retrieved the mask he’d left on an empty shelf and left her apartment.

She took a long, hot shower, running through the latest developments in her crazy life, half wishing she hadn’t been such a coward and run to him as she’d longed to at seventeen, half knowing everything had occurred exactly as it should have.