The screams were already fading by the time Yvonne stepped over the last corpse.

  East Ridge smelled like ash and iron. Smoke from burned tents curled around his boots. The tech pirates had scattered. The coastal marauders lay in bloody heaps—some moaning, some silent.

  He didn’t bother wiping the blood from his cursed arm.

  One faction leader had begged. The other hadn’t had time.

  Yvonne crushed the first’s throat mid-sentence.

  Shot the second in the leg. Let his own crew finish the job.

  Now both camps kneeled in the mud, eyes down, mouths shut.

  “I built this empire with rot,” Yvonne growled. “Don’t think I won’t burn the bones if they creak.”

  No one answered.

  He didn’t expect them to.

  Back at the main camp, the jungle wind blew low and wet through the vault passages. Moonlight leaked in faint through the slats, glinting off old chains and dust.

  Rell hung still, but alert.

  Every breath was measured. Every heartbeat controlled. His fingers twitched just slightly—enough to keep feeling in them. Enough to stay ready.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Then the mental thread opened.

  ::Ko Mala.::

  ::Still waitin’, little brother. You say the word.::

  ::Tonight. When the second watch dozes off. I’ll slip my left cuff. You’ll break the wall.::

  ::About time. You got the plan straight?::

  ::Everyone leaves. Or I don’t.::

  ::Thought you’d say that.::

  ::That’s why it matters.::

  Ko Mala didn’t reply with words. Just a low thrum of approval. It rumbled through the link like a drumbeat against stone.

  The sound of soft footsteps broke the quiet.

  Rell didn’t flinch.

  He felt her coming before she arrived.

  Neyxa slipped through the curtain of moss hanging by the vault’s entrance. She moved like she always did—silent, efficient, unreadable.

  But this time, she didn’t stop at the edge.

  She walked right up to the cell.

  He opened his eyes.

  Neyxa: “Still breathing?”

  Rell: “Barely. But I’m saving the last one for my goodbye.”

  She didn’t smile. Not fully. But her lips twitched.

  She leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

  “You’re not what I expected.”

  “I get that a lot.”

  They stood in silence for a moment. Just the buzz of bugs and the distant howl of something unimportant.

  “I wasn’t born in one place,” Neyxa said. “My mother was from a sand tribe. My father was… not.”

  “Deimos?”

  She nodded.

  “Half-human, half-nightmare. That’s what they called me. Sold off before I could speak. Trained to kill before I could read. Never belonged anywhere.”

  She looked at him now, for real.

  “You ever feel that?”

  “Like I didn’t fit in my own skin?” Rell asked.

  She nodded again.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Every day back then.”

  She tilted her head.

  “Back then?”

  “Before I died.”

  That caught her.

  But she didn’t press. She just waited.

  “Misunderstood,” he said.

  Her eyes flickered.

  She didn’t speak for a long second.

  “How’d you know that’s what I was going to say?”

  “Because I was, too.”

  She looked away, biting her inner cheek.

  “Don’t make it a sob story,” she muttered.

  “I’m not,” he said. “Just telling the truth.”

  Another silence.

  Then—

  “You could’ve escaped,” he said. “You still can.”

  “I know.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “I know.”

  He looked at her carefully.

  “Thank you. For helping with the eggs. For staying.”

  She stiffened.

  “Stop talking like that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I already feel guilty enough.”

  She pushed off the wall too fast, turned before he could see her face fully.

  “It’s not a problem,” she muttered, walking out.

  He didn’t stop her.

  Didn’t need to.

  He felt the heartbeat.

  Badump.

  Badump.

  It wasn’t just guilt.

  Outside, the camp was quiet.

  But it wouldn’t be for long.

  Back in the vault, Rell closed his eyes again.

  ::Tomorrow night.::

  ::I’m ready,:: Ko Mala answered.

  So was he.

  Chapter End.