Page 48 of Grounded (Convergence #1)

Thaxvarien Rennux was going to die. He was going to die underground, far from the sky.

He knew it. He knew as soon as he came back to consciousness and saw that fucking blond Nethren.

It was the same one as before. The same man who had given Thax that terrible feeling. Maybe it had been a premonition.

It wasn't odd for Nethren to hate Aethari.

Not generally. But this one seemed to have taken a personal dislike to Thaxvarien.

Nethren never took captives, and yet this one had knocked Thax unconscious and taken him into the tunnel.

Why? It made no sense. Nor did the glares and smirks he alternated between when looking at Thax.

Not that Thax cared. Dead men don't care about anything.

Except maybe their destras.

Liri. They had barely begun. He had barely begun. The races of Para all lived up to six hundred years. Thaxvarien hadn't even made it to half a century. Well, wasn't that yet another reason not to send young Aethari into military service? It simply wasn't fair.

“Liria,” he whispered to the rocky ground. “I'm so sorry.”

Thaxvarien had been doing well in the battle. He didn't know how he'd been taken. One second, he was pulling the trigger on his pulser, and the next, he was hanging by his arms and legs between two Nethren, being carried through a dark tunnel.

The ground beneath Thaxvarien changed from rock to metal.

Strange noises echoed. Thaxvarien glanced to the side.

Everything was tech down there. And then he was on a platform that stuck out from the side of a cavern wall, descending to the bottom.

No railings to secure them. Just the open ledge moving at a good pace.

The blond left them. The rest carried Thax through a surprisingly advanced city. But then again, the Source of Technology was down there. Of course, they'd have tech that matched the level of what was found on the surface. Maybe even exceeded it.

A wave of nausea overtook him. Thaxvarien could feel the magic draining from him. Seeping away. Or maybe it was dying. Like him. And all he could think about was a pair of blue eyes staring at him with love.

“Destra,” Thax whispered.

“What did he say?” someone asked.

“Who gives a fuck? Do you see the crowd we're attracting? Come on. Help me get him up.”

Thax flopped as they hoisted him onto a metal grate. Manacles closed around his wrists and ankles. Held upright, with only his head left loose, he let it drop and closed his eyes. Hopefully, it would be over soon.

Then he felt a feather fall.

Thaxvarien opened his eyes to find the metal floor covered in feathers and blood.

No, no, this is not what happened. But there it was—the proof that he was no longer an Aethari.

The Source of Technology, also known as the Source of Evil among his people, was taking not only his strength and life but also what made him who he was.

“Thax!”

His head jerked up to see Liria before him.

Not covered in a tech disguise as she was supposed to be.

No, she wasn't covered at all. His destra was naked and restrained in the cruel arms of that bastard who had taken him.

The Nethren man grinned as he clasped Liria's breast with a metal hand. And squeezed.

His destra screamed.

“Liria!” Thax struggled, but all that did was make the feathers fall faster. Blood gushed from the wounds in his back as his bones turned to ash. “Don't touch her!” But as powerful as his will was, there was no magic in his words. He could not speak.

The Nethren man forced Thax's destra onto the ground, pulled down his pants, and grinned at Thax while he—

Thax came awake screaming. He screamed and screamed and screamed, his body thrashing against the bonds of his nightmare.

“Thax!” Liria grabbed his shoulders and shook him. As she always did when he had a nightmare. “Come on, baby. You're all right. You're with me. Listen to my voice. Wake up, Thax.”

With a shudder, Thaxvarien went silent. Opened his eyes.

It was hard to look at Liri knowing how weak he'd been in front of her.

But she had seen a lot of weakness in him lately.

Oh, she said pretty things about how he had helped them escape.

How strong he'd been to fly them to that tunnel.

But he knew she saw that he was half the man he used to be.

Maybe less than that. With a deep sigh, Thaxvarien accepted that this was his life now.

He would never be the destru she needed and deserved.

Every breath he took was a hindrance to his destra.

Liri deserved so much more. He sighed, looking past her, up at the ceiling.

No, he couldn't face her. Her hope and her despair. One was fading while the other grew.

“Thax?” Liria stroked his face. “I'm here. Won't you look at me?”

Her voice. It tore at his heart.

“Lie down with me, Liri.” He drew her in against his chest.

Liria sighed and nuzzled close to him. Thaxvarien tried to hold her, but his arm fell slack.

This was wrong. He shouldn't encourage her.

Look at her. So relieved that he had spoken.

How long had it been since he had held her?

Fuck. Thax mustered the strength to fold his arm around her even if he couldn't curve in a wing.

This was it. He had to do something. For her.

Which meant this would be the last time he held his destra.

Thaxvarien's throat worked on the emotion that rose to clog it.

All he had wanted when he was bound to that metal grate was her.

Another chance with her. Another life. Now fate mocked him, giving him what he wanted, but at the price of everything he was.

Yes, he was alive and with her. But there was nothing left of him.

He had nothing to give his destra. She was so starved for affection that this pathetic half-hug had her on the verge of tears.

He stroked the soft skin of her arm and wished he could find a path back to her—one that didn't lead them off a cliff. No, only one of them should go over.

“Thax,” Liria whispered. “I've missed you.”

“I'm sorry.”

“You don't have to apologize.”

He went quiet. There was nothing else to say.

“Thax?”

“I'm so tired, Liri. Can we just go back to sleep?”

“Yes, of course.”

Liri nuzzled in against him again, her cheek on his chest. Thaxvarien had become so pathetic, so despondent, that he refused to eat or bathe.

Liri had to spoon-feed and bathe him. As a declared destru, he couldn't refuse food from her hand or reject her touch.

He had to allow it. And so, Liri was exhausted from his care.

Within a few minutes, her breathing became even.

Thaxvarien closed his eyes and held her tightly one last time.

And then he slid out from beneath her and left the room.

Thaxvarien Rennux had died in the underground. It was time for his body to catch up.