For a heartbeat I simply stare at the notification, unable to make sense of it. Then every decision I’d made over the last hour crashes together.
Father knew I’d follow the evidence.
He knew I’d leave Miro behind because I’d convinced myself there wasn’t a safer place for her than my own quarters.
The junction node was never the trap. I was.
“Miro.”
Her name tears from my throat as I run, every instinct screaming the same truth.
I wasn’t protecting her.
I’d delivered her.
Chapter Sixteen
MIRO
The lock seals behind him with a soft hiss and I’m off the bed, Percy in my hand. I don’t stop to think about my twisting stomach, or how cold I am now he’s not here.
He’s not a good male. He hasn’t pretended to be, and yet he’s gentle. Caring. There’s a side to him I don’t think he knew was there.
He only shows that to me. The part of him no one sees is mine. A gift.
And yet…and yet, I still layer my own lock code over his, standing close enough to the panel that my breath fogs the screen, Percy running the authentication loop while I set the parameters. My fingers are steady, which surprises me, because I’m anything but steady under my skin.
Finishing the sequence, I press my forehead to the threshold, just for a second. The metal is cool against my heated skin, and I feel a little calmer.
Trusting Zavin. The thought almost pulls an unbelieving laugh from me. I trust a crime lord. It’s his House that I don’t trust.
Am I here because I have to be… or because I want to be? The answer tears me in half. Good arguments for both.
My thoughts drift back to the moment before he left. The way he looked at me after saying he’d recover the node. The strange softness that settled over his face, as though he’d already made a decision he hasn’t shared yet.
Something I’d rather tell you when this is over.
What did he mean by that?
At the time I was too distracted by everything I’d seen on the security feed, too tangled up in my own fear to ask another question. Now I can’t stop wondering whether he was about to make me a promise, ask me to stay, or tell me something that would have changed everything between us. I let him walk out the door carrying words I may never hear.
Pacing the room, rubbing my palms over my arms as though I can shake off the heaviness clinging to me. It doesn’t work. All I can do is cling to the one certainty I have. He took Resh with him. He won’t be facing Kazren alone. He’ll come back, and when he does, I’ll make him tell me what he’d been about to say.
The rest can wait.
A soft chime sounds from the entrance. Zavin must have forgotten something.
I hurry across the chamber, quickly disengaging the extra lock I’ve added. The last thing I need is for him to realize I reinforced his security. My fingers brush the control panel and the door slides open.
Three males stand on the other side.
The one in front is built like a wall, his grey uniform stretched across shoulders broad enough to block the doorway on their own. Lord Sethrak’s silver sigil sits at his throat.
No.
No, no, no.
I stumble back. It’s a stupid move because they step across the threshold, the two fanning out behind the monolithic male, and now I’ve trapped myself in a chamber with three large predators. The door slides shut with a quiet hiss behind them.
