The Sun Palace's private dining room was intimate and serene.
Glass walls curved around them, revealing a garden where golden lotus blossoms drifted lazily from ancient trees, their petals catching sunlight like coins spinning through the air.
A small fountain trickled nearby, its soft sound filtering through the open panels.
The dining table, carved from pale wood, sat modest between them—close enough for conversation, far enough for comfort. Sunlight poured through the transparent ceiling, warm and gentle.
Hyrin drummed his fingers on the table, waiting. Aurex poured himself wine, the liquid catching the light as servants finally entered carrying trays.
"The palace's finest selections, your high-current." A servant bowed low, presenting glazed fruits arranged like flowers, delicate rice cakes studded with crystallized ginger, steamed jasmine rice wrapped in lotus leaves, and sweet pastries dripping with honey.
Hyrin stared at the spread. His mismatched eyes—one green, one grey—narrowed dangerously.
"What is this?" His voice cut through the peaceful atmosphere.
The servant smiled nervously. "Honeyed peaches, jasmine rice cakes with—"
"I don't eat junk!" Hyrin slammed his palm on the table, making the dishes rattle violently.
"Do I look like someone who survives on sweets and rice? This is the Sun Palace, not a tea house for delicate nobles!"
He leaned forward, his heterochromatic gaze blazing. "Bring me real food. Meat or fish. Now!"
The servants scrambled backward, bowing frantically before fleeing with their rejected trays.
Aurex sipped his wine, utterly unbothered by the outburst.
"You could be less dramatic," Aurex said mildly.
"I could," Hyrin agreed.
Minutes later, the servants returned, this time bearing proper offerings. Venison seasoned with wild herbs, its aroma rich and gamey, filled the room.
Grilled salmon with crackling skin glistened with oil. Braised lamb fell off the bone in tender chunks. Roasted pheasant, golden and crisp, completed the spread.
"Finally," Hyrin muttered, immediately grabbing the pheasant and tearing into it like he'd been starved for days. He ripped meat from bone with his teeth, completely absorbed.
Aurex poured himself another glass of wine, watching Hyrin devour his meal with the manners of a feral cat. He set the bottle down carefully. "Slow down. The food won't go anywhere."
Hyrin stopped mid-bite. His heterochromatic eyes lifted, locking onto Aurex with unnerving intensity.
He chewed slowly, deliberately, then swallowed. "I eat at my own pace. If you wanted a dinner companion with table manners, you invited the wrong deity. You should have invited Dew instead and had a tea party."
Aurex's lips curved into a smirk. "Well, being a deity is pretty boring, don't you think?"
Hyrin raised a brow, then bit into his meat again. His expression alone answered the question before he spoke. "Not for me. I enjoy punching criminals. That's a plus."
"I have a secret problem," Aurex continued, swirling his wine. "You're the only friend I can confide in."
Hyrin looked at him flatly. "Since when are we friends?"
Aurex shrugged. "We've been friends since forever. Anyway, I need help. A lot of it. I'm stuck. Soul-bonded to some female."
Hyrin's hand froze halfway to his mouth.
He swallowed hard, then burst into laughter that shattered the room's tranquility. "You're WHAT?"
He slammed his palm on the table, making wine slosh in Aurex's glass.
"I knew you had a weakness! Now all I have to do is find that woman and kill her, which means you're also dead! Boom! Just like that, I become deity of two realms. World record broken!"
His laughter turned wild, echoing off the glass walls as golden lotus petals drifted past outside.
Aurex rolled his eyes. "I know you talk, but you don't mean what you say. You're just an idiot who happens to have a vicious mouth and a sweet heart."
Hyrin's laughter cut off abruptly. He returned to his meal as if nothing had happened. "So what help do you need?" His tone shifted to deadly serious.
"Is there a way to break a soul bond?" Aurex sipped his wine, then set the glass down carefully.
The two deities stared at each other across the table. One waited. The other thought. Then Hyrin leaned forward like he was about to share something profound. "Bro, are you an idiot?"
Aurex's brows furrowed.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Hyrin gestured wildly with a lamb bone. "Is your brain still in meditation? Did forty years of meditating wipe it clean? I know nothing about logical things. I'm illiterate as hell. Yes, I can read and write, but I haven't exactly dived into scholarly reading. Questions like that are supposed to be asked to experts. Like Dusk. Not me."
Aurex pressed his palm to his face. "You're useless."
Hyrin smiled sheepishly. "So where's the girl? I want to get down to business."
Aurex studied him. "You know what you said actually sounds like you want to fuck her instead of killing her."
Hyrin's face twisted in disgust. "Fuck! God, I hate women. Those manipulative, seductive, gross creatures. Besides, if I'm fucking someone, it'll be because I want to mate that person. We cats aren't like you dogs."
Aurex paused, wine bottle tilted over his glass. "What do you mean?"
"Dogs can fuck around with anyone, then mate later. After mating, they're faithful. But without mating, they bounce between different women or men, depending on preference. Why are you asking me? I'm not a dog. You should know this."
"I hate your implication about my canidae family, Hyrin."
"Yeah, right. Someone wants to pretend holy since he's been abstaining from sex for forty years because of meditation. You've been in celibacy not by choice but by circumstance." Hyrin pounded the table, laughing again.
Aurex bit his lip, visibly considering whether to let him finish dinner or throw him out.
"Well, I'm better than someone women run away from because his face looks like he's about to murder them when they as much as smile wrongly at you."
Hyrin stopped laughing abruptly.
"Right now, I don't want to mate anyone. I don't want responsibility. Mating is a headache."
Silence settled between them as they ate. Then Hyrin spoke casually, "You know, if you actually find a mate, that's one way of breaking a soul bond that isn't related to you and your bonded partner."
Aurex set down his fork. "Why tell me now? I thought you said you're illiterate."
Hyrin shrugged, tearing into more venison. "I wanted to kill her. That would eliminate you. But then I thought, why go so low to kill someone weak? I'm a deity. I should fight on righteous terms and kill you with my own hands."
"Am I the only deity you want to kill?" Aurex asked, smirking.
"No. I want all of you dead." He said it like discussing the weather.
"You're sure there's no other way to break the soul bond? I don't feel like I want a mate. Not yet, anyway."
Hyrin smirked knowingly. "That's because you want to enjoy other women before you finally decide to settle, huh?"
Aurex glared. "Just give me another way."
Hyrin shrugged. "If you insist, your radiance—the second way is to kill her yourself. Willingly. You'd need to use a sacred artifact, specifically the Tidebreaker Dagger, forged from deep-sea volcanic glass and blessed by ocean deities."
He paused, picking up a thick piece of lamb still clinging to the bone. He bit down hard, his sharp canines sinking into the tender meat as juices dripped down his chin.
He tore the flesh away with a violent jerk of his head, chewing slowly, savoring it before swallowing with obvious satisfaction.
"This method cripples you in the process," he continued, licking his fingers. "You'll lose the ability to feel intimate pleasure. Your body will function, but you'll never feel satisfaction, never feel connection, never feel release. It strips that capacity from your soul permanently."
Aurex's nostrils flared. "Damn it! I want to kill those elders! Now because of the incomplete essence transfer, they just added more trouble to my table. I can't do the second one. It's bad. Really bad in two ways. One, I hate Dew. He's not my friend—"
"I'm not your friend either," Hyrin interrupted.
Aurex paid him no attention, "—and he's the one in possession of that fucking dagger. And I don't want to lose my intimate capabilities for eternity."
Hyrin laughed, nearly choking on his wine. "Looks like they put you between a rock and your own cock. Either mate someone or become a eunuch deity. What a legendary choice!"