“Say something.” My voice broke the silence first. Because silence meant thinking. And thinking meant losing. Vorde didn’t answer immediately. He stood too still, like his body was waiting for permission his mind hadn’t given yet.
That alone made my chest tighten.
Fear crept in, slow, unwanted.
Not of him. Of what he might become if I reached for him again. “You shouldn’t be afraid of silence,” the system said softly through him. I flinched. Jealousy hit immediately after. Not of the system itself. But how easily it was inside him. How naturally it spoke through his voice as if it belonged there.
“No one asked you,” I snapped.
A pause.
Then, “You always respond faster when threatened.”
My jaw tightened. Because it was right. And I hated that it was right. Viole stepped closer behind
