Page 59 of Thexan

“What?”

“That I want to remain.”

The words landed softly, but they did not feel small.

“With me?” I asked.

“With you,” he said. “Not only because the bond requires proximity. Not only because your presence stabilizes me. Because when you are near, my awareness no longer divides between survival and purpose. They become the same thing.”

I stared at him for a moment, caught somewhere between wanting to touch him and wanting to breathe through the force of what he had just said.

“That’s your way of saying you’re happy about this?”

He considered the word as if it were something he needed to test before accepting.

“Yes,” he said finally. “Though happy is insufficient.”

Despite everything, a faint smile pulled at my mouth. “Of course it is.”

“I am not distressed by being bound to you,” he said. “I am not uncertain that I want it. What concerns me is the cost to you.”

I let out a slow breath.

“I’ve known you for less than a day.”

“Yes.”

“And now I’m supposed to just accept that this—” I gestured between us, the motion smaller than I intended because there wasn’t as much space there as there used to be—“is permanent.”

“No,” he said.

That stopped me.

“No?”

“You are not supposed to simply accept it because I do. You will need time. You will question it. You will test the shape of it against the life you already have.” His gaze remained steady on mine. “I will not interpret that as rejection.”

The tension in my throat tightened.

“You don’t see why this might take some adjustment?”

“I do.”

“You do?”

“Yes,” he said. “Your life has been altered unexpectedly. You are bonded to someone your people may fear. You made a choice before you could fully understand the consequences. Adjustment is rational.”

I stared at him for a moment, caught between relief and the uncomfortable awareness that I had expected him not to understand at all.

“And what about you?” I asked. “Do you need to adjust?”

“Yes.”

That answer surprised me even more.

His hand shifted against the edge of the cot, not reaching for me, but not withdrawing either.

“I have existed within command structures, war structures, survival structures. I understand duty. I understand defense. I understand sacrifice.” His gaze held mine. “I do not yet fully understand belonging to someone who can tell me no and still want me to stay.”