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"This world breaks what cannot evolve. I've watched queens claw at power, only to be devoured by it. You are the first man I've met who doesn't just demand loyalty – he earns it. By joining you I become yours."
Akayoroi's voice dropped to a whisper, but it trembled not with fear — only the weight of ancient law.
"It is the rule of my kind… of the old carpenter bloodlines," she said, stepping into his shadow now. "When a queen submits to a male Ant, she must offer her purity the same day. If not… she will lose the right to bear any children. Her womb will wither. The pact will decay. It only happened twice in the thousands of years of history of my colony."
She paused, her antennae lowering as though ashamed.
