Page 19

Nineteen

T he silence in the hovering craft was thick, but not uncomfortable. Not anymore.

They ascended smoothly into Luxar’s skies, the city of Isora now just a blur of lights below, growing more distant by the second. Leonie sat beside Karian, her hands resting in her lap, her heart trying to calm itself. Every now and then, she snuck a glance at him.

He was masked again, the silver contours of the strange faceplate catching the glow of the craft’s soft lighting. It rendered him unreadable once more, impassive. Regal. Alien.

But she had seen what was beneath it.

She had seen the pale beauty of his face. His eyes like black glass. The way his hair had spilled around his shoulders, sleek and shimmering. She hadn’t expected him to be beautiful. Powerful, terrifying—yes. But beautiful?

It unsettled her more than she cared to admit.

The silence stretched until he lifted one gloved hand and held it out to her. Resting on his palm was the translator again—smooth and silver, like a flattened pebble.

His voice came through it, low and sure.

“I can see you are curious,” he said. “You may ask me anything you wish to know.”

That surprised her. For a second, she blinked at him, trying to gauge if it was a trick.

But there was no mockery in his posture. No threat.

So she swallowed, nodded once, and asked the first question that had been gnawing at her since the moment she laid eyes on him.

“What are you?” she asked, voice quiet. “Exactly?”

He regarded her for a moment before answering.

“I am Marak ,” came the reply, rich and clear. “There are only ever seven of us alive at one time. We are born, not made. A Marak is not chosen—we are simply… born differently . It happens once every century, perhaps less. Always at random.”

She watched him carefully, trying to make sense of it.

“Seven. So you’re… like a king?”

“No.” He tilted his head slightly. “More than that. We are sovereigns, yes—but also weapons. Shields. Each Marak commands a territory of Luxar. Mine is Malvar—the greatest, the most vast. We are born to rule, to protect, to fight. Until we die… and another takes our place.”

It was hard to comprehend. A species that created rulers from birth. No elections. No families passing down power. Just fate. Biology.

“And the others? The ones who bowed to you—Yerak?”

He nodded once.

“They are our people. Our warriors, our workers. Our blood-kin. But not Marak. Not like me.”

She processed that slowly. A being born to lead, to dominate… to never be challenged. It was terrifying, in a way. But also lonely.

He watched her with interest, as though measuring her reaction.

Then, she asked the question she had really wanted to know since the beginning. The one she had been afraid to ask aloud, for fear of what the answer might be.

“What about me?” she asked quietly. “What have you envisioned for me? What do you want with me?”

For a moment, he said nothing.

Then the translator hummed again, and his answer came—simple, stark, and nothing like what she had expected.

“Pleasure,” he said.

Her breath caught.

He turned to face her fully. Still masked, still unreadable. But there was something in the air between them—electric and tense.

“I want your pleasure. Your trust. Your submission, yes… but not your fear.”

Leonie stared at him, stunned.

“I have watched you. Studied your kind. Long have I desired what you represent—what I cannot have with my own people. Intimacy. Vulnerability. Touch. We Marak… we cannot feel such things with Yerak. We are forbidden from even trying.”

She said nothing, her mouth slightly dry.

His voice, translated as always, remained steady.

“You are not here as a servant, Leonie. Nor as a pet. I want you to want to be here. With me.”

She didn’t know what to say. The floor might as well have dropped out beneath her.

He wanted her. Not just physically, though there was clearly that. But wanted her in some deeper, stranger way. For connection. For something his kind didn’t even allow themselves to feel .

And he had chosen her.

Out of all the beings in the universe, he had chosen her .

She looked out the window, her heart drumming like thunder. They were high above the city now, stars all around them, the ocean far below.

The moons watched silently.

And beside her sat the most powerful being on this planet.

Leonie inhaled, trying to steady herself.

Because now, she had a choice to make.