Chapter 211: I Will Save Your Planet

Kalon untied Daisy carefully and let her arms drop back down onto the bed.

For a while neither of them spoke. Daisy stayed on her back, breathing hard, wrists marked faintly from the straps. Kalon sat beside her and used a cloth from the side table to clean the worst of the mess from her stomach and thighs. She flinched at the first touch, then let him continue.

It was quieter than any of their other meetings.

Daisy eventually turned her head toward him. The pink gems across her scalp had dimmed back to a softer glow. Her pure black eyes looked less sharp than usual.

"Why are you so strong?" she asked, still with a slightly shivering body.

Kalon kept wiping the cloth along her hip while he answered.

"Because I travel."

Daisy frowned slightly. "Travel?"

"Between planets," Kalon said. "That is where my strength comes from. Different worlds bring me different gifts, in a sense."

She studied his face as if checking for a lie.

He did not give her the full truth, and he did not plan to. The system, the seduction stages, the way power came to him through women and quests. None of that left his mouth. Travel was enough of an answer to hold the conversation.

Daisy accepted it slowly.

"So you are actually not from Cupid?"

"No."

"What is your home planet like?"

Kalon thought about London for a second. The high-rise. The arena crowds. The academy he had already left behind... His relationship with Thea.

"It is similar to Cupid in some ways," he said. "It has cities, armies, and beautiful women like yourself. The biggest difference is that everyone has hair." He joked at the end.

Daisy stared at him.

"...Hair?"

"All of us," Kalon said. "On our heads. Some people on their faces too."

For the first time since he had met her, Daisy looked genuinely thrown by something that had nothing to do with combat or domination. Her hand lifted halfway toward her own bare scalp before she stopped herself.

"I wonder what I would look like with hair," she muttered.

Kalon glanced at the smooth pale skin of her head, marked only by the scattered pink gems.

"I will bring you a wig next time."

Daisy’s eyes snapped back to him. "A what?"

"A wig. False hair. People on my planet wear them sometimes." He shrugged once. "If you are curious, you can try it."

A faint colour returned to her cheeks. She looked away toward the sealed window and did not reject the offer.

They stayed like that a little longer. No orders. Daisy asked one or two more quiet questions about Earth cities, and Kalon answered without giving away anything dangerous.

When her breathing had fully settled, he finally stood and began putting his clothes back on.

"Y-you are leaving already?" Daisy asked.

"Yes, I have to."

She did not ask him to stay. She also did not look pleased that he was going. Kalon took that as progress enough for one night.

"I will return. If not tomorrow, then sometime in the next few days." he said.

Daisy nodded once against the pillow, still naked, and watched him until the transfer pulled him off Cupid.

...

Earth was only a short stop.

Kalon landed back in his high-rise long enough to wash, change, and confirm he still had travel allowance left. Then he focused on Delphinium.

[Initiating Travel Sequence...]

[Adapting body to suit conditions...]

[...]

[You have arrived!]

[Welcome to Delphinium!]

Wind hit him immediately.

He appeared near the outer approach to Seraphina’s sky-chamber platform. The floating islands stretched out in pale layers beneath the blue sky.

In the distance, one smaller island still showed the same cracked edge he had noticed before, shedding dust into open air.

Seraphina was not on the bed this time.

She stood near the open arch in a formal robe of white and gold, giant wings folded neatly behind her, silver-white hair tied back from her face. The moment she saw him, her storm-grey eyes widened.

"You returned."

"I did." Kalon smiled.

Seraphina took one step toward him, then stopped herself, clearly forcing composure back into place. After their last meeting, that was understandable. She had been naked, freshly finished, and half-convinced he had been sent by Goddess Nut. None of that sat easily on a queen.

Kalon did not waste time.

"I have decided to help your planet."

Seraphina stared at him.

For a second she did not react at all. Then the meaning of his words hit her.

"You... what?"

"The collapsing islands," Kalon said. "I am going to stabilise them."

Seraphina’s wings shifted hard behind her. Ecstatic hope shot through her expression so fast she almost could not contain it. Then disbelief followed immediately after, tangled up with it.

"You are serious."

"Yes."

"You can stop the collapses."

"Yes."

Seraphina’s hands curled at her sides. "Do you understand what you are saying? Whole districts are preparing for permanent freefall. Court factions are already using the failures for politics. If you make a promise like this and fail—"

"I will not fail."

She searched his face like she wanted to believe him and hated how much she already did.

"A-are you certain about this?"

The fact she kept asking showed how worried she was to put her faith into a false hope.

Kalon met her eyes directly.

"If you do not believe me, take me to the nearest island that needs saving."

Seraphina went still.

The challenge left her with no reason to hesitate.

Her decision took less than five seconds.

"Follow me."

She moved to the open edge of the platform and spread her giant white wings. The feathers caught the high wind at once.

Seraphina looked back over her shoulder at Kalon, still half in disbelief, still fighting the hope in her own expression.

"Hold on to my body... We will need to fly."

Kalon stepped in behind her and secured his grip around her shoulders as she launched from the platform.

Seraphina’s wings beat hard and carried them out over open sky.