Page 139 of GlitchBorn Heart

I force a nod, swallowing the firestorm in my mind. “Fine. Just thinking. Understanding.”

Her eyes meet mine, steady and intentional. “He’s not what you think.”

Inside, I’m anything but fine. Kael has been living a double life, one foot in Vikktor’s empire, the other feeding anomalies into Jett’s shadow rebellion. He’s been playing both sides, risking everything, trying to save me and my brother, and somehow keeping me in the dark.

I don’t know whether to feel relief or betrayal. Maybe both.

No, Lyra. He told you last night. He’s protecting you. Bearing the weight of all this so you don’t have to. Keeping you safe in case it all goes wrong and something happens to him.

The thought of Kael not existing in my life threatens to expel the whiskey sitting in my stomach from last night. I smile back at Ember, hiding the quake in my digital gut. For now, I’ll keep this to myself. But tonight, when Kael looks at me with those dark, tortured eyes, I’ll know there’s more to him than he’s ever let me see.

He can’t escape my questions forever.

And suddenly, after everything that happened last night, the closeness we shared, the trust we built, it feels fragile.

I didn’t allow myself to care what he was feeling, didn’t ever ask him how he felt. I just kept demanding more. Rescue Eli, save me, do this, do that, U21 good, Corporation bad.

How could I have been so selfish? I feel like I don’t know who Kael is at all, and it’s entirely my fault.

And through it all, he still stood by me, not as the villain I feared, but as the hero I needed. Vowing to be my dark knight in shining armor, willing to destroy the world quietly behind the scenes. I know why he did it; the truth breaks open inside me.

He did it so I wouldn’t have to stand alone as a single source of light swallowed by the pitch black. Self-sacrifice.

My brilliant, logical, data-driven architect would explain it very plainly if he were standing before me:

Love is just a simple equation of subtraction; I am willing to become nothing if it ensures you remain whole.

53

ForcedEntry

Playlist: Dethrone - Bad Omens

Lyra

“Taiyō!” Kael’s voice cuts across the lab, quiet but firm. I jump. Did he hear Ember and I talking? Does he know she “accidentally” left that file open?

He’s still not looking at me. His attention is glued to code scrolling down his LINKpad. “I’ve got a lot of work to do today. I need you on the holo-platform. We’re going to try reconnecting you now that you’re rested.”

I glance at Ember. Her eyes flick from me to Kael and back, an unspoken empathy in them. She leans in just enough for her voice to reach only me. “Good luck!” she whispers. “He looks like he’s wound pretty tight.”

I swallow, glancing at the holo-pad. It’s ringed with soft blue light, humming faintly like it’s breathing. My pulse picks up. Sleeping in his arms last night had been freeing; stepping back onto that platform feels like putting myself back in jail.

And now with the information I just saw? I don’t want to go back in. I want to stay with him, wrapped in his strong arms every night.

Still, I step toward it. “All right,” I say, louder now, for Kael, “let’s see if this works.” I step on the holo-platform, each ring of light humming louder as if it senses me. It’s like standing on the edge of a cliff. I don’t want to fall, but I have to.

He glances up from his console, fingers hovering. For a second, the corporate facade slips and the man who spent all night holding me peeks out from behind the code. I can see him sigh with the weight of the world. He doesn’t want to do this either.

I can’t stop staring at him, my heart bleeding.

“You okay?” His beautiful dark eyes threaten to drown me in them. I nod.

“I think I know what happened. I’ve corrected LINK’s code, and she shouldn’t be able to lock you out again.” He’s so calm. “Concentrate, look for the threads of code, engage your magic,” he commands. “You’re safe. Ember spent all night rebuilding every line of security to help us.”

I look to Ember. “You did?” She nods, encouraging me to move forward. I step a foot on the pad. It’s warm, and I hate it, and I don’t want to do this yet.

“You rebuilt it,” I echo, looking at her. “Kael, you’re sure?” My eyes turn to him for reassurance. LINK terrifies me. on any given day, she could decide to delete me before Kael would even know I was gone.