The silence that followed was warm and fragile as it stretched between us, only interrupted by the fire crackling gently. Outside, the camp was waking, boots crunched on gravel, distant voices called orders. But in here, it felt like we were suspended, just the three of us. A mother, a father, and a son, piecing something back together.
“I wish I remembered,” Daphne said, her voice quiet but sincere. “All of it. The boy you were. The things we shared.”
“You will,” Myccael said. “Or you won’t. Either way, we’ve got time. We can build something new.”
Her eyes shimmered, and she reached across to squeeze his hand. “I’d like that.”
I couldn’t help but watch them—my mate and my son—sitting across from one another, talking like this. It shouldn’t have been possible. And yet here we were.
And for a few precious minutes, there was no war, no ancient technology waiting beneath our feet, no gods watching from their hidden planes. Just family. A strange, beautiful, broken family, learning each other all over again.
I could’ve stayed in that moment forever.
Ididn't dream last night, or if I did, it vanished without a trace. But I felt happy, lighter. My body hummed from the things Mallack had done with it. It was more relaxed than it had been since… waking up. Heat rushed into my cheeks when I thought about the wicked things Mallack had done, things I had enjoyed like a wanton. And like a wanton, I wanted more.
But the moment passed when Myccael arrived. I didn't begrudge it through, because eating breakfast like this, the three of us, was becoming a routine I could get used to. I also thought it was good for the two males, who seemed to be growing closer. Enough to be teasing each other over deeds long ago that they carried like old relics.
I wasn’t really listening anymore. Not to the hum of Myccael and Mallack discussing the drone footage, or the faint clinking of cutlery as breakfast wound down. I should’ve been paying attention. This was important. The danger we were possibly standing on top of was the reason I was here, but instead, my eyes kept drifting.
To him.
Mallack.
He was sitting across from Myccael, brow slightly furrowed as he scanned a projection of the subterranean chamber, one arm draped lazily across the back of the chair, the other cradling his tea. The firelight caught on the silver in his hair and the line of his jaw. And I just… watched.
Watched the way he moved, the way his muscles danced underneath his aqua skin. Watched the way he listened, intensely focused when Myccael pointed at something on the map. The way he turned to me every so often, just to check I was still there. Still with him. Every time he did, something in me fluttered. It felt like an ember catching flame and finding oxygen for the first time in a very long time.
I didn’t remember loving him. But gods, I could feel myself falling for him. Not because of what he’d told me. Or the history we shared. Or even the way he looked at me like I was still the center of his universe. But because of the male he wasnow. Patient. Steady. Fierce when he had to be, but always tender when it came to me. He’d given me space when I needed it. Held me when I asked. Protected me without hesitation, and yet never once tried to own me.
I remembered so little. But if I had to start over, if I had tochoosesomeone, here, now, Mallack would be it.
And maybe… maybe I was already choosing.
I reached for my tea just as he turned toward me again. Our eyes met, and I gave him the smallest smile. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. Because the way he looked back at me told mehe saw it too. The slow, inevitable shift from past… to something very real. And verynow.
"Alright. Mother, we'll give you some time to get dressed, and then we'll leave," Myccael announced, already rising. He looked at Mallack, who looked at me. For a moment, I held my breath, thinking he was going to kiss me, but he only gave me a light smile and followed Myccael out of the tent, picking up his boots on the way.
I sat for a moment longer, but the tent felt suddenly too quiet, too lonely after the two males left, who took up more room with their personality than just their size. I looked through the trunks that held the clothes I had discovered on the ship and found a pair of leather breeches that would do perfectly for our next exploration.
Just as I stepped out of the tent, more riders arrived. It was hard to miss the seffy with red hair, who rode next to a male with his scales on full display. Even if he hadn't shown them off, or if he hadn't had them, his size and his demeanor called him unequivocally out as a vissigroth. But it wasn't him my attention went to; it was the seffy, who indeed looked like she could have been my twin. Suddenly, it made perfect sense to me that the males and servants on Hoerst had confused me for her. There was no doubt in my mind that this was Thalia, my daughter.
My heart thundered inside my chest, and I was enveloped by a feeling of warmth that so far had been missing on first introduction to people I was supposed to recognize, even with Mallack and Myccael. Even though I had never seen her before, not even before I… died.
My feet carried me forward without me being aware that I’d given them the command to. She hadn't seen me yet; her eyes were glued to Mallack and Myccael.
"Before you two start in on me, I had to come." Pride swelled my chest at the sound of her voice, at the way she held herself so proud and defiant. She didn't even pay any attention to the scowling male at her side, who I deduced had to be Darryck, her mate.
"And before you start in on me, there was no stopping this seffy," he thundered, when both Mallack's and Myccael's attention turned to him.
"And I couldn't leave these two unsupervised," a second seffy brought her nicta forward. Her expression was as set as Thalia's, but her eyes were only on Myccael, making me realize she had to be his mate. Guilt rushed over me; I hadn't asked him the most normal, important question. I was really failing as a mother. Briefly, I wondered if I had always been that bad at it, or if this was a new development.
"Oksana," Myccael stepped forward, his entire expression changed. Gone was the imposing susserayn, replaced by a male in love. He walked over to the nicta and helped her down, holding her tight. My hand flew to my heart; it was obvious that those two loved each other a great deal.
The other Vissigroth helped Thalia out of the saddle, just as Myccael turned Oksana toward me, "Mother, I want to?—"
"Mother?"
Sharply, Thalia whirled around in Darryck's arms, looking around with wide eyes until they leveled on me. Stunned, a smallcry escaped her lips, and Thalia stared at me like she was seeing a ghost—no, like she wasbecomingone. Her knees buckled.
