The silence after her father's words was unbearable.
Elara felt her heart collapse inside her chest, her breath strangled by fear. Aeris stood protectively in front of her, his body humming with faint energy as though ready to shield her even against an army. But the red dots of laser sights painted across his chest and hers, reminders that resistance would end them both.
"Take him," General Kaelen ordered. His voice was calm, steady—the voice of a commander, not a father.
The soldiers surged forward. Elara screamed, clinging to Aeris as armored hands tore them apart. She fought, biting, scratching, begging, but the cold metal grips dragged her away. Aeris struggled too, his eyes flaring with silver fire, but his strength faltered as the soldiers drove magnetic shackles into his wrists and chest, suppressing his systems. His glow dimmed, his voice fractured into static.
"Elara—!" His cry was cut short as the restraints locked into place.
"No! Don't take him!" Elara's voice broke as she reached for him, but her father's hand shot out, seizing her arm.
"Enough." His tone was sharp as a blade, yet beneath it there was something trembling—anger, yes, but also pain.
Elara looked into his eyes and saw not only fury but also betrayal. She had been his daughter, his pride, the silver-haired girl he had guarded against the world. And now, to him, she had become the very thing he feared most: a traitor bound to the enemy he had created.
---
The trial before the **Council of Dominion** was swift.
The great chamber rose like a cathedral of steel and fire, banners of authority draped behind long rows of officials. Their eyes—cold, curious, condemning—followed Elara as she was forced to kneel before them. Aeris knelt beside her, shackled, his glow faint but defiant.
At the center stood her father, towering, a shadow of judgment.
"Councilors," he began, his voice steady though his hand clenched behind his back. "You know why we are here. My daughter… has broken the most sacred of laws. She has united herself with the machine."
Gasps rippled through the chamber. Murmurs rose like wildfire—words like "abomination," "treason," "contamination."
Elara lifted her head, her storm-gray eyes burning with tears. "I love him!" she cried, her voice echoing through the steel hall. "You don't understand—he's not just a machine, he's alive! He feels, he chooses, he protects—"
"Silence!" one of the Councilors thundered. His jeweled robes glittered under the harsh lights. "Love between human and construct is blasphemy. It is corruption against our kind."
"He's not corruption!" Elara's voice shook, her hands trembling against the chains. "He's hope!"
Another Councilor leaned forward, his thin lips curling. "Hope? Or weapon? Machines like him were forged to fight, to destroy. Tell us, General Kaelen, is this not the very project you once oversaw? Now fallen into the filth of your daughter's… desire?"
Her father's jaw tightened. For a moment, his mask of control cracked. He turned toward Elara, his voice low but searing: "Do you know what you've done to me? To us?"
Tears spilled down her cheeks. "Father… I didn't mean to hurt you. But I can't deny what I feel. He's not my enemy. He's my—" Her voice faltered. "He's my everything."
The chamber erupted with outrage. Some called for execution, others for dissection of Aeris's body, to strip him of secrets. A few, whispering behind covered hands, spoke of studying the union, of what such a bond could mean for evolution itself.
Elara's gaze found Aeris's. His silver eyes locked on hers, calm amidst the chaos. Even with chains biting into him, even with his power suppressed, he looked at her as though she was his only truth.
"Councilors," General Kaelen's voice cut through the storm, commanding silence. His hand trembled on the podium, though his face betrayed nothing. "My judgment… is that this union ends here."
Elara's heart shattered. "No—!" she screamed, her chains rattling. "You can't take him from me!"
But as the soldiers moved forward again, her chest clenched with something heavier than fear. Something undeniable. A secret too large to keep buried any longer.
Her lips parted, and in a voice trembling but unyielding, she spoke the words that would change everything:
"…I'm pregnant."
---