I spend the next several hours pushing every boundary I can find. Eventually, I discover a storage alcove full of crates ofshimmering alloy, a secondary mess hall, and a viewport that looks out over the Veln Expanse.
Out there, theHarrowsits clamped to the warship's lower hull in a docking cradle I did not authorize. Her autopilot should have pulled her back days ago—I programmed the kill switch myself—which meansVirex Primereached out and grabbed her at some point while I was locked in my suite. My ship sticks to this thing like a barnacle on a whale’s belly, and no one asks my permission. Seeing her makes my chest ache. She is small and battered. The sole thing in this entire quadrant that belongs to me, and she looks like a toy clamped to the underside of a god.
I smush my forehead against the glass, tracing the outline of my ship. "I'm coming for you," I promise. "Just hang on."
The deck emits a subsonic, vibrating note, almost as if the ship were acknowledging my vow. I spend time watching the shadows move across the hull of theHarrow, mapping the docking clamps and the proximity sensors. I need a plan. I need a tool. Most importantly, I need Draevik to stop looking at me like I’m an unsolved puzzle.
By the timethe ship’s internal lights begin to dim, signaling the end of the cycle, I head back to my suite. I’m exhausted, my muscles aching from the tension of the exploration, but my mind is racing. I have data now. I know the ship is responsive to me, even if it’s only in small, glitchy ways. And I know Draevik thinks I’m still locked behind a stasis field.
I settle on the lip of the dais, clenching my hands, and wait for the door to hiss open. I already know it is him. The air in the room suddenly feels twice as heavy, charged with that strange, static tension that follows him like a storm front. It’s a cold, sharp energy that makes goosebumps appear.
I remain seated, watching as the giant stalks inside. He carries the usual tray—a slab of grey-white protein and a canister of water. He looks like a statue carved from the heart of a dead star, all sharp plates and glowing light. Every movement he makes is deliberate, precise, and entirely too intense.
"You're late." The accusation strikes the far wall and bounces back, a cold, repetitive chime that fills the silence. I stand up, smoothing out the charcoal silk of my tunic. "What happened? Did you have to spend an extra hour polishing your ego? Or did you finally realize that staring at old maps won't tell you how to get rid of me?"
He remains silent. He simply crosses the room with that smooth, predatory grace and sets the tray on the small table. His eyes flick to mine for a millisecond, cold and analytical, before he turns to leave. He treats me like a chore, a necessary interruption in his grand design.
"Don't you walk away from me, Draevik Rhyx!" I yell, springing to my feet and stepping into his path. I’m tiny compared to him—a scavenger standing in the shadow of a mountain—but I’ve dealt with debt collectors twice his size and half as pretty. "I know you’re listening. I know you can understand me. Talk. Say something besides 'eat' or 'rest' like I’m some kind of defective pet."
He pauses. His armor’s light intensifies, casting long, jagged shadows across the floor as he stands perfectly still. A deep, warning note resonates beneath the floorboards, mirroring his mood. The tension is thick enough to choke on.
“I have been wandering your metallic pet,” I provoke, and the mark answers with a hot, restless thrum beneath my skin. "I've started calling itThe Shipin my head. Capitalized. Like it's a person. Did you know that?The Ship's 'absolute' stasis field seems to have a few holes in it. I’ve seen the viewport. I’veseen the secondary mess.The Shipis letting me walk around, Draevik. Is it going soft on you, or are you just losing your grip?"
Finally, he turns. The movement is so fast my eyes barely track it. One moment he’s facing the door, and the next, he’s towering over me. Despite the lack of physical contact, his proximity bears down on me. I can smell the ozone and the faint, metallic scent of the ship clinging to him. It’s an intoxicating, dangerous smell.
"Virex Primerecognizes your presence," he rumbles, as if it were a relentless pounding that rattles my teeth. "You are a biological necessity, unrelated to security failure. The ship adapts to the marker. Your status remains unchanged."
“And my ship?” Too much edge slips into my voice. I have been saving this one. "TheHarrow.I saw her through the viewport. Your warship has her clamped to the hull. My autopilot should have pulled her to a safe distance days ago. You grabbed her."
Something moves behind his eyes. A flicker of the amber goes darker, then levels out.
"The vessel was drifting," he rumbles. "Its power reserves were failing. Another cycle and it would have gone dark.Virex Primesecured it."
"Secured it or stole it?" I demand, my body tensing.
“Preserved it.” He goes incredibly still for a split second, his presence overwhelming the space. “You are welcome.”
"I didn't thank you—" I begin to snap back, but he easily cuts me off.
"The vessel is intact. Its systems are in standby." He moves toward the viewport as he speaks, his arm extending past my shoulder to press a finger against the glass, pointing at theHarrow'sdocking clamps. "It will remain clamped to my hull for as long as you remain aboard."
Without the need to touch me, his arm starts to feel like a wall beside my head, his chest a furnace behind my shoulder, and the viewport is cold against my forehead, and the space between all three has become a geometry I am suddenly, acutely aware of. I can feel his breath disturbing the loose hairs at my temple. Between his chest plate and the mark under my tunic, the bond thrums with a tone that makes my teeth ache.
"If you prefer," he continues, dropping into a register I feel in my sternum, "I can release it into the Choke and let the gravity wells finish what the power failure started." My mouth snaps shut. He holds the position for one more breath—long enough for me to catalogue every point where his heat meets my skin without touching—and then he pulls back, and the air rushes in to fill the space he vacated, and it is cold, and I hate that I notice.
He knows exactly what he just did. He dangled my ship over a cliff and dared me to argue. TheHarrowis alive because his warship is keeping her alive, and if I push too hard, he can cut the line. My hands ball into fists at my sides.
"You're a real piece of work, Draevik," I spit, letting my frustration show bare.
"I am efficient," he counters without missing a beat, his expression impenetrable. "There is a significant difference."
I groan and force myself to stay put, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing me flinch. "Explain why your ship thinks it's my mother then. If I'm supposed to “rest,” I'd prefer to do it without the constant threat of being fried by the bulkheads every time I hit the limit of my leash. You won't even let me have K-Seven back. My drone is sitting in that locker five feet away, and you treat it like a weapon of mass destruction. Give me my things, Draevik. Give me something that makes me feel like a person instead of a battery."
He closes the final few inches of distance, and I crane my neck back just to look at his face. His eyes are swirling now,the light in them shifting like a nebula. He leans down, his face inches from mine—his features are sharp, alien, and entirely too intense. A strange, dark beauty clings to him, and I hate myself for noticing.
"You understand nothing of what you are." His words are heavy with a dark, measured authority. "You are a disruption. A variable I did not authorize. Do not mistake my restraint for a lack of will. I could crush the life from your frame before your heart finished its next beat."
I bark out a laugh that sounds a bit breathless even to my own ears. "Restraint? You call kidnapping me and branding me 'restraint'? I’d hate to see what you do when you’re actually trying to be mean. You talk about variables and authorizations like you’re some kind of accountant, but you’re just a bully with a big ship."
