The slow rotation of the Iron Citadel brought the massive, floor-to-ceiling ether-glass windows of the sovereign penthouse directly into the path of a distant, brilliant blue nebula, and the soft ambient light cascaded over the colossal bathing pool where the warm emerald water had finally settled into absolute stillness.
Kai lay awake on the sprawling, dark Sylfen wood bed they had moved to during the quiet hours of the night, his powerful arms wrapped securely around Yena while she slept peacefully against his bare chest, her steady breathing syncing perfectly with the slow, rhythmic hum of his Level 66 domain.
For the first time in over a decade, the Chief Enforcer was not sleeping with one hand resting instinctively on the hilt of a weapon, and her deeply scarred face was completely relaxed, free from the heavy burdens of constant vigilance and survival that had defined her entire existence before Kai conquered the sector.
