I was thankful he had probably caught me when I had fallen unconscious, so I wouldn’t protest his actions. I would rather wake wrapped in his coils than with a massive headache and maybe a broken limb from falling to the floor.
Nothing I did here would matter soon, anyway. I was leaving in a few days and would never see him again. Why create a problem when there were more important things to handle—like me somehow waking up the commander.
Lifting my head, I was surprised to see Xenak holding Ryzen’s hand as he pressed his forehead to his twin brother’s rune mark—the same one I had kissed. Tears fell from his eyes, making him seem far less villainous than I had known him to be.
Somehow, I could see auras radiating from them, matching the colors of their runes. I didn’t know if I was witnessing the glow of their tattoos or their power, but the auras were like a mental shield surrounding their bodies instead of just their minds. They reminded me of an Aldawi display of dominance, but more visible and less oppressive.
“Take my energy, brother,” Xenak murmured. “You are running dangerously low and I don’t want to lose you again.”
“What happened?” Ryzen asked, his voice cracking. “How long have I been gone?”
“Months.” Xenak combed back Ryzen’s unruly hair from his face. “I thought I had lost you, brother. Why did you have to do something so foolish?”
I felt strange watching such an intimate moment, especially while Xenak was in such a fragile state. His hair and clothes were disheveled as if he had just recently woken up in a hurry. The pompous male seemed almost normal now. Was it the stress of his brother’s condition that had caused him to lash out at me? Even so, that was no excuse to treat me and my clan the way he had.
Slowly, I tried to untangle my hand from Ryzen’s, not wanting to interrupt the two brothers’ reunion. Instantly, his hand clenched and his face jerked in my direction. His emerald eyes and runes flared, burning bright on his tanned skin.
“Who are you?” He sat up, his hypnotizing gaze dropping to our joined hands. A tingling sensation crept through my veins. “Were you the star who saved me?”
“I’m no star,” I muttered, trying futilely to pull my hand free. He frowned as he released me and watched me cradle my hand in my lap. “If you want to know who I am, you can ask your brother.”
His frown deepened as he turned his attention to the cyan male who had started this all. “Why does this female seem afraid of me?” He raised an eyebrow as he yanked his hand from his offending brother’s. “What did you do?”
Ryzen glanced between the both of us, his face morphing from relief to annoyance.
“This isn’t how this was supposed to go.” Xenak glared at me. “Why are you pitting my brother against me the second he’s come back to me?”
“Because I refuse to let you act the hero when you’ve done nothing to receive such praise. I want him to know the reason I’m here and what’s happened while he was unconscious,” I snapped.
I turned my attention to the emerald twin. He stared at me, his brows drawn down. “Just so you know, I’ve heard about the many honorable things you and your sorry excuse for a brother have done for others, and for that, I applaud you. While I understand how someone can be so desperate to save his loved ones, your brother put his needs above mine and your life above my clan’s. For that, I am furious, though I’m sorry if it seems like I’m taking it out on you. Instead of asking me to come here, he has broken laws to invade my mind and paid mercenaries to kidnap me. He knew all the pain I was put through,” I paused, unzipping my tunic to reveal my jagged scar and running a hand through my short hair, “and yet, still demanded I help you before he would return me to my clan, knowing full well that my mates can’t live without me after a long time. Now that I’ve delivered, I wish to leave this base and never see any of you again for as long as I live.”
I glared at the cyan male, daring him to break his promise. “I’ve done what you demanded. Now, give me the freedom I’ve earned so I can return to my life—permanently changed.”
“You kidnapped this female and forced her to save me?” Ryzen asked, drawing out each word as if he couldn’t believe what he was asking himself. “Please, tell me this isn’t true.”
“The Stars told Celyze she was needed to rescue and wake you from your mental prison.” He crossed his arms, his cyan tattoos flaring. “I was doing what anyone would to save a brother—a war hero—from certain demise. It was she who refused to help when I asked her.”
“Don’t blame me for your actions,” Celyze snapped, fluttering beside me and Zyxel. “I relayed what the Stars told me but advised you that you couldn’t force someone to come help us. You proceeded anyway and were furious when Selena explained that she didn’t know how to save the commander, though we both knew she isn’t a healer. I’m here to make sure you don’t try to force her hand again out of anger. If she had failed to wake your brother, I suspected you would have acted out of desperation.”
“You purposely kidnapped a female to force her to do your bidding?” Ryzen repeated, seething and clenching his fists. “That undermines everything we have fought against for centuries! You have sunken to the low level of the Federation! What happened to the brother I have known all my life? He would never do such a despicable thing.”
“I did it to save you!”
“You did it for selfish reasons!” Ryzen snapped, his emerald runes glowing
