Another beat of silence.
Then he nods. Slow. Thoughtful. “Noted.”
I don’t breathe until he looks away.
We sit like that for a while, the cockpit humming around us, the stars streaking by like they’re in a hurry to escape whatever version of hell we’re flying toward.
I cross my arms. “What’s your take on Marj?”
His jaw ticks. “Strategic sadist. Makes killing look like theater. Picks targets for maximum impact. She’s not reckless—she’sdeliberate.Every corpse sends a message.”
I nod like that’s old news. “She’s insecure.”
He turns his head, just a little.
“Insecure people need control,” I say. “They turn fear into spectacle so no one sees the cracks.”
His eyes narrow, and I think I’ve gone too far.
But then he huffs, low and dry. “Maybe.”
I press on. “She’s got a system. Break the icons, break the hope. That’s not about domination. That’s about weakness.”
He studies me.
Really studies me.
Then he says, “Most people don’t think like that.”
“I’m not most people.”
“Clearly.”
The silence after that feels… heavier. Not awkward. Just thick. Like the space between us is loaded with something unspoken neither of us wants to name yet.
I turn toward the viewport. The stars are still running.
And I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing.
But I’m going to survive.
Even if I have to fake every step.
CHAPTER 11
VROK
She emerges from the corridor with that same tightly wrapped calm, like a wire coiled too neat to be harmless. She doesn’t speak first, doesn’t ask where we’re headed or what she should be doing. Just walks in, finds a wall to lean against, and watches me like we’ve known each other long enough for silence to say things.
Fine by me.
I let her simmer for a while before I speak. It’s a trick I learned years ago in interrogation—let them think they’re safe in the quiet. Then cut through the room with a question sharp enough to bleed.
I tap a command on the nav console, flipping the external cam feeds off the jump haze and onto a projected 3D render of Kaerva’s outer compound. Gritstone walls. Triple-perimeter fencing. Turrets that don’t advertise, and patrols that do.
“How would you breach this?”
Her eyes narrow just a fraction. “You mean in theory?”
