Page 94 of Her Lawless Prince

Nyle found a version of his genetics looking back at him from the round face of the girl.

“Greetings,” the girl said, giving the awkward smile of a cyborg new to its programming. “You are watching this in honor of me, a fallen hero, having courageously sacrificed myself on—”

“Yevgen?” Payton whispered to the child. “Is that you? Are you back?”

“—the pyre of destiny. You have ventured to the land of the dead to hear my…”

The girl stopped talking, but her eyes remained open and unwavering as another voice picked up the recording.

They instantly moved toward the boy.

“…royal message. Henceforth, the day of my sacrifice will be known as Prince Yevgen Day, a day where all must sacrifice in honor of my greatness,” the boy said, his head twitching as he kept talking.

“What’s going on?” Payton asked as she and Rick both stared at him for answers.

“I don’t…” Nyle glanced at the canister Payton carried. “They must have picked up the signal and loaded it.”

The boy stopped talking and didn’t move. Overhead a digitalized voice continued over the facility’s comms system. “…Vortexian District. If he shows up, turn him away from the planet.”

“Did you guys hear that?” Jackson asked.

“We’re on it,” Rick said, turning in circles. His hand strayed to the gun at his waist. “Stay where you are.”

“His transmissions are subpar.” Suddenly a deep voice picked up the message, and they all hesitated before going toward the giant. The creature was crammed into the pod in what looked to be an uncomfortable position. The voice stopped.

“Is that it?” Rick asked when it didn’t resume. “A signal blip?”

The giant’s stasis pod began to shake. The large shell jerked violently and punched his fist at the door, cratering the metal from within.

They jumped back as the stasis pod flew open.

“To my beautiful wife, my forever princess,” the giant continued Yevgen’s message as he climbed out of the pod. He stretched to his full height to tower over them. Except for his mechanical eyes and abnormal size, the cyborg looked Cysgodian down to his temple markings. Material covered his midsection. The top edge was torn as if it had ripped as he grew.

“Yevgen?” Payton asked.

The sound of Yevgen’s musical moment of silence played softly, and the giant’s eyes flashed as if he loaded the images from the recording disk.

Nyle felt his stomach tighten as he went to stand possessively next to Payton. On the one hand, he should be happy that Yevgen’s programming was not lost because that would make his wife happy. On the other, he did not want to share his wife with her first half mate back from the dead.

Nyle knew enough about cloning to know that the giant cyborg shell had been a misstep in the laboratory. A scientist would have eliminated the sample the moment the anomaly was discovered during screening. Robots and computers would have only known if it was viable or unviable.

The giant’s eyes flashed with different colors as it looked at each of them before settling on blue. He turned his attention to Payton.

“Yevgen?” Payton asked, her voice shaky.

“You received my messages.” Yevgen nodded, his deep voice not sounding like they remembered. “How many years have I been offline?”

“Days, not years,” Nyle said. “We left Qurilixen the day of your fire and came here to destroy all traces of the virus’s source so it could not be spread.”

“The first Prince Yevgen Day,” Yevgen stated. “I am heartened that you missed me.”

The cyborg completely ignored the fact that they came to destroy the virus, not look for his replacement body.

“I thought I lost you.” Payton moved to hug the giant. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.”

Yevgen’s arms were awkward when he patted her back as if his programming was still settling into his motor controls. “There, there, princess.”

“How did you manage to fit all of yourself onto a single recording disk?” Nyle asked, wondering how much the cyborg could actually remember of his past.

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