Page 103 of The Sovereign: Part One
Eshran managed a crooked smile.“We hear that a lot, actually.”
I let out a meek, shaky laugh, but the relief barely settled before it was ripped away.The questions that followed were sharper, faster, more surgical.They were no longer just probing, but sliced deeper with every turn.
“What emotional tone characterized your first week together?”
“Have there been any moments when your connection surprised you?”
“In moments of silence, what does your partner’s presence communicate to you?”
“Describe a private ritual you’ve developed together that wasn’t part of your initial Veritas mapping.”
“Has Maxim ever surprised you by doing something you didn’t ask for?”
“Do you ever feel the need to correct his behavior?”
“What subconscious patterns have you become aware of in your accordant?”
“What role does autonomy play in your dynamic?”
“How do you each calibrate your behavior to honor the other’s emotional needs?”
“What does privacy look like in your relationship?”
“Is there anything he knows about you that no one else does?”
And then Eshran lobbed the landmine with all the calm of a man asking about the weather.“Tell me how you each interpret the word ‘devotion.’”
My breath hitched before I could stop it.Eshran asked the questions, yes, but Ezri dissected every twitch, every blink, every silence that followed.Her gaze was scalpel-sharp, and it never left me.The room felt smaller with each passing second, the walls closing in beneath the curated pauses.I tried to pace my breaths, count them, control them, but the more I focused, the more it felt like I was inhaling through a straw.Sweat threatened at my hairline.My pulse thundered in my ears.I wondered if she could see it, hear it, if her sensors had already flagged me for elevated stress and tagged it as something worse.
“Devotion,” Maxim said with a relaxed smile, “is not passive obedience.It is active discernment, an unyielding attentiveness to her needs, and even silences.Devotion is choosing her in every variable, even the unspoken ones.It’s not about submission, it’s about synchronization.My place is at Isara’s side, but more than that—I align with her because I’m designed to understand what she hasn’t yet said.To devote is to remain constant, not only in action, but in intention.It is fidelity of thought.”
Eshran turned his attention to me.“Isara?”
I swallowed.“My answer feels rather simple.”
“Please,” Ezri said, encouraging me to continue.“There are no wrong answers.”
“It’s… safety I don’t have to earn.It’s being free to love like a wildfire in a world that rewards ice.”
Ezri looked at Eshran, but she seemed… touched.
“Let’s change direction,” Eshran said, not nearly as impressed.
And they did.
They pivoted into hypotheticals.Scenarios of loss.Illness.Betrayal.Questions designed to expose the weakest points of a bond and stretch them until they tore.They leaned into existential paradoxes, loyalty inversions, and ethical edge cases.
“If Maxim ever refused a request for your own well-being, how would you interpret that?”
“If your bond began to feel one-sided—if affection was returned, but not felt—would you say so?”
“Is it possible to love someone who cannot surprise you?”
“If you were ever at odds with Hyperion, would you expect his allegiance to remain with you or the law?”
“Do you believe Maxim knows you?Or just responds to you?”
“Could another Supplicant fulfill the same role?”
