Silence. For the first time in hours, there were no alarms. No gunfire. No screaming.
Just the steady hum of engines and the rattling vibrations of a ship clearly not designed for stealth or comfort, but fast enough to outrun death. For now. Mae sat slumped against the cold wall of the cargo bay, her wrists still bound in magnetic cuffs, metal edges biting skin. Her legs curled beneath her, every muscle tight as a bowstring. Her eyes flicked between them. The monsters. The killers.
The Fallen Five.
Kaine paced near the weapons rack, armor scuffed, jaw set like stone, cybernetic plates along his arms twitching as his stress pulsed through them. Sethis sprawled across a crate, boots kicked up, flicking a glowing data pad between his fingers like he was bored out of his mind. A devil's grin never left his face. Riven stood near the bay doors, plasma wings flickering low now, but his hands clenched like he hadn't decided if he was still in fight mode. Lucien? His form barely stayed solid, half there, half shadow, pacing the darker edge of the room, psychic chains twitching like hungry serpents.
And Ashar. Ashar sat across from her. Perfectly still. Silent. His golden, cracked-glass eyes never left her. Not a blink. Not a word. Watching. Studying. Measuring. A presence heavy enough that it pressed on her chest like a physical weight. "We should just drop her," Kaine growled, breaking the silence. His heavy boots slammed against the metal floor as he spun toward the others. "She's nothing but heat now. You heard the bounty call. We're dead the second anyone picks up our trail."
Sethis snorted, flipping his data pad. "You want to dump the whole reason we staged the auction attack in the first place?" He flashed a lazy grin. "Nah. Too late. We're committed, darling." Kaine snapped. "She is a serious complication."
Riven's voice was low. Rough. "She's not a complication." His eyes flicked to Mae, unreadable. "The Council wants her bad enough to put her on the same level as us. That's not random."
"Which is exactly why she's dangerous." Lucien's voice was a whisper that slid into her skin like cold smoke. "Ticking bomb. Beautiful fracture. One wrong pull and everything unravels." Mae gritted her teeth. Her hands were clenched, cuffs biting deeper.
"Like I'm not sitting right here."
"I can hear you, you know." She said flatly, lifting her chin. "Talking about me like I'm some defective weapon you forgot how to disarm." Kaine sneered. "You are."
"I'm a person, you overbuilt scrap pile-" In a blink, Kaine stormed forward, towering over her, fists clenched like he fully intended to put one through the wall, or her skull.
"Say that again, trash-" A sound like metal grinding on bone. Everyone froze. Ashar's hand had moved. Only slightly. Just a flex of his claws against the hilt of the dagger strapped to his thigh.
A silent warning. No words. No threats. Just a subtle reminder that he was still watching. Kaine backed off. Muttering. Seething. But he backed off. The silence that followed was heavier. Thicker. Mae swallowed hard, forcing her gaze back up and caught Ashar's stare again. Why won't he say anything? His eyes weren't angry. Not even cruel. Just, deep. Endless. Like looking into the edge of a black hole wrapped in fire. Something tightened in her chest, fear. And something else. Something strange.
Sethis broke the tension with a sigh, kicking his boots off the crate.
"Well, the way I see it? We've got three options." He held up fingers. "One, we dump her. Cut the bounty in half, stay mobile. Two, we sell her back to the highest bidder, which, admittedly, is everyone. Or," his grin stretched wider. "Three. We figure out why the hell the Council is wetting themselves over this little thing and use it." Mae stiffened. "I'm not a weapon."
"Aren't you, though?" Lucien's voice curled around her. "The Council thinks so. We think so. Maybe even you think so... deep down." Riven crossed his arms, wings flickering. "We're not selling her." A beat of silence. Ashar's voice broke it. Low. Rough. Final. "No." Just that. No explanation. No argument. Just that one word flat as stone, sharp as a blade.
And everyone went still. Kaine sighed. Muttered. "Figures." Lucien faded into a deeper shadow. Sethis chuckled under his breath. "Well, decision made." Mae's heart slammed. No. No, no, what does that mean? Ashar leaned forward, just slightly, elbows on his knees, hands hanging loose between them. His eyes never left hers.
"You're not leaving," he said finally. His voice was a thing of gravity, dragging her in whether she wanted it or not. "Get that through your head."
"Why?" Her voice cracked before she could stop it. "Why me?" A long silence. Ashar didn't answer. He just kept watching. Silent. Immovable. Like a storm waiting for permission to break. Everything that happened before had surfaced in thought, pulling at her emotions. Silently, a few tears fell down her face. Mae was not escaping this time and whatever was coming, she didn't, couldn't imagine.