Page 49 of Fathom

He was the kind of man who would risk his body to keep someone safe.

To keep me safe.

So I signed the paper.

He reached for my hand, gently guiding my thumb to the inkpad before pressing it carefully to the page. Then he held out his own hand and the inkpad to me, waiting. I took it and pressed his thumb into the paper, our marks side by side.

Bound by ink.

Bound by choice.

He gave me a smile so wide it lit up his whole face, his tailswaying back and forth behind him in a joyful rhythm I’d come to recognize as unfiltered happiness.

Then he stepped toward me, wrapped his arms around my waist, and lifted me effortlessly against his chest. His body was all warmth and strength, the thrum of his heartbeat pressed close to mine. He leaned in and kissed me, softly, reverently, as though I were something rare and fragile he couldn’t quite believe he was allowed to touch.

His lips moved over mine with aching gentleness, coaxing rather than claiming. His hold tightened just slightly as I kissed him back, and I felt it then, like a sun igniting behind my ribs, burning brighter with every heartbeat.

This moment, this feeling, it was everything.

When we made our way back downstairs, hand in hand, the world felt different. Like something in it had shifted to make room for us.

We returned to the same window, and Eun handed over the completed paperwork. The woman behind the glass gave us a long look, then stood and motioned for us to follow. She led us to a small, separate room where she gestured for us to stand apart. Then she stepped toward each of us, inhaling deeply as if scent could confirm what signatures could not. It was not my favorite thing, but this wasn't Earth, and if getting sniffed was what was required for me to formalize my relationship with Eun and get the paperwork I needed to get to the spaceport, then that was good enough for me.

She nodded once, scribbled her name at the bottom of the page, and stamped it with a final thump.

That was it.

I was married to an alien.

EIGHTEEN

EUN

"Don’t take this off," I said, sliding the fourth ring onto her other hand. She lifted both hands, turning them slowly in the sunlight. The four silver bands gleamed like twin moons, symbols of a bond we’d just sealed with skin and ink and breath. They were supposed to go on each of our four hands, but both of us only had two. We were standing outside the building. The foot traffic to the area had vanished, and the street was empty of cars, a brief moment to ourselves where I could take out the rings and give them to her without any passerby intruding, sliding them onto her two hands to symbolize that she was taken, protected.

That she was mine.

I looked down at where the silver circled my own fingers, a sight I’d never expected. My parents would be livid. They would be furious that I married a prey species. The thought sent a spike of rebellious pleasure through me, bright andsharp, cutting through the moment. It was followed quickly by fear.

I couldn't let them find out.

"I love them," Leija said, holding her hands up again, the silver rings gleaming as she beamed at me, her smile a spear of sunlight, piercing through into my chest, reeling me back to her.

My heart gave a painful twist, like an old knot being released suddenly, the ache of wanting something and not wanting it at the same time, all twisted up so much that it had gone numb from the compression. My parents had pressured me to get married for years, and I had pushed away from it, going so far as to risk my entire inheritance by disobeying them and leaving the family home.

In all the years I spent feeling trapped, feeling like I was being forced into something I didn't want, I never allowed myself to feel the numb space in my heart that yearned for a partnership, for that joining of two hearts and four hands.

I wanted it with her.

"I love you, Leija," I told her, my words soft.

Movement caught the corner of my eye, and I reacted too slowly, turning as the car door slammed open and three of my parents' goons stepped out of the very expensive top-of-the-line car. Bulletproof and licensed to ascend to the highest levels of the city's skyscrapers, I'd recognize its shiny, nondescript surface that screamed of anonymity and wealth, smeared together.

"Young master, your parents insist on meeting your new bride," one of the goons said. I didn't recognize him, but he was the same poisonous species as my uncle, with red scales instead of green. He had to be a new hire, unlike the other two. They stayed well away from the reach of my hair, even as they circled around us to cut off any avenue for escape. Grathin had a new scar down across his eye, angled out to the side like someone hadtried to take it from him but failed, the skin around it was puckered and pink, and it didn't look like any of the fur was growing back. Ignoar had the same bored expression on his scaled face.

"Someone notified them," I said, shooting a glare back at the building. I'd chosen the largest facility I could find, hoping that my marriage would get lost in the shuffle.

"Someone always notifies them," Grathin said.