Zaeryn didn't answer her right away.
The compliment if it was a compliment, hung between them in the dark like a held note that had been struck and not quite released. He wasn't sure what to do with it.
Daphne lay against his side with one arm draped lazily across his stomach, her blue hair fanned over the pillow in a soft, silken mess. The fierce, breathless creature from a few minutes ago had quieted into something deceptively calm. Her body was warm against his, her breathing slow now, but her eyes were still sharp.
They always were.
He stared at the ceiling and let her words sit, because in the most literal and inconvenient sense Daphne was right.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the capital sector.
Sage walked into her suite, letting the heavy doors seal shut behind her. She dropped her bag on the glass table and stood dead in the center of the room, doing absolutely nothing, letting the quiet finally wash over her.
