Page 214 of Villainous Rise

“But I didn’t,” he said, his voice softening as he noticed my expression.

I opened my mouth to point out that he’d lost his arm, but stopped myself. The bandaged stump just below his right elbow was evidence enough—he didn’t need the reminder.

The Hammer had actively suppressed his enhanced healing, so they’d had to amputate the arm since it had destroyed the tissue beyond repair.

I took a deep breath and gestured to the small box I’d brought.

“I brought you lemon cake,” I said, forcing a smile.

Cipher perked up, the holographic display vanishing as he straightened against his pillows. His eyes brightened with pleasure.

“You’re breaking the rules for me,” he said, nodding at the cake. “I thought Keepers were supposed to follow every rule to the letter.”

“Shut up,” I muttered, though there wasn’t any heat behind it. “It’s just cake.”

“It’s contraband,” he corrected, looking genuinely delighted. “Dr. Manning explicitly said no outside food.”

“Well, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” I replied, pushing the box closer to him. “Are you going to eat it or just gloat about my rule-breaking?”

“I’ll save it for later.” He reached out with his remaining hand and set the box aside. “Come here.”

I hesitated for just a moment before carefully sitting on the edge of the bed beside him. The mattress dipped beneath my weight, and I was acutely aware of how close we were, how fragile he still looked despite his efforts to appear normal.

My eyes drifted to the bandaged stump where his lower right arm should have been. The questions that had been burning inside me rose again to the surface. What really happened? What did he do to himself?

The last time I’d asked, he’d simply said, “Engineering miscalculation. Nothing to worry about.” The casual dismissal had been so obviously false it was almost insulting.

I reached out and rested my hand on Cipher’s, feeling the warmth of his skin against mine. “I need you to tell me the truth about what happened with the Hammer.”

He lifted my hand to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss against my knuckles.

“I used the Hammer for exactly the purpose I wanted it for—to create something impossible.”

Before I could respond, he tugged me forward, capturing my mouth in a kiss that effectively silenced my protest.

When he pulled back, he said, “I did what I set out to do. It’s not that big of a deal.”

I stared at him, incredulous. “Not that big of a deal? How can you possibly say that?”

Cipher smiled as if we were discussing a minor inconvenience rather than the permanent loss of a limb. “Now I get to play around with prosthetics,” he said, enthusiasm creeping into his voice. “Think of all the possibilities, Annie.”

“You lost your arm because of me,” I whispered.

“I gave my arm for you. I made a calculated exchange. Flesh and bone in return for your heartbeat. It was the easiest transaction of my life and I would do it again. I would sacrifice everything if it meant keeping you.”

“Cipher—”

“Annie,” he replied softly. He reached up to cup my cheek, thumb gently brushing away a tear I hadn’t meant to fall.

“It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m alive and you’re here. That’s all I need,” he said. “That and learning how to finger you left-handed while I perfect a new arm.”

I scowled at him, unable to believe he could be so cavalier about losing a limb. “How can you joke about this?”

Cipher reached up, his fingers brushing gently near my right eye where I knew a golden streak now gleamed, a permanent reminder of what I’d absorbed from Helios.

“This,” he said, his voice low and serious, “is the price you paid. We both made our choices.”

I blinked, feeling suddenly self-conscious about the change. The iris of my right eye, once purely blue like the left, now had a streak of molten gold cutting through it—as if someone had taken a brush dipped in sunlight and painted a single stroke across the blue. Dawn had called it beautiful. I called it terrifying.