Out of the corner of his eye, the general saw the paladin nodding solemnly.
"Very well," Audrey went on. "They're not positive, then. I have had a vision. I suspect that after Naima put on her glove, the Fearless sensed one of us dropping out of its sight. The timeline matches, at least. Right after that, it doubled its efforts to get to me."
"Fuck," was Naima's only response to that, a deep frown on her beautiful face. "That is not what I wanted. I'm sorry, Audrey."
"It's okay," the governor said sternly. "Anything that upsets the enemy is good. It shows us that it's still vulnerable. Right, General?"
Braen confirmed that with a curt nod.
"I won't say the experience was pleasant," Audrey continued, glancing at Tieran. "But I was able to gain some knowledge as well."
"Go on," the general encouraged her. "Anything you can tell me is beneficial. We are approaching Uther territory and there is bound to be trouble, you know that much. Tell me, are there new developments with the Fearless?"
"There are, yes," she replied. "We know the Fearless can grow amazingly fast, but it develops quite slowly, that's why it usually hides until it feels strong enough to take on the galaxy again. After it has suffered a defeat, it tries to compensate for all the previous mistakes with its new form. This time, I suspect it had a little insight into what it should do."
By his side, Naima pursed her lips, no doubt remembering the night when she was attacked while taking that shower. The Fearless had seen its opponents then.
"It was yet in a developing phase. Possibly still is. Be that as it may, it was no longer able to hide its true form from me. I didn't get much, I'm afraid, but I did see the Fearless.
“And General, knowing Brions, I'm not entirely sure if you'll take this as a compliment or an insult, but it has crafted itself in your image. And Tieran's. Possibly others who have beaten it as well. It's not a huge, scary draconic beast this time.#p#分页标题#e#
“It's a warrior. Taller than you, with skin like metal, four arms and all the strength of its previous forms. A monster of a man with experiences of an eternity."
Before Braen could comment that in any way, Naima looked at him: "It explains a lot. Like how it is able to use the Chali harness."
Naima didn't appear to be afraid, not one bit. There was a bright glow to her all of a sudden, free of the chains of terror that had shackled her for so long.
"Compliment," Braen answered Audrey's question without taking his eyes off Naima. "I am a Brion. We know that as much as anyone tries, they will never be us. If the Fearless thinks it can win against me by being my mirror image, it is terribly wrong. Thank you, Miss Price, for bringing this to my attention."
"No problem," Audrey said, clearly relieved that her message didn't push them into despair.
"We have some news of our own," Naima took over, beaming. "I should have told you as the first thing, but the talk of our children knocked me off guard. It only makes me surer that we need to kill the Fearless once and for all. And we think we've found a way."
Both Audrey and Tieran stared much like Braen himself had when the theory had been explained to him. They both listened and the growing smiles on their faces were like rays of light, casting away the dark mood they'd arrived with.
"Using the lifestone against it," Audrey repeated Naima's words back to them. "That is brilliant. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this is the best news I've heard in my life. Thank you. I will sleep peacefully tonight. We both will, I think. If it's gone... by gods, Naima. We would be free from it. And our children as well."
"I know," Naima said. "Which is why we will make sure it happens."
"I would wish you luck, but I'm told that's an insult to a Brion," Audrey offered.
"It is," Braen confirmed.
"Good hunting, then," the female said with a slight grin, and was gone.
As soon as the holoprojector turned off and they were left alone, the general turned to Naima. The information they'd received was monumental, but he couldn't help it taking a back seat in his mind. All he could focus on was his gesha, a light shining in her gorgeous green eyes. A perfect complement to his darkness.
"I know it's a Tuesday for Brions, but with possible death staring me in the eyes, I really only want to be happy," Naima said, a coy, yet teasing smile on her lips. "I still hate being dragged along by an invisible hand of fate or something similarly soulless, but I don't want to spend my life regretting not being with you."
The general ran his hands over her curvy, beautiful body, feeling it shiver under his touch. His senses were going wild, picking up the signals Naima was giving him, almost blinding in their ferociousness.
“You should not,” he agreed, a smirk on his lips.
When the general kissed her, Naima pushed him away slowly and carefully. She led him away from the others, making sure no one overheard them.
"I want to tell you something first," she said. "So you would know the truth, as I promised I wouldn't hide anything from you again. I realized something a while ago. I wanted to wait until I was sure. Only to understand that there is nothing holding me back but myself."
The general nodded, waiting with bated breath for her truth as they strode through the corridors towards her quarter, leaving the busy bridge behind them.
“It is… it is deeply personal.”
She bit her lower lip and Braen had to resist the urge to run his thumb over her lips to stop her from worrying it. Yet he kept himself at bay, guiding her to the long hallway with the viewports that simulated a glass bridge in the ship, allowing for a breathtaking view of the stars around them.
“You may always tell me everything, my gesha.”
He half-expected her to bite back with a cutting comment, but that did not follow. Instead, she looked sheepish and embarrassed, if anything.
“My parents… My father was a lot like I am. A scientist. An explorer. Someone who put logic and reason and control above all else.”
“He sounds like a father you would be lucky to have,” Braen noted, visions of his own father, a great warrior just as he, slipping easily into his mind.
“He was. A brilliant man with a lot more accomplishments than what I have accrued so far.”
She raised her hand when Braen started to protest. A woman who was aiding a Brion general in hunting down and vanquishing the Fearless certainly had some great accomplishments!#p#分页标题#e#
“Hear me out. He was a great man, yes, but what he was not, was a great husband. My mother doted on him and he was the center of her universe, the sun of her solar system, far more than her children ever were. Don’t get me wrong, she adored us, but she loved my father more than all else. And he… well, I never thought he gave her half as much as she gave him.”
Braen’s brows had knitted into a tight, expectant frown as she spoke. Now, though, the shock of realization practically hit him in the face. He ground to a halt and Naima nearly passed him by as his mind worked with dizzying speed to unravel all of this, to make sense of her actions so far.
It was so obvious… So simple.
A wide smile stretched across his features.
“Braen?” she asked, her voice shaky.
“That is why you have been fighting,” he said, his voice growing with each syllable he spoke.
He stepped closer to Naima, slowly, making her back up into a similar alcove as he’d done last time they’d crossed this makeshift bridge. Her green eyes were wide and her mouth slightly open, probably because of the expression he was wearing.
It must have been something akin to a lion finally figuring out where the gazelle was hiding.
Braen put his hands on her shoulders and moved them slowly down to her arms. She shuddered slightly under his touch, but it was not a shiver of fear. It was one of excitement.
“You think you are like your father. That being with me, you would do the same to me as he did to your mother,” he spoke, certain that he was right.
She couldn’t say a word, simply nodded after a moment of contemplation. The motion was incredibly meek for a woman of her fire and spirit. It was clear that admitting this did not come easy for her.
“Naima, this… nothing is impossible in this universe, except for that. Every moment I am with you gives me all I could want. I fight better, I react faster, I am the epitome of what I could physically be simply because you around. And it is not simply that. You’re the perfect counter to what is uncalibrated in me, the absolute antidote to any wrong I could do, because you make sure to negate it before it could ever happen.
“Relationships are flawed and they take work. Not all of them are perfect, as the case with your parents might have been. But for us? Two minds like ours… these challenges will only make us stand prouder and rise higher, my gesha. You could never take from me more than I take from you. To believe that is to think that the sacred bond is not fair.
“Fair is all that it is, at its core. Fair to both. You and I. Two sides of the same equation.”
He exhaled, feeling the weight of his words still reverberating in his chest. Words that had been growing there and waiting to be left out since he’d met this mystical, enchanting little headache of a woman.