Page 86 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Stars

Eryxxus - In the next eon

I stood frozen, my hand still outstretched toward her, trembling. The world around me was nothing but noise—crashing metal, the shuddering of an unfamiliar ship as it tore itself apart. But at this moment, all of that ceased to matter. It was as if everything had narrowed down to just her and me, a suffocating, intoxicating silence where nothing else could exist.

Her eyes locked onto mine, and for the first time, I saw something new in them. It wasn’t pity or amusement—it was understanding, a deep, unspoken knowledge that passed between us like a shared secret. She had known all along that this would happen. That I would come to her, unable to stop myself, as if drawn by the very threads of fate. She had always been the one with control.

Her lips parted slowly, the air between us heavy with anticipation. In my subtle confusion, she pulled me deeper into her web, further than I had ever imagined.

She began to sing.

It was quiet at first, just a low hum that reverberated through the air, like a distant breeze stirring the leaves. But then, as her voice grew louder, it became more than just sound—it became everything . The ship, the chaos, the destruction—it all melted away. I was drowning in her melody, the notes weaving through my mind like threads of silk, soft and delicate but impossibly strong.

Her song was the very embodiment of the void. The endless, infinite dark that I had once feared. But now, it felt safe . It felt right .

I closed my eyes, unable to resist the pull, the need to be closer to her, to hear her more clearly, to breathe in her essence. The ship groaned beneath us, but I couldn’t hear it anymore. It didn’t matter. She was all that mattered. She belonged to me. Mine to claim.

Her voice was like a whisper in my mind, soft and lilting, wrapping around me like smoke, caressing my thoughts. I was caught in her spell, and I knew it, yet I didn’t care.

“You’re mine now,” she murmured, the words so gentle, so enticing, like a lover’s promise. And they echoed in my skull, reverberating through my very bones. “You always have been.”

I shuddered, feeling the weight of her words sink into me, deep into my core. There was no escaping this, not now. I had wanted this. I had come to her. But now, I couldn’t remember a time when this had not been my destiny.

Her hand reached out, light as a feather, and I let her touch me. It was like fire and ice, a sensation that burned and numbed all at once. The heat of her skin was searing, but it didn’t hurt. I needed it. I needed her touch. I was nothing without it.

She smiled, her eyes glittering with what I thought to have been kindness—but it quickly morphed into a glimmer of darkness I began to recognize. “You’ve finally learned, haven’t you?” Her voice was a caress. “That you were never meant to escape. You were always going to fall.”

I nodded slowly, feeling my chest tighten, my breath shallow. She was right. I had fallen long ago. The moment I had walked into her chamber of her prison, the moment I had let her sing to me, I had sealed my fate. I had always been meant for this.

They shouldn’t have touched her. They all had to die…

And each time they did, it only solidified the ancient covenant between us. Constant sacrifices to her alter, and I, an unknowing but willful servant… each and every time…

Her song continued, growing louder now, the notes sharp and haunting, drawing me deeper into her grasp. My body trembled, my heart pounding, but I didn’t fight it. There was no fight left in me. I was powerless against her will.

With every note, I felt myself slipping further away from everything I had once known. The research, the crew, my obsession with her—it all seemed so insignificant now. I was drowning in her melody, in the light of her presence, in the pull of her voice.

And as her song crescendoed, a chilling realization ran through my veins, twisting my gut and sent a shiver down my spine.

She was never going to let me go. Not now. Not ever.

I opened my eyes, only to find her watching me with quiet satisfaction. She could see my thoughts. She could see my soul unraveling in front of her.

Her smile was sweet, but I knew it for what it was now— predatory with wicked satisfaction .

"You belong to me now," she whispered, her voice like the breath of death. “You always have… Free will is such a funny little thing.”

And in that moment, I realized the terrifying truth. It wasn’t that I had fallen into her power—it was that I had always been meant to fall.

Thank you for reading The Song of Saturn .