The ship was restless with preparation, voices low but sharp as the Fallen planned their next steps. Mae barely heard them. Her mind was fixed on something else, something that gnawed at the edges of her thoughts and refused to loosen its grip.
The chains.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw them, bright violet threads lacing beneath her skin, answering to Lucien's like a reflection in water. The others didn't see it, not fully, not the way he did. And she knew, somehow, that whatever this was, it belonged to the two of them alone.
So when the moment came, when the others were distracted, Mae touched Lucien's arm and nodded toward the corridor. He didn't question, didn't speak, just followed her into the silence of the ship's lower deck.
It was dark there, lit only by the hum of the vessel's core, shadows wrapping around them like a cloak. Mae turned to him, her heartbeat thundering in her chest.
"I need to understand it," she said, her voice low, urgent. "The chains. My power. Why it answers to you."
Lucien studied her for a long moment, unreadable. Then he stepped closer, the glow beneath his skin flaring faintly in the dark. "You already know why," he murmured.
Mae swallowed hard, shaking her head. "I feel it, but I don't understand it. I can't keep walking blind into this war. If there's something we share, something that makes us stronger, I need you to help me."
Lucien's eyes narrowed, a flash of conflict crossing them. But when he spoke, his voice was steady, almost resigned. "Once you open this door, Mae, you cannot close it. These chains were never meant to bind you. They were meant to bind me. And if they've chosen you too-"
He reached out, his fingers brushing hers. The moment their skin touched, the violet light surged brighter, a pulse that crackled through the air like a heartbeat too vast for either of them to claim. Mae gasped as the energy wrapped around her chest, her throat, her mind, filling every corner of her with something raw and endless.
Her power trembled, hungry, alive. Lucien caught her as her knees nearly gave way, his grip iron and unyielding. His voice was a whisper against her ear, low and dark.
"Then it means we are no longer separate, Mae. You and I, we are the chain." Lucien's words lingered in the silence, heavy as chains themselves. Mae's breath shook, caught somewhere between fear and the desperate pull of him. She should have stepped back. She knew it. But the glow beneath his skin sang to hers, threads of light reaching, binding, pulling her closer until there was no space left to escape.
Her hand rose on instinct, fingers brushing along his chest, tracing the faint lines of violet light beneath the surface. Lucien inhaled sharply, his restraint a thin, trembling edge.
"Mae," he whispered, her name breaking against his lips like a warning.
But she didn't stop. Her body moved on its own, closing the last inches between them, her mouth finding his. It was nothing like the fire of before. This kiss was sharper, hungrier, as if both of them were trying to rip the truth out of each other, to see how deep the chains went.
Lucien's hands caught her waist, pulling her flush against him, his touch searing through her clothes, anchoring her and yet unmaking her at the same time. Mae gasped against his lips as the chains flared brighter, wrapping tighter, her power responding to his like a storm answering thunder. The air vibrated around them, the hum of the ship trembling with their connection.
Her knees weakened but he held her firm, his mouth trailing to her throat, his breath hot against her skin. Mae clutched at him, her fingers digging into his shoulders, needing more, needing him, even as a warning screamed in the back of her mind that they were unraveling something dangerous.
Lucien's voice was a growl against her ear. "Do you feel it, Mae? This is what the others can never touch. What only you and I share."
She shivered, her body arching into his, the glow between them sparking hotter. "Yes," she breathed, trembling. "I feel it."
The world narrowed to the sound of their breathing, the crackle of power weaving around them, the sharp edge of need pressing them closer. Mae's head tipped back, her lips parting, her body a live wire ready to burn. And then, "enough."
The voice shattered the haze. Mae froze, her breath catching as Lucien went rigid beneath her touch. Slowly, his head turned, his eyes dark and burning as he looked past her. Sethis stood at the edge of the shadows, his expression unreadable, his eyes glinting like polished steel.
Mae stumbled back, her chest heaving, her face flushing with heat and the echo of what had almost been. The glow of the chains dimmed reluctantly, curling back beneath her skin as if resentful of being interrupted.
Lucien straightened slowly, his expression cold now, unreadable once more, but his hands still twitched at his sides as if he were restraining himself from reaching for her again.
Sethis stepped forward, his gaze flicking between them, sharp enough to cut. "Do you have any idea what you're playing with?" His voice was soft, but the danger in it was unmistakable. Lucien's eyes never left Sethis. "She does," he said, his tone smooth but edged with something lethal. "And she chose it."
The chains pulsed beneath their skin, faint but undeniable, a silent reminder of the bond forged in the shadows. Mae's heart still hadn't slowed, the echo of Lucien's touch burned into her skin, but Sethis's gaze pinned her now. He stepped closer, his expression unreadable, though the flicker of something sharp lingered in his eyes. Jealousy.
"You make it easy to forget we are not here just to indulge in one another," Sethis said quietly, his lips curving into something almost like a smile, though it never touched his eyes. "Riven, Ashar, Lucien, each of them has tasted some piece of you. I suppose that leaves me standing in the shadows, does it not?"
Mae blinked, startled by the edge in his voice.
Sethis let out a low chuckle, shaking his head. "I am only teasing, little star. Do not look so scared. You have enough to carry without me adding to it." His gaze lingered, sharp and intentional. "But tell me, if I asked, would you consider it? Exploring the bond with me?"
It was meant as a joke. She could hear it in his tone, the armor of casualness he wore whenever he wanted to disguise something deeper. But Mae had come to recognize what lay beneath it, the quiet ache of being left out, of watching the others draw closer while he pretended he did not care.
Her pulse stumbled. Lucien shifted beside her, but he didn't speak. For once, he let the silence linger, watching with dark, unreadable eyes. Mae licked her lips, nerves sparking in her chest. "Yes," she said softly, surprising even herself. "I would." The words hung in the air.
Sethis froze. His smirk faltered, the mask slipping just enough for her to see the flicker of raw hunger beneath it. He searched her face, as though waiting for her to laugh, to take it back. But Mae held his gaze, steadily.
"Yes?" Sethis repeated, his voice lower now, stripped of humor. "Yes," she said again, her words confident. The chains beneath her skin hummed faintly, answering some shift in him, though different from the way they had with Lucien. Sethis inhaled slowly.
Behind them, Lucien's jaw tightened, but he didn't speak. His silence was heavy, dangerous, as though he were daring her to see what path she had just opened. Mae's heart pounded, she had not expected to say it. But she had, and now there was no taking it back.
And in Sethis's eyes, she saw the dangerous spark of a man who had been offered something he never believed he would have.