Page 16 of Zayrik

Ididn’t move.

Her shoulder brushed mine, her scent curling in the air between us, sweet, something warm beneath it, something that shouldn’t have distracted me. But it did.

She tensed. Not moving.

Neither did I.

I could feel her breath, just barely, her body heat radiating into the too small space between us.

She waspissed. But she was feeling it too.

She swallowed, eyes flicking up to meet mine, and for half a second, neither of us spoke.

Then she yanked the controls, breaking the moment like it hadn’t happened at all.

Fine.

She wanted control?She could have it.

For now.

But I didn’t step back.

Instead, I pulled thesystem logsback up. This time, I wentdeeper.

Nyla was stillclose, still bristling, still acting like she was the only one who knew what she was doing. I ignored her, focused on the screen.

There it was.

Aflagged alertburied in the ship’s registry.

I frowned, scrolling through the details.

- Previous activity marked underhigh-risk trade routes.

-Multiple route pingsthroughnon-regulated space.

This ship had been in thewrong places, tied to the wrong people.

A low growl emanated from my throat.

Flutz.Thiswasn’tjust a bad bet.

It was atrap.

I exhaled slowly, keeping my expressionneutral.No need to let her see I’d just found something I didn’t like.

But my jaw tightened as I scrolled through the records again.

This wasn’t just a ship with a shady history. It had been flagged in connection to a smuggling network.

And I’d just walked into it blind.

Nyla was still locked onto the controls, her fingers moving fast as she reset a few of the ship’s stabilizers. Focused. Stubborn. Completely unaware.

Ormaybe not.

I watched her for a second, something clicking into place.

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