Chapter 19

The dim light of the fortress filtered through the tall, narrow windows of Tharx's chambers, casting long shadows across the cold stone floor. Aeliana sat quietly on the edge of a chair, her eyes following Tharx as he moved through the room, overseeing the final preparations for a military meeting. She hadn't been invited to attend. Not really. He never invited her to these things. And yet, more and more, she found herself present during his daily rituals-meetings with his advisors, inspections of the fortress, quiet moments when he would silently watch the city from his window.

Tharx didn't explain why he allowed her to stay. He didn't ask her to leave, either. It was as though her presence had become an accepted part of his world, a silent companion in the background. He didn't speak much to her during these moments, not about anything meaningful. Yet, the unspoken bond between them was undeniable.

Today, however, was different.

The meeting had ended, and the advisors had left the room, leaving just the two of them in the quiet of the chamber. Tharx stood at his desk, his back to her, reviewing a set of documents. The air between them was thick with tension, though neither of them acknowledged it. It was in these rare, private moments that Aeliana felt the weight of their strange relationship the most.

She didn't belong here. She knew that. But the more time she spent with Tharx, the more she felt tethered to him in ways she couldn't explain. It wasn't just the power he held over her; it was something deeper, something that twisted in her chest whenever he was near.

Tharx broke the silence first. His voice, low and measured, cut through the stillness. "Tell me about Earth."

Aeliana blinked, momentarily caught off guard. Of all the things he could have asked, this wasn't what she had expected. He never asked her about herself-never seemed to care about her life before she had been taken. But here he was, standing in the quiet of the room, asking her about a world he had likely never given a second thought to.

"About Earth?" she echoed, her voice hesitant. "What do you want to know?"

Tharx turned slightly, his eyes catching the light in that eerie, glowing way they always did. "Your customs. Traditions. What makes your people hold onto things like that-emotions."

Aeliana felt a small pang in her chest at the word emotions. In his world, emotions were weaknesses, things to be discarded in favor of strength and control. But for her, and for the people of Earth, emotions were everything. They shaped lives, dictated decisions, wove themselves into the very fabric of existence.

"Emotions make us who we are," Aeliana said softly, her gaze dropping to the floor as she tried to find the right words. "On Earth, we celebrate them. We mourn with them. Love, loss, joy, pain-they're all part of the human experience."

Tharx was silent for a moment, his piercing gaze still fixed on her. "Your people build traditions around them. Rituals."

Aeliana nodded, unsure where this sudden interest was coming from. "Yes. We have holidays, celebrations. One of the most important is probably Christmas." She paused, realizing how absurd it must sound to him. "It's a holiday about family, about giving, about love. And for many, it's tied to faith."

Tharx tilted his head, clearly intrigued. "Faith?"

"In things we can't see or prove. In something bigger than ourselves," she explained. "It's hard to explain, but it's more than just belief. It's hope."

Tharx's lips pressed into a thin line. "Hope," he muttered, as if the word was foreign to him, something strange and distant. "Your people cling to intangibles."

Aeliana gave a small, sad smile. "I guess we do."

For the first time, she noticed that Tharx wasn't dismissing her words outright. He was listening-really listening. His questions, though direct and probing, carried a hint of curiosity that she had never seen in him before. He wasn't asking these things out of kindness; he was trying to dissect her, to understand her as a human. Yet, despite his cold detachment, Aeliana could sense the fascination simmering beneath the surface.

"Why?" he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Why do your people hold on to such things, to such fleeting emotions?"

Aeliana met his gaze, feeling the weight of his question. She hesitated, then spoke quietly. "Because without them, we're nothing. What's the point of living if you don't feel? If you don't connect with others? It's those connections that give life meaning."

Tharx's expression didn't change, but Aeliana saw something flicker in his eyes-something she couldn't quite place. He turned away from her, his hands resting on the edge of his desk as he stared out the window.

"I don't understand it," he admitted, his voice low. "Your need for connection, for emotion. It's illogical."

Aeliana's heart twisted at his words. Of course he didn't understand. How could he? His world, his empire, was built on control, on power and dominance. Emotions were dangerous in his world-they made people weak, vulnerable. But as much as he tried to distance himself, she could sense his curiosity growing.

"Maybe it's not something you can understand," Aeliana said softly. "Maybe it's something you just have to feel."

Tharx's eyes flicked back to her, sharp and calculating. "And you think I'm capable of that? Of feeling?"

Aeliana paused, unsure how to respond. She wanted to say yes, to believe that Tharx could feel, that beneath the cold exterior there was something more. But she wasn't sure. She had seen glimpses of vulnerability, of something deeper, but he always pulled away before she could grasp it.

"I don't know," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "But I think you want to."

As the days passed, Tharx's fascination with Aeliana only deepened. He continued to ask her questions-about Earth, about her customs, about why humans held onto things like love and loss. His questions were always clinical, detached, as if he were dissecting her emotions to understand what made her different. But despite his efforts to remain distant, Aeliana could sense the cracks in his armor.

One evening, after another tense political gathering where she had felt the full brunt of the court's hostility, Aeliana's frustration boiled over.

"They hate me," she said bluntly, sitting across from Tharx in his private quarters. "Your advisors, your court-they think I'm a liability."

Tharx's jaw tightened, but he didn't respond.

"You know," Aeliana continued, a bitter edge to her voice, "if it would make them feel better, you could always keep me in a cage at these events. That way, they'd see me as your pet instead of a threat."

Tharx's eyes snapped to hers, a sharp warning in his gaze. "Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm serious," Aeliana said, her tone laced with sarcasm. "It seems like that's what they want. If I were locked away, maybe they'd stop seeing me as a weakness and just think of me as your possession."

For a long moment, Tharx said nothing, his expression unreadable. But then, to her surprise, the corner of his mouth twitched-just barely, but enough for her to notice. Was he amused? She couldn't be sure.

"You're not a pet," he said quietly. "And you're not a weakness."

Aeliana's heart skipped a beat at his words. She wanted to believe him, but the doubt still gnawed at her. "Then what am I?" she asked, her voice soft, vulnerable. "Why do you keep me here?"

Tharx didn't answer right away. He stood from his chair, moving to the window, his back to her as he stared out at the alien city below. The silence stretched on, thick and heavy, until finally, he spoke.

"I don't know," he admitted, his voice barely audible. "But I can't let you go."

The words hung in the air between them, filled with an unspoken tension that neither of them could deny. Aeliana's heart pounded in her chest as she stared at his back, her mind swirling with confusion and frustration. She didn't want to feel this way-didn't want to be drawn to him. But the more time she spent with him, the more her emotions twisted into something she couldn't control.

As the days turned into weeks, the tension between them only grew. Tharx's inner circle continued to express their hostility toward Aeliana, their disdain becoming more open with each passing day. But despite their objections, Tharx continued to include her in his daily rituals, kept her close in ways that made no sense to her.

Aeliana felt more lost than ever. She was caught between two worlds-Earth, which she could never return to, and Tharx's empire, where she would never truly belong. And at the center of it all was Tharx-a man who was slowly, against his will, being drawn to her.

And she, against her own will, was being drawn to him.