Strax remained motionless in the center of the tunnel for several seconds, holding Vex tightly against his chest while feeling her small arms locked around his neck. The girl was still trembling, though she tried to hide it by burying her face against his shoulder. Her breathing came unevenly, occasionally interrupted by muffled sobs, and each one of those movements made something inside Strax tighten in a way he could not fully explain.
There was no shared blood between them.
Vex had not been born from him, did not carry his name through some ancient lineage, and was not the result of any ordinary relationship. She had been an egg found under unlikely circumstances, a fragile life he had helped protect until the moment it hatched. For a long time, Strax had treated that as a responsibility, then as a curiosity, and finally as something Mercedes could manage better while he dealt with wars, monarchs, and problems that seemed to grow with each passing day.
