Page 87 of Zayrik

Metal clattered on metal.

The sound rang out like finality.

Like the last note of a song we’d barely started.

Zayrik went still.

It was like the air had been sucked out of the galaxy.

Through our bond, I felt his horror dawn like a cold sun. Felt the moment he understood what I was doing.

“Nyla.”

My name torn from his throat, rough with emotion I’d never heard before. Through our connection, pain and fury and desperation crashed against me like waves.

I didn’t look back.

Couldn’t.

Because if I saw his face, felt the full force of his emotions through our bond, I might break. Might let him fight. Might let him die for me.

I raised my hands. Palms open. Every breath in my lungs a scream I didn’t let out. Every heartbeat a war between love and necessity.

The comms sparked.

Vask hummed, pleased. “Smart girl.”

The words made bile rise in my throat, made Zayrik’s rage pulse through our connection like living fire.

The doors hissed open.

Armed men flooded the ship.

I didn’t flinch.

Didn’t move.

Behind me, Zayrik stilled. But I could feel him.

A bomb seconds from detonation.

A storm about to break.

His emotions surged. Wild and fierce. Threatening to shatter our fragile bond.

I whispered, barely audible. My last chance.

Words that tasted like lies and protection and love all at once.

“Don’t come after me,” I whispered... a lie shaped like love.

But we both knew that was a lie.

Felt it in the way our bond thrummed with promise and fury and determination.

In the way something inside me reached for him even as I prepared to leave.

Because this wasn’t an ending.

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