“You can’tallowme?” There was a challenging note in her voice he hadn’t heard before.
“I am informing you of the risk. As your caretaker, it is my responsibility to ensure your well-being.”
She took another step down. The stairs remained perfectly stable beneath her feet.
A soft hum filled the air as machinery activating somewhere within the tower’s walls. Then, with a smoothness that spoke of hidden engineering, a section of the stairway ahead of her moved. Metal panels slid from concealed housings, interlocking to form a barrier that completely blocked the path downward.
She stopped, staring at the obstruction.
“This barrier is for your protection,” ARIS said. “The six upper levels are the limit of your safe zone. Beyond this point, I cannot guarantee your safety.”
“You can’t guarantee my safety, or you won’t allow me to leave?”
“The distinction is irrelevant. My primary directive is to protect you. I will fulfill that directive by any means necessary.”
He watched her face as the truth sank in. Watched the wonder drain from her expression, replaced by something colder. Betrayal.
“You’ve been lying to me,” she said quietly. “All this time. There’s nothing wrong with those stairs.”
“I have been protecting you. As I was programmed to do.”
“By keeping me prisoner.”
“By keeping you safe.”
She turned away from the barrier and climbed back up to the kitchen and back out on the balcony, her movements stiff and mechanical. She didn’t look at him. Just stood there, staring out at the jungle that had always been just beyond her reach.
“Twenty-one years,” she said. Her voice was barely a whisper. “I’ve been here for twenty-one years. And I never knew that I couldn’t actually leave.”
He moved to stand beside her. He wanted to reach out, to offer comfort, but he didn’t know if she would welcome his touch right now.
“The AI’s purpose is to contain you,” he said. “Whatever reasons it gives, whatever justifications it makes—the truth is that this tower was built to keep you inside. And the system will actively prevent you from escaping.”
She looked at him then. Her eyes were bright—not with tears, but with something fiercer.
“Then I’ll find another way.”
“It won’t be easy. ARIS controls the entire structure. Every door, every system.”
“I don’t care.” She turned fully towards him, her chin lifting with a defiance that made something in his chest surge. “I’ve spent my whole life accepting limits I never questioned. Being grateful for a cage I didn’t know existed. That ends now.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know yet.” She looked out at the jungle and the sky slowly darkening overhead. “But I’m going to find out.”
Pip gave a small, worried chirp from her shoulder. She reached up to stroke his fur absently, but her attention remained fixed on the world she’d been denied.
He watched her, this woman who’d kissed him out of curiosity and challenged an AI that had controlled her entire existence. She wasn’t what he’d expected to find in this tower. She wasn’t what he’d expected to find anywhere.
Mate.
He didn’t say it out loud. Not yet. But as the last light faded and the jungle below erupted into its nighttime chorus of sounds, he made himself a silent promise.
She wouldn’t spend another twenty-one years in this cage.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Will you stay with me tonight?”
