Page 76 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Stars

Eryxxus

I could feel it before I even reached the door, a strange hum in the air, faint but undeniably there. A sensation that coiled in the pit of my stomach, dragging me closer, deeper into the shadows of the ship. The guards had left, preoccupied with whatever mundane task they had to do. They didn’t know. They couldn’t know.

But I did.

She was sitting in the center of the room, her silhouette barely visible, her glowing form always ethereal against the deep shadows. The faintest shimmer surrounded her, the remnants of starstuff clinging to her skin like a distant memory of the cosmos. But it was fading, weakening with every passing day, every cruel second of her captivity.

And I was here to change that.

I took a step forward.

She didn’t move.

Her voice, soft as a breeze, broke the silence. "I’ve been waiting."

My body tensed, every instinct screaming at me to tear through the air, to take her. But I stood still, staring at the back of her head, her voice setting my pulse into overdrive. She knew I was here, of course she did. There was no mistaking the connection between us, the power of her very being radiating in the cold emptiness.

But to admittedly be waiting? Had I made more progress than I assumed? The thought made my chest swell with pride.

“Waiting?” I asked, my voice rough, dripping with dark amusement. “For what?”

She turned slowly, the delicate movement almost alien in its grace, her eyes meeting mine. I saw nothing in them at first. Yet, the more I stared, the more I could feel the edges of her power like starlight slipping through cracks in the walls. A power that was as cold as the vacuum of space but burning with a subdued fury I couldn’t ignore.

“Waiting for you,” she said, the words soft but undeniably sharp, cutting through the haze of my thoughts.

I could feel her voice in my bones. My hands twitched, and for the briefest of moments, I imagined sinking them into her flesh, feeling her warmth, feeling her life pulsing under my fingers. The thought made my heart race, but I tamped it down, locking away the darker impulses.

“You think you’re in control?” I hissed from the pain of my cock extruding in reaction to her. I took another step closer. My voice trembled slightly, and I cursed myself for it. The urge to take her was growing, like a beast gnawing at the edge of my mind.

Her eyes never left mine. There was no fear, no terror in them. Just an endless, knowing calm that sent a cold shiver down my spine.

“You think you can bend me to your will?” she asked, her voice so quiet I almost couldn’t hear it.

I stepped closer, my breath shallow now, each word laced with a dark rawness. “I’m not here to bend you. I’m here to break you. You’re nothing but a star trapped in a cage. And when I’m done, you’ll belong to me.”

A flicker of change crossed her face, almost imperceptible, but I saw it. A glimmer of pity. Of something deeper. It didn’t make any sense.

“Is that all you see in me?” she asked, tilting her head slightly. “A prisoner? A trophy?”

I froze. Her question rattled me in ways I hadn’t anticipated. I had always seen the universe as a battlefield, an endless war of dominance and power, and she had become an object to possess. But now, standing here, I wasn’t sure.

Her voice cut through the confusion. “You’ve been in the dark for so long, haven’t you? Trapped in your own prison.”

My anger flared, hotter than before, but I refused to let it consume me. Not yet. “You think you know me?” I growled, leaning closer. The shadows mutated around me, as though the darkness itself recognized the evil within me. “You have no idea what I’ve become.”

She smiled then, a soft, sad smile. I didn’t anticipate her cupping my face but when she did, I was starstruck by the warmth of her palms seeping into the flesh suit I currently wore. As she brushed her thumbs over my cheeks, my essence pulsed, reaching out toward hers.

“But I do,” she whispered. “I’ve known it for longer than you can understand. You were sent here to destroy. To break.”

I staggered back, my chest tight. The words hit me like a physical blow. What was she? How could she know ?

Her gaze softened, as if she could feel the internal battle raging inside me. “You think you’re the only one who’s been trapped? The only one who’s lost everything?”

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. The world around me felt like it was shifting, distorting in ways I couldn’t explain. Her power was seeping into me, digging deep into the cracks of my mind.

“You’re not the monster you think you are,” she whispered.

Monster? I was more than a monster. My true essence pulsed beneath the flesh. If only she truly knew what I was. But the word lingered in my mind, twisting, changing. I’d always known myself as a destroyer, a being beyond all others. But now, faced with her light, with her voice, there was a stirring inside of me.

But I wouldn’t allow it. I couldn’t.

“You don’t get to judge me,” I snapped, stepping forward again, my anger flaring. “You don’t get to think you can understand me. I’m the one who decides what happens next.”

Her expression didn’t change. “You already know what will happen,” she said, her voice darkening. “You always knew. The question is, will you let it happen ?”

I clenched my fists, rage threatening to overtake me, but I held it back. For now. In an instant, the precarious game we played morphed once more. “You don’t know anything.”

The ghost of a smile returned. “Don’t I?”

For the first time since I had set foot on this cursed ship, I hesitated. She’s playing with me. Playing with a strategy that required dismantling before she could win.

I would break her. I would claim her, and all of this—this strange game, these questions—would cease to matter.

She would belong to me in the end.