{July 2006CE}
Nox was up there in his castle on Elden’s throne taking Rayne without her consent and after he’d slain Xelan. Despite herself, the girl enjoyed it, lending to the hurt in her crying eyes. Nox made a point of drawing her pleasure out in a twisted claiming of Rayne’s mind.
Celindria was always impressed with her lover and his command of female desire. Rayne never stood a chance of resisting.
One orgasm.
Two.
Four.
Nox could stop now.
Six.
Why did he continue to have Rayne after he’d proven his point?
The look on Nox’s face wasn’t malicious or proud. It was earnest and obsessive.
How could that girl captivate him so?
{Now}
Back when Celindria had possessed control of Chris’ volition, he’d discovered her greatest fear with astonishing precision.
“How are you and Nox the Eternal Bind when you betrayed him like he described in his Verse? Did I strike a nerve, Celindria?”
Celindria had sounded defensive even to herself, so outside her usual composure among the lesser. “I need not explain my relationship to you. You understand how a woman must be cruel to be kind, to shape him into the man this galaxy needed. I made Nox into a god.”
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Chris had spat on the floor at her feet. “That’s some toxic bullshit, and he doesn’t seem grateful for your charitable education.”
Toxic.
Then, the human committed the greatest sin in Paradise by asking, “What makes you think he and Rayne aren’t the Eternal Bind?”
How…
Why…
Chris had pressed, “Nox loved Rayne. I’ve never read the unredacted copy of his Verse, but it’s obvious by it simply existing. And boy, I wouldn’t want her for competition. She’s beautiful, smart, loyal, and kind. Sure, you have two out of four of those traits, but why would he ever have settled for you when he could have her?”
Celindria stood on the banister of her balcony, all those thousands of stories up and laughed.
Would the fall kill her?
Would it hurt less than the ache she felt now?
No, we need to survive for Hope.
For Nox! We don’t know if this isn’t a ploy.
Forget the Probabilities. They fluctuate overtime.
Do. Not. Jump.
Hundreds of millions of Probabilities had vanished over the last twenty-four hours, and Celindria knew Nox and Rayne were in bed together.
Fucking.
Staring into each other’s eyes with longing and desire.
Celindria knew all of Nox’s ecstatic expressions and despised the very notion that Rayne now shared this knowledge.
The lights below swirled into an expressionist painting, beckoning Celindria to dive into the pool of colors.
We want to feel.
But what good is feeling if we can’t feel him?
Loneliness.
It gnawed at the organ in Celindria’s chest. One step was it all it would take to end this misery and rid the galaxy of her bitterness.
Father.
Hope.
Pax.
Nox.
Celindria backed down from the rail and walked back into her suites, hugging herself in her weakness. She was afraid to end everything she’d worked so hard to achieve moments before culminating her greatest victory.
Even if she and Nox were not the Eternal Bind, Celindria could still have him. Whether here, with the constructed Nox she’d created. Or in the dominant reality, with Nox’s living soul.
Let Rayne have her time with Nox. It would make Celindria’s triumph more satisfying when she stole Nox away. One more night, and he would be hers once again.
Until then, Celindria would entertain herself in Cinderken’s interrogation with father and General Korac.