Page 70 of Zayrik

The one being hunted.

Though neither of us knew just how close that hunter was.

“I can’t keep it,” she said finally, her voice even.

Cal frowned. “What do you mean?”

Her gaze flicked to me.

Not defensive. Not reluctant.

Just... resolute.

Like she’d made a decision that terrified and steadied her all at once.

She crossed the room, stepped into my space, and pressed the crystal into my palm. The heat of her fingers lingered on my skin.

“You keep it.”

The damn thing felt like it carried the burden of not just data, but lives. Futures. Her safety.

“Nyla—”

“I’m not asking,” she cut in. Her voice shook. “If they catch me, they’ll search me first. And they’ll expect it to be on me.”

I was trained to follow orders. Serve the Protectorate. Stay detached.

But this? This wasn’t duty.

This was her choosing me.

This was trust in its purest, most dangerous form.

I stared down at the tiny data crystal. So small. So ordinary looking. And yet it held the power to bring down a network so dangerous, so widespread, it had nearly consumed her whole.

I curled my fingers around it, meeting her gaze. “This doesn’t make you safer, Nyla.” If anything, it made her more vulnerable. Made her a target without protection.

“No,” she agreed, “but it makes the mission safer. And I trust you.”

Despite their simplicity, those words hit me like a physical force.

She trusted me.

After everything, after every secret, every guarded glance, every near-kiss and regret and brush of something more... shetrusted me. Enough to hand over her only leverage. Her only protection.

Our bond responded to what this meant. To the depth of what she was offering.

I nodded once, letting the moment settle between us. “Then I’ll guard it with my life.”And her with it,I didn’t add. But she heard it anyway.

I saw it in the way her eyes gentled. In the slight catch of her breath.

The words echoed through my mind like a vow already sealed in blood. I hadn’t meant to think it so loudly, but I knew I meant every word.

She exhaled, and something in her expression softened. Just a little. It was as if a burden she’d been carrying was finally lifted.

Cal cleared his throat. “Well, isn’t this touching. I’d cry if I weren’t completely dead inside.”

Nyla snorted despite herself. I didn’t smile, but I stepped in front of her, shielding her from the rising tension already brewing behind Cal’s words. From threats we couldn’t yet see.

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