Chapter 242 | Selene Bloodline Awakening

Dexter knew he was in trouble.

If he did not distract himself immediately, he was going to lose control. The warm, glowing skin under his hands was sending signals to his brain that his meditation techniques could barely filter out. If he did not engage his mind with something complex, something analytical, he would be consumed by the heat building in his chest.

He needed a distraction.

"Selene," Dexter said suddenly, his voice a bit too loud in the quiet room. "I want to ask you a question."

Selene was silent for a moment. The only sound was the soft hum of the Shockwave Glove against her skin. "Okay."

Dexter kept his hands moving along her shoulders, forcing his brain to focus on strategy. "Is this house okay for you? Or do you think we should get a different one? Somewhere else?"

Selene did not answer right away. He felt her shift slightly under his hands, her head tilting as she considered the question.

"Although this house is decent and the neighborhood is quiet, our families know exactly where we are staying. The Calloway family, the Vance family, the Frost family, and the Ashford family. They all know our exact location. We are at a disadvantage here. We are at their mercy."

She paused.

"Even though you have the deed to the house, it does not matter to the top three families. They can do whatever they wish to this place. They can send whoever they want. It is practical that we change locations immediately, so we are not at their mercy."

Dexter remained silent.

Her thoughts mirrored his own exactly. That was the exact reason he had gone to Harvest Homes. But then he remembered what had happened there. He had been scammed out of one million credits because the Ashford family controlled the city. They had put a word out, and the agency had robbed him.

He realized then that he could not just buy a new house under his own name. The Ashford family controlled Stargate City. If he tried to purchase property anywhere, they would know. They would interfere. The only way to get a new house was to use someone else’s name. Someone unconnected to him. But even that was a gamble.

As he thought about this, his eyes drifted down. The smooth, milky white skin of Selene’s back entered his vision. The information traveled straight to his brain, wiping out his strategic thoughts completely. His body grew hot. The heat rushed up his neck and threatened to flush his face again.

He immediately fled from that train of thought. He needed another topic. Something complex. Something that would force his brain to work overtime and ignore the beautiful woman lying half-naked on his bed.

"Did you dream?" Dexter asked suddenly.

Selene turned her head slightly toward him. "Did I dream about what?"

"Flying," Dexter said. He kept his hands moving down her spine. "Do you dream about flying? Or something else?"

Selene was quiet. "No, not really. Why do you ask?"

Dexter frowned.

Mira had dreamed about flying. She dreamed about wings ripping out of her back. He had assumed that the bloodline awakening would manifest as wings for all three girls. But Selene was saying she didn’t dream about flying.

That meant two things. Either Selene’s bloodline was not manifesting yet, or the bloodline she was awakening did not involve wings. Each of them might get a different bloodline.

Dexter shook his head. "Nothing. Don’t worry about it."

"But I dreamt about something else," Selene said suddenly.

Dexter’s interest peaked. The strategic part of his brain engaged again, fighting back the biological distractions. "What did you dream about?"

"It isn’t about flying," Selene said. "It’s about control. No, not control." She paused, searching for the right word. "I dreamt that I could see."

Dexter’s hands stopped on her lower back. The hum of the glove continued, but his hands were frozen. "You dreamt you could see?"

"Yes," Selene said. Her voice was soft, carrying a weight of wonder and sadness. "The dream was very vivid. I dreamt I could see almost everybody in the world. Even those hidden in different dimensions. Even those hidden across the entire earth. I felt like a god staring down at everybody."

Dexter stared at the back of her head. His mind was racing. Seeing everyone. Hidden dimensions. God-like perception.

"Of course, even if the dream was realistic, I know it was just a dream," Selene added quietly.

Dexter did not respond.

His mind was no longer on the massage. It was no longer on her skin. It was on her face. He was looking at her face, or rather, the side of her face as she lay turned away from him. And suddenly, he noticed something he had noticed before but had dismissed.

Three distinct marks on her face.

They were very faded. So faded that he had thought it was an illusion the first time he saw them. But now, with the morning light hitting her face at the right angle, he could see them clearly.

One mark was on her forehead. Right in the center. Perfectly horizontal.

Another mark was underneath her left eye. A thin, curved line.

And the third mark was underneath her right eye. Identical to the left.

Three marks. Like closed eyes.

His brain connected the marks to her dream. Mira’s marks were on her shoulder blades. They were ten inches long and looked like scars from wings trying to rip through. They matched her dream of flying like a phoenix.

Selene’s marks were on her face. On her forehead and under her eyes. They matched her dream of seeing like a god.

The bloodline was manifesting differently for each of them.

Mira was getting wings. A Phoenix bloodline.

Selene was getting eyes. A Clairvoyance bloodline. Or something similar. A bloodline of sight.

The irony was not lost on Dexter. Selene was blind. She had been blind for three years. And the bloodline she was awakening was giving her marks around her eyes. A bloodline of vision for a woman who could not see.

Selene was becoming something else.

Something with eyes.

What was Lyra becoming?

The thought brought him back to Aurelyx. The Shadow Queen.

If Mira was getting wings, and Selene was getting eyes, what was Lyra getting? And more importantly, what was Aurelyx getting?

The Avatar Fruit sat in his spatial storage. Waiting. The potential solution to a problem that was growing more complex by the day.