Commander Thanek’s waiting.
Half-Alzhon, half-machine, and all bastard, he lounges in a dented chair like he owns the air in the room. His left eye glows cobalt. The right one is sharper—red, metallic, cruel.
“Well, well,” he drawls. “Valtron. Still dragging strays behind you like bad habits?”
Valtron steps between us so fast I almost don’t see it.
“She’s not a stray.”
Thanek grins, flashing a gold tooth. “She’s human. Squishy. Fragile.”
“She’s smarter than anyone you’ve ever worked with.”
“Smarter than you?”
Valtron’s smile is sharp. “Definitely.”
Thanek chuckles, but there’s no warmth in it. “Dowron’s not gonna like this mess. You bringing a civilian into the snake pit?”
“She brought herself.”
“She always talk this much?”
I answer for myself. “Only when I’m around idiots.”
Thanek raises a brow. “Feisty.”
Valtron’s body shifts, the slightest twitch. Thanek catches it. Grins wider. “Ohhh. That kind of situation.”
Valtron doesn’t deny it.
After Thanek disappears behind a bulkhead, probably to trade classified info for booze or stim injectors, I round on Valtron.
“You want to tell me what that was about?”
He sighs, rakes a hand through his hair. “He’s a contact. Nothing more.”
“You used me as leverage.”
“No. I used your intelligence as leverage.”
“Bullshit.”
He steps back. “Rhea?—”
“No!” My voice cracks, but I let it. “Every time I ask for answers, you clam up like it’s for my own good. You keep saying it’s to protect me, but you don’t get to make that call. I’m not your pet. I’m not your damsel. I’ve been running, bleeding, scared, and furious for days—and I’m still standing. So stop acting like your pain is more important than mine!”
His jaw locks.
“I know what you’ve lost,” I say, quieter now. “I know what they took from you. But they took from me too. Don’t you dare look at me like I’m breakable just because I don’t have scales and military clearance.”
The silence after that is suffocating.
Valtron moves like he’s going to argue—but then he stops. And instead, he reaches into his coat and pulls out a chip. Thin, black, no markings.
“What’s that?” I ask warily.
“Decryption key.”
