"I can do things normal humans cannot do," Cassian replied.
His gaze moved from her eyes to the mark on her neck. He looked at it the way one looks at something they have created and are satisfied with.
"That mark signifies that you belong to me." His voice carried no possessiveness, no arrogance. Only fact. "It manifested because you chose to be mine, just as I have chosen you."
Cixi's tears, which had been gathering since Cassian decided to annoy her, stopped. She looked at Cassian carefully, studying his face the way she studied difficult equations, searching for the meaning behind his words, beneath his words, in the spaces between them where the truth usually hid.
"Are you saying you are not human?" The question left her mouth quiet and clear.
