Arik had asked, and Liam had handed him the comm like a good little thing with no lock inside him.
Liam's fingers went cold.
Arik did not look at the screen.
He turned the comm face down in his palm and looked at Liam instead.
"Liam," he said, careful enough that the name barely touched the air. "I asked only for the calendar. I will not open anything you do not show me."
Liam could not breathe.
"I just gave it to you."
"I know."
"You see?"
"Yes."
The simple answer should have destroyed him.
Instead, Arik shifted the comm back toward him, placing it against Liam's palm, then closing Liam's fingers around it with the lightest pressure.
"Then you hold it," Arik said. "You show me only what you choose."
Liam stared at their hands.
Arik's was enormous around his, warm and steady, but he did not take. Did not pry. Did not turn the device. Did not exploit the open gate Liam's panic had created.
