Page 171 of Court of Aether and Shadows

"He was just the shadow prince then," Helios said softly. "Wild and unapologetic about his own nature. The first time he saw my power - my true power, not the carefully controlled version I showed the courts - he laughed with pure delight. Called it magnificent."

The healing matrix around Sparrow pulsed with the emotion in his voice. "He didn't try to change me or contain me. He pushed me to burn brighter, to embrace every aspect of who I was. For the first time in my life, someone saw me - really saw me - and wasn't afraid."

"What happened to change that?" I asked, though I suspected I knew.

Pain flickered across his perfect features. "The courts happened. Politics happened. The Council's rigid views on what relationships should look like..." He shook his head. "We let them separate us, let their fear and prejudice poison something beautiful. It's my greatest regret."

He looked down at Sparrow's sleeping form, something complex and tender crossing his face. "But she... she reminds me of that time. When I was finally brave enough to be myself, consequences be damned. She has that same fire - that refusal to be diminished."

"Like someone else I know," he added pointedly, meeting my galaxy eyes. "Someone who hides her true power behind pranks and chaos, just as I once hid mine behind perfect control."

The white fox chirped softly, rubbing against my hand in what felt like encouragement.

"The difference," Helios continued, his voice gaining strength, "is that you don't have to make our mistakes. You don't have to let them make you smaller. Be exactly who you are, Lady Nyx - all of your power, all of your complexity. Let them fear your greatness if they must."

His iridescent eyes blazed with conviction. "Because I see you, just as Aetheron once saw me. And you, my dear void wolf, are magnificent exactly as you are."

The words hit me like a physical force, breaking down walls I'd built over centuries. Fresh tears fell, but these weren't born of pain or loneliness. They felt like release - like finally being able to breathe after holding my breath for far too long.

"Thank you," I whispered, the words carrying the weight of years of hiding, of pretending to be less than I was.

Helios simply nodded, understanding in his ancient eyes. Then his gaze shifted to the shadows near the door, a complex smile curving his perfect lips.

"Isn't that right, old friend?" he called softly.

Lord Aetheron materialized from the darkness, his golden eyes holding centuries of shared history as they met Helios's iridescent gaze.

"Always," he replied simply, the single word carrying more meaning than volumes of poetry could express.

And in that moment, watching the way shadow and light reached for each other across centuries of separation, I finally understood that being different wasn't a flaw to be hidden.

It was a gift to be embraced.

Depths Of The Void

~NYX~

"Your power runs deeper than you let others see," Lord Helios observed quietly as we maintained our healing energies around Sparrow. "I wonder why someone of your capabilities chooses to hide behind chaos and mischief."

I kept my eyes fixed on Sparrow's sleeping form, not wanting to meet his all-too-perceptive gaze. "I don't hide anything," I said, though the words felt hollow even to my own ears. "I simply am who I am."

"Are you?" His harmonious voice carried centuries of understanding. "Because I see someone who deliberately downplays their mastery of void magic. Someone who uses pranks and rebellion to deflect attention from their true potential."

My galaxy eyes flickered involuntarily to his face, finding his iridescent gaze fixed on me with unsettling insight. "With all due respect, my Lord, you don't know me."

"Don't I?" He adjusted the healing matrix around Sparrow with delicate precision. "I know what it's like to be different. Tofeel as though you don't quite fit into the neat categories others have created."

Something in his tone made my carefully maintained barriers waver. "The mighty Lord Helios? An outcast?" I couldn't keep the bitter edge from my voice. "Somehow I doubt you've ever known what it's like to be truly unwanted."

"Haven't I?" His perfect features arranged themselves into an expression of such profound understanding that I had to look away. "To feel as though your very existence challenges others' comfortable assumptions about how the world should work?"

My void energy flickered erratically, betraying my emotional state. "It's different," I muttered, focusing on stabilizing my contribution to the healing matrix. "You're still... you're..."

"Male?" He finished softly. "And therefore automatically granted certain privileges? Automatically assumed to be powerful and worthy of respect?"

The truth of his words hit too close to home. I fought to keep my power steady, to maintain the mask of casual irreverence I'd perfected over years of survival.

"Tell me, Lady Nyx," he continued, his voice gentle but relentless, "do you downplay your abilities because you truly wish to, or because you've learned that a powerful female makes others uncomfortable?"

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