Page 73 of The Edge of Dawn

And then, he saw her.

He drank her in with his Second Sight, and it was as if he were seeing her all over again.

She was different from the stubborn, scared human he’d found in that hot, dusty underground mine shaft.

He could sense trepidation in her trembling aura, but there was also strength and a forced calmness borne of her surprisingly fierce will. Her emotions no longer spilled wildly. It seemed she’d taken his teachings seriously and was using anara—the most basic of the techniques. It was usually taught to his kind when they were young children, just as they were starting to walk, but she’d never had any sort of training, and in the end, Dragek had taken pity on her.

But how quickly she learned. She was already quite good at this, and when she was in control, her demeanor changed, making her seem somewhat… formidable.

Impressive.

Almost as impressive as the way she sat on her sleeping pod, elegant and composed in spite of her injuries.

She wore a luxurious Kashkan that spilled over her body like a generous serving of molten liquid. The lustrous fabric was thick enough to leave him guessing, merely hinting at the soft swell of her breasts and the strong, lithe figure underneath.

But he knew because he’d held her.

Her hair, now clean and dry, emitted the most tantalizing fragrance—sweetness and human female musk. It was swept to one side and draped over her shoulder, melting into the sumptuous cloth of her robes.

The way it reflected the light was dazzling.

He’d never seen anything quite so decadent in all his life.

Beauty hadn’t existed in his life before he met her. He wasn’t permitted to enjoy it, even though he stole glimpses at the stars from time to time. He’d learned to find solace in such things as the twin moons of a distant planet or the pale mist rising from a warm, starlight-drenched body of water.

But now, selfishly, greedily, he drank it in.

Drank her in.

Immediately, he was aroused again. His cock was already hard. He didn’t question it anymore, didn’t fight it. It was ironic how he instinctively knew what this was when he’d never experienced it before in his life.

As an assassin, he’d learned how to channel all his energy into violence.

But he didn’t have to do that anymore.

“Impressive,” he said, half-surprised that he’d even managed to get a word out. At this rate, he might just revert to being a Silent One again.

“What do you mean?” As she looked up, her eyes were luminous and lovely.

“That you’ve managed to improve so quickly. I only had to show you once, and already, you can contain your presence to a respectable degree.”

“Oh.” Her long eyelashes fluttered. The soft hue in her cheeks deepened. “Well, it was long overdue, wasn’t it? I don’t think it’s impressive at all. It’s just something I’m doing out of necessity.”

“Eventually, it’ll become so natural you won’t even notice you’re doing it—like breathing.”

“Once again, I have to thank you.” Her lips parted ever so slightly, allowing a low, throaty laugh to escape. The sound curled around his soul and threw hooks deep into his cold, black heart. “You know, the humans on Earth—my own people—thought there was something wrong with me. Everyone was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was sick. That I needed to be treated. They tried so many things to get rid of the voices. Nothing worked… until now. It’s such a simple solution, but I never would have been able to figure it out on my own. I still can’t believe it works.”

He inhaled deeply, savoring her warm scent, along with her tenuous admiration. She reminded him of a wild creature on the verge of being tamed but ready to fly away at any moment. “All I did was teach you a technique that has been used by my kind for thousands of revolutions. Anara. It’s the first of twelve techniques.”

“Twelve?” Her eyebrows rose in curiosity. “And once you’ve learned all twelve… what then?”

“Complete mastery,” Dragek shrugged. “Not many people are capable of learning all twelve. You wouldn’t be expected to. Reaching the third or fourth stage would be sufficient.” The final of the twelve techniques, after anava—the ability to sustain one’s life beyond physical death—was qim.

Invisibility.

Transcendence.

They said qim was the ability to walk the rift—the path between worlds.

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