The Reborn Sovereign of Ruin, Bound by His Star

Arik remained beside Liam’s chair after the kiss ended.

Liam, apparently satisfied that the matter had been adequately addressed, returned to his dinner.

Arik did not.

He watched Liam cut another piece of meat, drag it through the sauce at the edge of the plate, and eat with the concentration of a man whose evening had involved considerably more metaphysical revelations than calories.

Nothing about him looked ancient.

The gold eyes were wrong.

Everything else was Liam.

Long brown hair falling over one shoulder because he had given up trying to keep it tied after returning. The cream shirt was wrinkled at the waist. One bare foot tucked beneath his opposite thigh in a chair far too formal for the position. His engagement ring caught the low light whenever he moved his fork.

And, more importantly, absolutely no mysterious ancient memories.

Arik found that he liked that.

More than he probably should.

He moved to the chair beside Liam instead of returning to the other end of the table.

Liam glanced at him.

"You’re staring again."

"I am thinking."

"That usually causes problems."

Arik ignored that.

"You truly remember nothing about Enki."

Liam paused.

"We established this."

"I am establishing it again."

Liam studied him for a moment, then seemed to understand.

His expression softened slightly.

"No, Arik."

"No instincts?"

"Nothing I can identify as his."

"No memories when you entered the Trial?"

"None."

Arik leaned back.

The relief came slowly this time.

He had learned to live with Goliath because Goliath was himself. There had never truly been another person waiting behind his consciousness, despite how it had felt at first. Memories had returned, instincts had merged, and eventually the distinction had become historical rather than personal.

But Liam was different.

Arik had fallen in love with Liam.

Not Enki.

He did not particularly want to wake one morning and discover that centuries of memory had flooded into his mate and rearranged him into someone older, stranger, and shaped by a life Arik himself could barely remember.

Liam reached over and touched two fingers to his wrist.

"You’re worrying."

"I am considering possibilities."

"You’re worrying more formally."

Arik looked at him.

Liam’s gold eyes were amused.

Still Liam.

Arik turned his hand and caught Liam’s fingers.

"I want you to remain you."

The amusement disappeared.

For once, Liam did not make a joke immediately.

"I intend to."

"That may not be entirely under your control."

"No." Liam considered that with irritating seriousness. "But the being said I left because I wanted a life outside the Trial. Carrying the memories with me would have defeated the purpose."

Arik rubbed his thumb over Liam’s knuckles.

"So Enki deliberately left himself behind."

"The memories, apparently. Not the soul."

"And then used Felix to leave."

Liam’s mouth tightened.

"Yes."

That reaction changed the direction of Arik’s thoughts.

"There is more about Felix."

Liam looked toward his plate.

Then sighed.

"There is always more about Felix."

Arik waited.

Liam took another bite before continuing.

"He ran because he was going to die."

Arik’s attention sharpened.

"Inside the Trial?"

"Yes."

Liam set his fork down.

"The corrupted ether wasn’t something he discovered afterward. It was the part of him that escaped."

Arik remembered that much from Liam’s first explanation, but the implications had been buried beneath Enki, reincarnation, and the alarming color change in Liam’s eyes.

"He failed."

"He was failing."

Liam shifted in his chair and reached for his water.

"The being made it sound less like a formal rejection and more like Felix realized the Trial was going to kill him and refused to continue."

That sounded like Felix.

Arik’s expression hardened.

"He found a way out."

"He found something he could use to get out."

The gold formations along the windows dimmed automatically as the night deepened outside. Deira remained bright below them, transport lines crossing between the suspended districts while distant ether currents moved beneath the city like veins of molten gold.

Liam turned his glass slowly between his hands.

"Felix tried to reproduce what Goliath had done."

Arik went still.

That was not surprising.

Felix had spent decades doing exactly that.

"He thought he understood the process," Liam continued. "Goliath entered the Trial, survived, gained sovereign control, bound himself to the Core, and later managed to arrange his return outside Nuria."

"And Felix wanted the same."

"Yes."

Arik’s mouth flattened.

"He forgot he was not Goliath."

Liam glanced at him.

"That too."

There was something in his tone.

Arik caught it immediately.

"What else?"

Liam leaned back.

"He forgot another variable."

Arik knew before Liam said it.

"Enki."

"Yes."

Silence settled between them.

Liam looked toward their joined hands.

"Goliath didn’t do everything alone."

Arik felt something deeply inconvenient move through the remnants of old memory.

"He had you."

"He had Enki," Liam corrected.

Arik’s grip tightened slightly.

Liam noticed.

"Fine. A previous me."

"Better."

Liam gave him a look but continued.

"Felix studied Goliath as though Goliath were the complete mechanism. He saw the result and assumed every important variable belonged to him."

"He never knew Enki was involved."

"I don’t think he did."

That explained too much.

Felix had followed pieces of research for decades, reproducing fragments without understanding why they worked. He had imitated sovereign ether well enough to fool Nuria’s outer wards. He had obsessed over bloodlines, fertility, and rebirth.

And every time he came close to Goliath’s path, something failed.

Arik looked at Liam.

"Because he was following the work of two people and thought there was only one."

"Essentially."

A cold satisfaction settled through Arik.

"Felix never reached Goliath’s level."

Liam considered the wording.

"No."

Not even close.

Whatever Arik thought of Goliath’s decisions now, and he was accumulating a substantial list of complaints, the man had taken the Trial at twenty-one knowing it might kill him.

He had survived.

He had mastered sovereign ether.

He had ruled Nuria for over a century.

And when death finally came, he had done something ridiculous enough to reach another life beyond the Gate.

But not alone.

Enki had been there.

Felix had spent decades trying to become Goliath while refusing to acknowledge the possibility that Goliath had possessed something Felix never did.

Someone beside him.

Arik looked at Liam again.

Liam had already reclaimed his fork.

"You realize," Arik said, "that this makes Felix’s entire life considerably more pathetic."

Liam chewed thoughtfully.

Then nodded.

"Fair."

Arik smiled.

Liam pointed his fork at him.

"Do not become pleased with yourself. Historically, you still caused half of this."

The smile disappeared.

Liam returned to his dinner.

Arik was beginning to dislike Enki’s excellent taste in men almost as much as he appreciated it.