Page 174 of Reaper Said Mine

“You think anyone will care if you were defending yourself? It will be remembered as an assassination. And you escalated to violence first, even if you eventually stayed your hand.”

“General,” Wilcox warns.

“No, he’s done it now,” Gobold says, voice rising. “Every Alliance hardliner will call this proof. Every Coalition minister will call it instability. Helios will scream murder from every exchange floor in the human sphere.”

Theryki’s golden eyes cut toward me. “The Coalition suspends negotiation participation pending formal review.”

Vakka bares her teeth. “Run, then.”

“Vakka,” Skahar says.

Theryki does not look at Vakka. She looks at Ursa. “Ms. Ramone, I hope you understand what he has done to your credibility.”

Ursa’s face is pale, but her spine is straight. “I understand what all of you are about to do with it.”

Theryki’s smile is glacial. “Then you understand more than he does.”

I look at Ursa. I cannot read what I see.

Shock, yes. Fear, yes. Grief, anger, heartbreak, all of it moving across her face too fast for the bond to translate cleanly. She warned me. She begged me without begging. She told me not to become the proof. And I did it anyway.

Because I could not bear one more powerful man threatening to turn her life into arithmetic.

Because I am still the creature Zune named.

Because consequence has consequences too.

“Ursa,” I say.

She looks at the body, then at my bloody hand, then back at my face. Her eyes shine, but no tears fall.

“Not here,” she says quietly.

The words cut worse than accusation.

The chamber doors open again as more security floods in. Alarms begin pulsing through the station, low at first, then louder. Diplomatic emergency protocols. Docking holds. Communications surges. Every channel on Guyver Station starts screaming at once.

Vakka grabs her comm. “Seal guest decks. No delegation leaves without clearance. I want weapons locked, corridors controlled, and every broadcast delay checked for tampering.”

Gobold barks at his officers, “Alliance personnel to defensive posture.”

Wilcox whirls on him. “Do not escalate inside this chamber.”

“Escalate? He murdered Zune!”

“And if you draw on Reaper security right now, this room becomes the first battlefield.”

Theryki turns to her aides. “Prepare formal transmission. Coalition delegation withdraws from active negotiation. Cite lethal instability, command failure, and unlawful killing of a commercial representative during protected talks.”

“He threatened her,” I say.

Theryki looks at me with something like pity, which makes me want to tear the expression from her face. “And you handed him the ending he wanted.”

Skahar reaches my side. His voice is low enough that only I hear. “You fool.”

I look at him.

There is no mockery in his face now. Only grief.