The world inside the penthouse atop Skyline Drive was a universe away from the metal and blood of Prometheus Labs. Here, the air was warm and scented with jasmine. Soft, ambient music played, and the panoramic view of Aethelburg glittered like a bed of jewels under a blanket of stars. It was a sanctuary designed for peace.
But for Kirche Draemont, there was no peace.
She paced the length of the living room, her silk robe whispering against the floor. One hand was unconsciously pressed to her lower abdomen, where the three tiny sparks of life were growing. The other hand held a cold, untouched cup of tea.
It had been four days.
Four days since Arthur's last visit. Four days since he had held her, his body trembling with a fatigue that went deeper than bone, his eyes shadowed by horrors he wouldn't name. She had poured every ounce of her empathic warmth into him, a silent promise of safety. He had left with a kiss that felt more like a farewell than a see-you-later.
And then, silence.
Her attempts to send gentle, psychic probes through their unique connection—the one forged by her Empathic Projection and the sheer intensity of his life force—were met with a terrifying void. It wasn't that he was blocking her; it was as if his signal had been… muffled. Dampened by distance or something far worse. All she could feel was a low, constant hum of immense strain, like a star struggling not to go supernova.
"He's on a mission, you foolish woman," she muttered to herself, trying to channel the pragmatic teacher she presented to the world. "A dangerous, secret mission. Of course he can't call."
But the teacher's logic was being drowned out by the mother's fear.
The fear was a cold knot in her stomach, tighter and more real than the faint flutters of pregnancy she had just begun to feel. What if the strain she felt wasn't just exhaustion? What if it was pain? What if the null void she sensed wasn't distance, but… nothingness?
She walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, staring out at the city he was somewhere out there protecting. The beautiful, ignorant city. They went about their lives, unaware of the boys and girls fighting monsters in the dark so they could sleep safely in their beds. Unaware that the father of her children was one of those boys.
A fresh, more visceral wave of fear washed over her, so sharp it made her gasp. It was accompanied by a sudden, phantom sensation—a flash of searing heat and a reverberating boom that echoed not in her ears, but in her soul. It was Arthur's power, but wilder, more explosive than she'd ever felt before. It was followed by a spike of pain that wasn't her own.
He was fighting. Right now. And he was hurt.
Tears welled in her amber eyes, hot and helpless. This was the curse of her gift. To feel the emotions of others was one thing. But to feel the man you love in mortal danger, to sense his pain from miles away, and to be utterly powerless to help… it was a special kind of torture.
She slid down the glass to sit on the floor, drawing her knees to her chest. The cool surface did nothing to soothe the feverish anxiety burning within her. Her empathic senses, usually a tool she wielded with precision, were now a wide-open channel to a nightmare she couldn't wake up from.
She thought of the future they had barely begun to imagine. A future with a family. A life beyond secrets and battles. She saw a tiny hand with Arthur's serious amber eyes, a little girl with Kirche's red hair, the sound of laughter in this too-quiet apartment. That future, so beautiful and fragile, felt entirely dependent on Arthur walking back through her door.
"What do I do?" she whispered into the empty room, her voice breaking. "How do I help you?"
There was no answer. Only the silent, glittering city and the terrifying quiet from the other end of a bond that was supposed to connect them. The anchor was adrift, and the storm was raging around the one she was tied to. All she could do was wait, and hope, and pour every bit of her love into that silent, psychic void, praying that somehow, against all odds, he would feel it and find his way back to her.