Page 125 of Rebirth

It’s not the haze of sleep that’s creating the vision before me. This is real.

All across my arms, the ba’clan flow like a thick wave. They travel from me to him, swirling from my fingers to cover his skin, flicking from black to white the moment they touch him.

“He’rox…” I whisper, stiffening with alarm as I watch the event unfolding before me. “What’s happening?”

He’rox lifts his head only slightly, looking at me and not the ba’clan that’s currently flowing over him.

“They are returning,” he simply says, and my brows furrow a little.

“You mean they are leaving me.” I’m surprised at the level of disappointment that immediately blooms, but the ba’clan pulse against me as if in comfort.

“Never,” he says. “They are yours now, too. Belonging to you, as you belong to me.”

I blink at him, confused, until I realize something.

His eyes flick from black to blue then back again, before the darkness slowly disintegrates and those ice-blue eyes of his return.

At his back, the tentacles that writhe slowly retreat, releasing me as they disappear into his spine.

“They’re healing you?”

He shakes his head slowly. “I am forever changed.”

For the first time since it began, he looks down at himself, ears flicking off his head as he watches his entire frame flood with white ba’clan. When he looks at me again, those ice-cold eyes aren’t so cold anymore.

“You have given me a gift more precious than you can ever imagine,” he rumbles. “Saving you has created a change in them. They have returned to me. No longer dying, but alive.”

As if to test this theory, spikes rise all along his back and arms and for the first time, I hear a rumble of a chuckle in his throat.

My eyes tear up as I smile, wrapping my arms around him tighter as I pull him into me.

“Think we can do this now?” I whisper against his lips. “Save the world, you and me?”

“With you, my light. I can do anything.”

EPILOGUE

HE’ROX

The pure white lights of my lab flicker as I peer into the lens, adjusting the magnification with trembling claws. After so many failures, have I finally done it? Beside me, Sophie squeezes my shoulder, her eyes tired but hopeful. “Is it working?”

I will never tire of hearing her voice within this space.

All of my existence, I have worked alone. Now, I have a partner by my side. One filled with curiosity and loyalty that matches my own.

My gaze slides over her beautiful face, slipping to her lips. Lips that have been wrapped around my sazi on just this morning’s light, and a growl rumbles in my chest.

Soh’fee giggles, leaning in to kiss my cheek, and a thrum rises in my chest. The rumble turning into a purr at her show of affection.

I will never tire of this.

Taking a deep breath, I soak in her scent as I focus on the lens once more.

The corrupted tissue sample is transforming before my eyes, the dark, twisted strands unfurling and turning healthy and pink.

“It’s working,” I whisper. “On some samples.”

I glance at Soh’fee, wondering if I will sense disappointment.

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