Aether's Obsession
Mara’s holographic projection flickered to life in the central chamber, her face drawn and shadowed, eyes hollow from nights without sleep, dark circles etched like bruises under her gaze.
She stood in the citadel's research wing, consoles humming behind her like anxious sentinels, red warning lights pulsing faintly in the background. Vaelor and Lirian sat at the low wooden table, the prince's massive frame folded with deliberate calm, his tail curled loosely around Lirian's ankle in a possessive, fluffy anchor. Lirian's ash-blond hair fell loose over his shoulders, his hazel eyes fixed on the hologram with an intensity that mirrored the bond's golden hum between them, his fingers drumming n