She comes again, shaking, clinging to me. I don’t stop.
“Say it,” I growl into her mouth. “Say who you belong to.”
“You,” she gasps. “Only you.”
My cock pulses. I bury myself deep, groaning as I spill inside her—heat pouring out of me in wave after wave. Her nails rake down my back. Her lips find my neck.
I collapse over her, heart pounding, breath ragged.
She strokes my face. “Still real?”
“More than ever,” I whisper, kissing her again. “And still yours.”
We fall together, into quiet.
And for the first time, the Maze doesn’t protest.
CHAPTER 19
LIORA
It’s always when I feel safe—even for a moment—that the Maze remembers me.
My compad flashes red: INELIGIBLE STATUS DETECTED. The letters burn in my vision. My pulse stutters. Ineligible. I taste bile. What does that evenmeannow?
Gyon stands in front of me, arms out, trying to steady me. I can feel the static crackle in the air behind us. I turn, hand to the wall.
Electric arcs leap across the floor. A strip of light glows behind him. Before I can scream, the field slams him back.
A terrible snap—bone shatters. He howls, a sound so savage it makes the walls tremble. His body is thrown across the floor and slams into a bulkhead with dry impact. Blood sprays. I lunge forward, clawing at the wall, nails scrabbling on cold metal. “Gyon! No?—!”
The Maze Master is silent. It doesn’t mock, doesn’t cheer. Dead quiet. Like the world itself is conducting its breath, waiting.
My scream echoes. My fingers leave gouges, metal warped. My eyes blur with tears and rage. I feel his blood on my skin, hot and sticky.
Dravven’s voice slashes through my panic. “Liora! Back away from that wall!”
I roll, pressing myself toward Gyon’s body, but corridors shift. The field pulses again and I’m pushed back. My hand slips off the wall. My breath comes ragged.
I struggle upright. The air presses heavy; the hum of the Maze feels like a heartbeat in my ears.
Dravven is there next to me, yelling over the roar, pulling me upright. “Stay with me!” he says. His face is tight. His eyes burning. I want to curse him for being here. Want to curse him for everything.
But all I can do is stumble.
We limp through the corridor. My arm throbs. Every step is agony. The stench of burnt electronics, heated metal, and ozone fills my nostrils. I taste dirt and fear.
His voice behind me says lightly, “You bonded with the Reaper?”
I choke. “Don’t—” my voice breaks. “Don’t ask me that.”
He doesn’t push. Not with the Maze breathing down our necks. He just pulls me forward.
We pass through electrostatic traps, shifting floors, panels that close and open like jaws. The Maze is punishing us for something.
I wonder if part of it punishes me for daring to love him.
We emerge into a vast cube chamber. No exit. No door. Just infinite walls of metal. The lights flicker in cold whites and blues. The floor is glass over molten conduits. The hum is low and resonant, like a beast breathing under the floor.
