Zafyra stayed silent for a while, thinking the question through. Her tongue touched the inside of her cheek. She lifted her hands to study her fingers before glancing back up at me.
“Better,” she said after a pause. “Not fully back to myself yet.”
“It may take a while. You’ve suffered serious damage to your circuits – it may take a few days to weeks for the neural pathways to recover fully. You’re not going to like this, but the more you rest, the faster you’ll recover.” Raphael crossed his arms as he stood. “Now, I’ll have you know I interrupted my seminar for this, just as we were getting to the point of how to get rich with crypto – so surely, you’ll understand you have to do a lot to make it up to me.”
“Wait, your seminar was aboutthat?” Joey groaned, closing his eyes for a moment. “Raph, no one gets rich with crypto anymore – that bubble has burst decades ago. I understand you’re new to this world, but please, don’t become a cowboy.”
“Oh.” Raphael frowned like a kid whose favorite toy was broken. For lack of a better answer, he sank down into the comfortable chair beside Joey.
“Now what the fuck were you thinking?” Now that my concerns had eased, flaming anger replaced them. “Going in there on your own to steal those beans – without as much as consulting with us? Why the fuck would you do such a thing?”
Even Joey and Raphael seemed shocked by my outburst, but I ignored their frowns as my eyes narrowed at Zafyra.
She blinked slowly, confusion crossing her face. “We needed those beans to project our simulation onto, didn’t we? Or did one of you have a better idea? Because it sure didn’t seem like it.”
Joey and Raphael exchanged looks. Technically, she was right – we hadn’t yet found a solution to this, but I was too pissed to care.
“You know that’s not what I mean.” I clenched my teeth. “Why did you go in there on your own?”
Zafyra frowned. For a few moments, she just stared at me – then, to my confusion, she lowered her gaze.
“I needed you to know I wasn’t playing,” she said barely audibly. “You talked about earning your forgiveness – this is how I thought to do so. With actions, not empty words.” Her jaw clenched, and she reluctantly added, muttering: “Also, I was sure I could play it off without getting caught. Hack a humanoid, ship the beans, get out – how hard could it be?”
I was too stunned to speak.
“That is… wow.” Joey blinked slowly. “I mean, you didn’t have to do this, but I guess I accept your apology.”
“Not you, dummy.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what you think. Morgan’s forgiveness is all I care about.”
Joey huffed in indignation before jumping up. “You know what? Fuck this shit. I’m making dinner.”
“Oh, hell no.” Raphael jumped to his feet – moving faster than I had ever seen him. “I’m not letting you burn the lasagna again.”
Joey scowled at him. “That was once, and only because you distracted me. Stop acting like I can’t cook – or do it yourself, since you know it all so well.”
“Gladly,” Raphael sputtered.
Bickering, they made their way into the kitchen. Even as the door slammed shut behind them, their raised voices were still audible.
Zafyra slowly turned her head toward me. Despite everything, it was relieving to see her eyes had found their spark back.
My sigh rose all the way from my toes. For a moment, I stayed silent, searching for the right words. “Look, I appreciate the gesture – but don’t ever do something like this again.”
Her eyes lit up at the command in my voice, something she wasn’t used to coming from me. Biting her lip, she nodded slowly. “So you forgive me? For the murders, and all?”
“Sure,” I spoke through gritted teeth. “Damn it. I just wanted a verbal apology, not you risking your life to steal those damn beans.” I paused. “You have a physical body now. You’re no longer the invincible tech god you thought you were, okay? I don’t want to see you get hurt ever again.”
For a moment, the thought seemed to upset her – like she had still not come to terms with her new reality.
“But on the plus side…” She pushed herself up, her usual provocative gleam returning to her eyes. “We have the beans now. We can proceed with our plan.”
I hid my face in my hands.
“We’ll need to talk about this,” I muttered, more to myself than to her. “But not now. We both need to rest first.” I inhaled slowly, and my next words surprised even me. “How about dinner sometime?”
Chapter 32.
I jumped slightly when the doorbell rang. Even though I’d set it to a low, soothing tone, it still startled me every time. I rarely received visitors, but now I was expecting one.
