Page 77 of Phoenix's Last Heist
I glare out the window, fighting to keep my responses neutral, and not dour and resentful.
“And she agreed just like that?”
He exhales. “No. She threatened to skin me with a dessert fork. It took her two days to circle back. She named her terms—no trace, high payout, and total autonomy. I said fine, but she had to bring me the real idol so I could switch it for the decoy.”
“Why do you need the real one if you already had a duplicate?”
“Brill’s not the only one looking for it,” Vega says, cocking a brow in exasperation. “I couldn’t risk someone else coming in, scooping it up, and trying to unload it on the black market while Brill thinks he’s already got it in his vault. That’d paint a target on Lyra’s back, and I can’t use a dead asset. She said getting the real one wouldn’t be a problem, and that we had a deal.”
“And you trusted her?”I certainly hadn’t.
“No,” he says simply. “But she never promised loyalty. She promised results. And I believed her about Brill. You could see it—she hates him more than I ever could. She hates him even more than she hated needing me.”
That hits somewhere deep, and it’s a place I’ve been avoiding. Because I know Lyra’s my mate—I can feel it like a second pulse—but that doesn’t mean she owes me anything. Not her loyalty. Not her heart. Certainly not her tether. She gets to choose.
And maybe she won’t choose me.
“You still think she was going to follow through?” I ask, hating the hope in my voice.
Vega shrugs. “Honestly? I think she was going to betray both of us and run. But maybe not right away. She liked the idea of being helpful again. Dangerous, but helpful.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” I ask, suspicion still coloring my perception of him.
“Because you’ve got that look,” he says. “Like if she doesn’t pick you, you’ll fold in half. And that’s not helpful. She’s not some prize. She’s a weapon. You either sharpen it or you get out of the way.”
I sit with that. It burns—but it’s not exactly wrong. I’m embarrassed to admit to myself that the vision I have of us being together involves a luxurious home at the edge of the forest on Xylothia, where we can settle down and relax in between adventures. I’m not naive enough to believe she’d give up her adventure-loving lifestyle completely, but maybe the idea of having a home base would appeal enough to her to help me convince her to take a chance with me—with us. I’d never dream of caging her, or binding her to me, but maybe she might want to have a safe space to return to.
Vega angles the cruiser downward, past a massive vertical hover-vator tube and into a lower, quieter lane—steering us away from the main routes. After a minute, he speaks again, softer this time.
“I can sense what she means to you, Orion. But she’s not a damsel, and she’s sure as hell not waiting to be saved—metaphorically speaking.”
“I don’t want to save her—metaphorically,” I say, my voice raw. Is that true, though? Something insidious whispers that I do—I want to her to need me as much as I need her. “I just want her to know I’m not leaving. Not unless she tells me to.”
He nods once, then pulls back on the throttle. Ahead, I see the familiar outline of my borrowed cruiser—safe, secure, and unassuming. The relief I feel at seeing the ship and knowingAda is onboard makes my knees wobble as much as the fading adrenaline.
“I’m dropping you here,” Vega says. “Regroup, refuel, whatever. Stay out of sight and out of trouble. I’ll keep off-grid and ping you from just outside Ooneryx once I’ve scouted the approach.”
I rise from my seat, still uncertain if I want to hit him or thank him. Probably both. “And if this all blows up?”
He grins. “Then we get to die doing something interesting. But let’s save that drama for after we’ve pissed off at least three more crime lords.”
I pause at the hatch, hand on the frame.
“Thanks,” I say, not looking at him. “For saving my ass.”
“Don’t get soft on me now, Ranger. You’ll make me blush.”
I step out, feeling the gravity shift under my boots, the weight of everything waiting ahead of me. Lyra. The idol. The damn choice I can’t force her to make.
And behind me, Vega’s cruiser vanishes into the lanes, leaving only gray sky and tepid rain.
The humof the cruiser’s engines thrum steadily beneath me, but it does nothing to quiet the chaotic hurricane of thoughts. I keep my eyes on the stars bleeding past the windows, hands clenched at my sides like they might anchor me to something—anything—stable.
Ada’s voice chimes in, pulling me from my reverie.
We’re approximately twenty-three hours from Ooneryx at current velocity. Do you wish to revise the flight path?
“No,” I say, hoarse. “Keep it as is.”
