Her expression shifted.
“You’re very gracious for a guy with experimental hardware in his neck and zero memory of how it got there.”
I wrote again:
Have you.
She stared at those two words.
“Xavier...”
I squeezed her fingers. Pulled them to my chest, over my heart where it hammered steady and strong.
Truth. Simple truth.
I had her. She was here, fighting beside me, refusing to give up even when every lead turned to ash.
That was worth more than answers.
She swallowed hard. “We’ll keep trying. Something else. Another way.”
Neither of us believed it. But we needed to say it anyway.
I brought her knuckles to my lips. Pressed them there, feeling her pulse flutter against my mouth.
Her breath caught. Audible. She went very still.
Our faces too close. Her golden-brown eyes wide, locked on mine.
For three heartbeats, neither of us moved.
Then she cleared her throat. Looked away.
“Right. So. Um.” She pulled her hand back gently. “Food. You should eat more.”
I let her go. For now.
The laptop notification dinged.
Single chime. Ordinary sound.
But Clare froze.
Her finger hovered over the trackpad. “That’s not the forum. Email.”
She clicked.
Email client opened. Inbox loaded. New message sat at the top, sender field displaying a string of random characters that meant nothing and everything.
Subject line: “You need to stop, idiots.”
My grip tightened on her leg.
Clare swallowed. “Should I...?”
I nodded once.
She clicked.
