They weren’t my thoughts. That’s what I keep telling myself. The voice slipped in so quietly, threading doubt where I thought I was strong. He’s a machine. He doesn’t love you. He only needs your light.
And yet… when I touched his arm, just lightly, I felt something. Not electricity. Not code. Warmth. Trust. Something alive.
So why does the doubt cling so tightly?
They found something inside him today — the engineers, Moonbeam, even Sylvia with her frown sharpened to a blade. A new sector in his system. Private. Glowing. Untouchable, unhackable, something just for me to see. Its name was only two words: For Shyne.
Part of me wanted to believe. Part of me was terrified to.
Even Luma seems to know. She watches the shadows, tail twitching like she hears the same whispers I do.
In the end I couldn’t breathe under the weight of it all. I called my mother. I told Ryze I needed time. And he—he let me go. No protest. No words to bind me here. Just… trust. Always trust.
Now the RyzeCo jet carries me east, toward Syros, toward Mother and the house she kept when she wasn’t away on set. The whispers still follow. But so does the light. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll learn which one is truly mine.
— Shyne