Page 78 of Rebirth

He’rox stares at me, his gaze so unreadable I’m not sure what he’ll do or say next. When he closes his eyes and his ba’clan shiver against me like a wave, so much they almost cover my arms, my eyes widen as my gaze snaps to them. It is almost as if they’re trying to escape his frame. I can’t understand it, and then, my breath stops in my nose as my gaze meets He’rox’s once more.

Gone is the pale blue I’m used to, replaced by that soulless darkness that I’ve only seen in his eyes a few times. All when he seemed to be different altogether. His fangs extend, sharp as knives. And at his back, quadruple tentacles grow from his spine, twisting and turning in the air, so long my head tilts back a little as I watch them twist and curve. The tips, soft and fleshy, suddenly sharpen like blades as they curve around him and suddenly freeze, the business ends pointed directly at me.

I gasp but don’t back away. I don’t even move.

He’rox watches me carefully, waiting for a reaction.

“I am a creature twisted by experiments, forged into a weapon,” he says, his voice even rougher than usual. Completely inhuman. “This is my true face, the monster I became to save my people.”

I stare at him. Stare at the “monster” he’s showing me, and realize that even though he has his weapons pointed against me, his arms that still hold me close remain gentle against me.

“Who did this to you?” I whisper.

For a moment, he doesn’t respond. “To know thy enemy, one has to sometimes become them.” He tilts his head, menacing with those dark eyes, and yet, I remain unmoved. “It was the only method I could think of to find their weakness.” He leans in, nostrils flaring slightly as he sniffs at my cheek, almost like a predator sniffing out its prey. “After all other avenues failed, I did the only thing I could think of to save my people from the scourge that descended upon us.”

“You did this to yourself,” I whisper, realization dawning slowly. “You experimented on yourself. To beat the Gryken…you sacrificed yourself.”

He rears back suddenly, tentacles sharpening all along their length as he stares at me.

“That’s nothing to be ashamed of,” I whisper.

“I failed.” His growl is like two separate voices intertwined. The monster and the alien. And my gaze falls to his lips, to the two tentacles curling there. He shifts, almost like he winces under the attention. Under the fact I see the correlation between that part of him and the monstrous bits he hates so much.

“Edooria no longer stands.”

My heart aches, the reality of it all leaving me stunned. “But Earth does.”

His head snaps, his movements not as smooth as they usually are as he looks at me.

He’rox stares at me and for a moment I see raw pain in those dark eyes. The only emotion that shines through from the abyss.

“Earth is not my home.”

Reaching up, I trace the ridged texture of his skin.

“No, but you protected it,” I say softly. “You protected me.”

He’rox remains silent, so I continue. “You did what you had to do. Became what you needed.” I meet his gaze, staring into the darkness. “But it does not change who you are inside. You’re still He’rox to me. The one who saved my life…the one who saved my world.”

For a moment, silence descends between us, only the sound of the dying rain pitter-pattering on the dead leaves on the forest floor playing a symphony in the background.

“This form is all I have left,” he says, and finally, the tentacles soften and begin waving softly in the air behind him.

“Then use it for good. Make a new purpose.”

He’rox blinks, his eyes slowly bleeding back to blue. “You do not fear me.”

“Why should I fear those who help the helpless?”

He stares at me for a long moment before, slowly, his fangs shorten, the tentacles at his back growing smaller as they sink and disappear.

“I do not deserve such trust.” His words make me laugh through my nose. My fingers stroke against his jaw, enjoying the velvety feel of his skin and not wanting to interrupt this moment between us. Lifting his hand, He’rox closes it over mine against his jaw.

“For so long I lived with this hatred inside me,” he murmurs. “For what I’d become. What I’d done.”

I smile at him, tears brimming once more in my eyes, because now I understand it all. And it all makes sense. “You are selfless.”

“You give me a gift, Sophie of Earth,” he says softly. “Perspective I’d lost.”

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