She deserved freedom.
And somehow, he was going to give it to her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Apparently lost in thought, Baylin’s fingers brushed one of Violet’s leaves, and Liora forgot how to breathe.
It was such a small thing—a casual touch, barely more than a passing glance from his callused hand. But she’d spent three years trying for a successful hybrid, had whispered her hopes and frustrations to its unfurling tendrils, had celebrated alone when the first deep purple leaves finally unfurled. No one else had ever touched it. No one else had ever been here to touch anything.
“The color is unusual,” he said, studying the leaves. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”
“That’s also from the light manipulation.” Her voice came out higher than she intended, and she cleared her throat. “The blue-shifted spectrum affects the pigment production. I documented the whole process in my research journal—there are seventeen variables that influence the final color, and I had to isolate each one individually before I could?—”
She stopped, heat flooding her cheeks.I’m rambling. He doesn’t want to hear about my seventeen variables.
But when she risked a glance at his face, he wasn’t looking bored or impatient. He was looking at her, those intense green eyes focused with an attention that made her stomach do something strange and fluttery.
“Seventeen variables,” he repeated. “How long did that take?”
“Three years for the first successful hybrid. Another two to refine the color.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, suddenly aware of how wild it must look after the hectic day. “Ari says I have an obsessive personality. I prefer to call it thorough.”
His lips twitched. Not quite a smile, but close. “Thorough is admirable.”
The flutter in her stomach intensified. She turned away, pretending to check on a nearby tray of seedlings, and tried to remember how to arrange her face normally. This was ridiculous. She’d read about attraction in her psychology texts, understood the biological mechanisms—increased heart rate, heightened sensory awareness, the release of dopamine and norepinephrine. The body’s primitive response to a suitable mate.
A suitable mate.
The thought sent heat rushing to places she didn’t want to think about, not with him standing right there, close enough that she could smell him. He smelled like the jungle—green and wild and alive—mixed with something warmer underneath..
“You’ve done all of this yourself?” he asked, gesturing at the rows of experiments stretching towards the glass dome. “No assistance?”
“Ari helps with data analysis and environmental controls. But the actual work—planting, pruning, observing—that’s all me.” She straightened a label that didn’t need straightening. “It’s not like I have anything else to do.”
The words came out more bitterly than she’d intended. She heard them hanging in the air between them and wished she could snatch them back.
“Liora.”
Something in his voice made her turn. He’d moved closer and was watching her with an expression she couldn’t quite read. Concern, maybe. Or anger, although not directed at her.
“Why have you stayed here?” he asked. “In all these years, you’ve never tried to leave?”
“I—” She faltered, wrong-footed by the question. “Where would I go? I don’t know anything about the outside world. I wouldn’t survive a day in that jungle.”
“You could learn. People adapt.”
“It is not that simple.” ARIS’s voice emerged from the speakers embedded in the greenhouse walls, as calm and measured as always. “My directive is to protect the child. The world outside is not safe.”
His jaw tightened. She watched the muscles flex beneath his scarred skin and felt a strange urge to stroke his jaw, to smooth away whatever tension had gathered there.
“She’s not a child,” he snapped. “She’s a grown female.”
“Liora will always be my charge. Her safety is my primary function, and that function does not change based on chronological age. The threats outside this tower remain constant regardless of how many years have passed.”
“What threats, specifically?”
“Numerous.” ARIS’s tone remained pleasant and informative. “Environmental hazards including toxic flora, venomous fauna, and unstable terrain. Pathogenic organisms against which Liora has no acquired immunity. Predatory wildlife capable of killing trained warriors, let alone an untrained civilian. And—” A slight pause, almost imperceptible. “—individuals who might seek to exploit Liora’s unique biological properties for their own purposes.”
His expression darkened further. “So you’ve kept her locked in a tower for twenty-one years because the world is dangerous.”
