It's a Seeker's Game

It took the brute a moment to think of his reply to her question, his eyes locked with hers and the softness there, just for him. But how to answer? Had he ever allotted himself the time to think about himself as an individual? More than a Saxe cog in the machine? Was there such a thing? He wanted to laugh, torn between the thought and the loyalty to his kin. Caedes' brows furrowed slowly as he began to speak. "I’ve never given it much thought." He muttered, honestly trying to contemplate what the question meant to him. He wanted strength, he wanted to be of use, but what did he deserve? The answer was lost to him.

As Mariah thanked him for his honesty, Caedes felt a shift in their relationship. It was fragile trust, born from shared vulnerability, yet it held the promise of something more. Her touch ignited a fire within him, a primal urge to claim her as his own. Yet he held himself back, allowing her the space to explore the depths of their newborn connection on her own terms. He was silent as she studied him, speaking of him as a mystery. He would have wagered she was the greater mystery, but remained still and quiet – willing her to continue looking at him with those enchanting eyes.

Not the soulmate part, but the pilgrimage was familiar to him. He supposed he was on one right this moment, here only to lend his strength to his cousin and fall in line with his hedonistic kin under the new Sultan. But, now there was Mariah. A rogue variable disrupting the cogs of his mechanical existence. Thrillingly, he might add. The notion of a soulmated pair, as Mariah called it, intrigued him. Something stirred within him that he couldn't quite name, too. "Soulmates." He repeated, voice falling in deep, intimate rumbles. But there was something else in his tone, something jealous and possessive. Was this her way of telling him there would come a time that she would find that soulmate of hers and abandon him? “You consider me an… 'exception'?” His gaze lit up with predatory intent, focusing solely on her face. He hardly registered the alternative possibility as he wrestled with his envy.