Chapter 90

Chapter 90: Chapter 90

Chapter 90

I woke up to a familiar warmth. Kai wrapped me in his embrace, his linen shirt having glued itself lightly to my cheek.

My eyes opened slowly to a dimly lit room. Our room. The duvet felt softer than I remembered when Kai was not here.

"You slept like a baby," he said. The rumble of his chest reverberated against the side of my face as I rested on him, his steady heartbeat grounding me.

"I’m a baby," I stirred, stealing a glance at him. "Your baby."

"Yes, you are," he finalized.

Silence wafted in, and we let it settle between us.

I took the chance to think about what had happened earlier. Though the interior design still carried its familiar beauty, I could not say the same for the outside world.

"Do you think the others would see me as a monster?"

"No," his response came too quickly.

I pressed on.

"They say the things I did. I didn’t even know I could do that. I didn’t even know I got lost inside myself."

"Do you remember what happened?" he asked, his neck angled so he could catch my expression from the corner of his eye.

"I had a vision," I began.

Kai went quiet, and I took my time.

"There is something I forgot to tell you. Something incredibly important."

"Important, you say?"

I cleared my throat. He was not pleased with me wrapping truth in hesitation, especially when it was something I should have said already.

"I’m sorry, I did not think it was until now," I admitted, then continued. "There are two types of Aetherblood. I can either be a Death-bringer Aetherblood or a Peace-bearer Aetherblood. As the name implies, one destroys and the other heals the world."

I pressed my hand lightly against the middle of his chest, using his bone structure as a support as I lifted my head slightly.

"So, as I see it, Nathan is the Death-bringer, and you are the Peace-bearer?" he questioned, while I pulled a pillow from the side to rest my head.

I lay on my side facing him while he remained flat on his back, one hand behind his head and the other resting on his stomach. One leg crossed loosely over the other, his long frame taking up the edge of the monochrome bed.

"What I did back at the outdoor training ground... does that look like I am a Peace-bearer Aetherblood?" I asked. Kai pressed his lips into a thin line.

"Nathan merely stole a portion of the power. His anger and familiarity with it are what made him strong and manipulative, a dangerous enemy to our cause. Even if nature itself sided with us and we won, if I ever regain the full range of Aetherblood, do you think I would not become a destroyer too?"

"In one of the books I read in MoonBlade, there is a saying," I paused because Kai reached for me, but I recoiled. I needed to finish. "When there is light, there is darkness. Darkness exists because light was there first."

"But in the absence of light, there is only darkness," Kai countered.

"It is the true owner of the space. The first birth. Before there was light, there was only darkness."

"But we cannot allow that," he said.

I leaned closer.

"Listen. Darkness is only a threat when there is light. In its absence, there is nothing but absence. Nothingness." I searched for words to complete the thought. "A void. That is all it is."

"So what are you saying?"

Kai’s brows tightened, waiting.

I had not understood it fully myself until the vision came. And while I could not tell him what I had seen of the future, or what it meant for us, I could at least try to protect what remained.

"I should not have accepted this power in the first place. The blood of Aetherblood is a curse, and it runs through me."

My true purpose, and Nathan’s greatest manipulation, had been my curiosity about my origins. I had never meant to accept the bloodline that came with it.

"I used to be just an Omega, and I loved that," my gaze drifted to Kai as I steadied myself against the sting behind my eyes. The chandelier above us felt distant and blurred, like light trapped behind water.

"You loved me for who I used to be, but ever since this discovery, we have not had peace. Both sides of what I could become are two sides of the same coin. The possibility is uncontrollable, and I will not risk it for you or our children. I do not ever want to use this power again. I want it gone. Help me, Kai. Help me get rid of it. You saw what I did earlier. I was no better than Nathan."

Kai gripped my arm. His hold was firm, almost painful. His blue eyes burned into mine, carrying a storm of emotion I could not fully name.

"You are not mad, and you are not to be compared with that bastard. You are Alex, and you make yourself who you are. Nothing has ever defeated you."

"I can barely take twenty steps without breathing like I ran a war," I snorted.

I had no idea why the joke on emphasizing defeat by pregnancy came out then.

"Well, that aside," Kai let a faint grin appear before seriousness returned. "This power does not control you. I am serious."

"If you had not called me back, I would have..."

"A possibility is just a chance," he cut in, firmer now. "Please, Alex. You blame yourself too much, and it hurts you more than it heals you. You did the same with your parents, and now you are doing it again."

"The conflict within the throne was not your fault. Your power had nothing to do with the House of Steele building armies or stealing armories. It had nothing to do with Leo working with Nathan and being betrayed in the end. It had nothing to do with ex-Count Barry’s death. You have to understand that things happen, and it is not always your fault. And even if it were, there is something called destiny, and that thing always plays dirty."

He had barely finished when I latched onto him.

My stomach pressed against his as I pulled him upright, my arms wrapping around his neck. The kiss did not break.

While I ran my fingers through his hair, his hands slid down my back and gripped my ass through my shorts. The roughness of his palms told of a man shaped by war, yet the warmth made my body melt.

His chest pressed into me, and the friction of him against me made my thoughts scatter.

"Uh, what is this for?" he asked, his expression almost innocent, which only made it worse.

"You look more like a pornstar than a philosopher," I replied, and he chuckled.

His fingers found me first, teasing the rim and dragging my slick before pressing back at the entrance. At the same time, my hand wrapped around him, stroking slowly.

I used his precum to coat his tip, making him jolt under my touch as I guided him closer, my breath breaking as the tension built between us.

"Mm," the sound slipped from me, soft and uneven.

I shifted fully, sliding my shorts aside along with my underwear, and did the same for him. Once I had positioned myself over him, I lowered myself onto his cock.

It stretched me with a sharp pressure at first, and I paused, breathing through it before sinking down properly.

"Oh, God..." I murmured.

Kai pulled me closer, his arms locking around me as we moved together in a slow, heated rhythm. The motion was deep and steady, careful in a way that still made everything inside me tighten and melt at once.

My body reacted to him in waves, each movement pulling sharper breath from me as the heat built.

Kai turned us over into a missionary position, lowering me carefully while he lifted my leg. My foot rested against his ribs as his dick thrusted in and out with controlled restraint.

His skin met mine with soft, rhythmic contact that grew heavier with each thrust. The pressure built until my body trembled, my breath breaking as I neared release.

My walls clenched around him, pulling him deeper until he stilled with a sharp breath, his body shaking as he came inside me.

He collapsed beside me after a moment, pulling me into him.

"That was short but crazy," he said.

"We needed that," I replied.

The rest of the night passed with Kai and me talking, our voices softer now, as though nothing had interrupted us at all.

That night, I dreamed again. It circled back to the vision I had seen earlier, leaving me with a single question that would not leave my mind:

How had Nathan been able to enter my mind and make me witness the future... if it was even the future at all?