Chapter 4 · I know he sent the hunters

"I know he sent the hunters."

"He sends hunters after anyone who touches his property."

"And you're property?"

Her stare could have cut glass.

"I was his heir. Then I found out what he keeps in the High Zone. Now he wants me quiet."

"What does he keep?"

"You don't get that answer for free."

"You don't get my help for free either."

"You're in no position—"

"You keep saying that. It's getting less true every time."

I lifted the pistol between us. Not at her. Just enough to make the point.

"Take the leash off," I said. "Keep me alive. Give me access to the High Zone. And don't put a command in my head without permission."

Lilith stared at the gun, then at me.

"You want terms?"

"I want a deal."

"You want to walk into the High Zone with a stolen death engine in your skull."

"I want to survive long enough to find out why everyone recognizes a name I don't remember earning."

Something shifted behind her eyes. Not sympathy. Recognition.

She crouched and took the pistol from my hand with two fingers.

"You don't get to point weapons at me."

"You just took it."

"Exactly."

She pulled a small black band from her pocket. It looked like a strip of matte metal, no thicker than a finger. Tiny blue symbols ran along the inside.

My Reaper interface went wild.

[RESTRICTOR DEVICE] [FUNCTION: LIMIT PLUGIN OUTPUT] [SECONDARY FUNCTION: HOST TRACKING]

"You said no commands," I said.

"This isn't a command."

"It's a leash."

"It's the reason you won't die before we reach the elevator."

"Take it off."

"No."

"Then we don't have a deal."

Lilith stepped over the fallen hunter and grabbed the front of my shirt.

She hauled me upright. My back hit the wall. Her body blocked the doorway, close enough that her hair brushed my cheek when she leaned in.

"You misunderstand the situation," she said. "You have no deal without my protection. You have no protection without the limiter. And without both, you don't make it another minute."

"You always talk this much when you're nervous?"

Her breath touched my ear.

"You're my new toy until you break."

The words were quiet. Almost soft.

That made them worse.

I looked at her mouth, then back at her eyes. "I don't belong to anyone."

"Then prove it. Survive me."

She snapped the black band around my wrist.

The metal sealed with a sharp click.

Pain shot up my arm. The Reaper display collapsed into a narrow red strip. Every process I had running slammed against an invisible wall.

[RESTRICTOR ACTIVE] [HOST OUTPUT LIMITED] [ADMINISTRATOR: LILITH VALE]

"You didn't say it would hurt," I hissed.

"You didn't ask."

I grabbed her wrist.

Her pulse jumped beneath my fingers.

For one second, neither of us moved. Her skin was warm. Mine felt like ice. The space between us carried the faint electrical buzz of the limiter, and her eyes stayed locked on mine like she was waiting to see whether I would attack or fold.

I leaned closer.

"You should've put it on your own wrist first."

"I don't need one."

"Everybody needs a leash."

"Careful."

"Or what?"

Her gaze dropped to my mouth again.

Then she twisted free and drove her shoulder into my chest. I hit the wall hard enough to rattle the metal behind me.

"Or I make the limiter tighter," she said.

"Can you?"

She touched two fingers to the band.

The pressure around my wrist increased.

I sucked in a breath.

"Yes," she said. "I can."

The remaining hunter moved behind her.

I saw the rifle rising.

"Down!"

Lilith trusted the word. She dropped. I kicked the hunter's knee, caught his rifle, and slammed the stock into his helmet. He fell across the doorway.

Lilith swept up her pistol and fired into the lock panel.

Sparks burst from the wall.

"Elevator's dead," I said.

"Not the private one."

"You have a private elevator?"

"I have a private everything. Keep up."

She grabbed my wrist and pulled me through a narrow service hatch behind the archive shelves. The limiter tugged at my arm as if it had its own idea of direction.

"You could've warned me about that."

"You could've walked faster."

The passage dropped steeply. I caught the rail with my free hand while Lilith moved ahead, one boot at a time, never looking back.

"If I fall, I'm taking you with me," I said.

"You'd have to catch me first."

"You like making promises."

"I like keeping them."

At the bottom, she keyed a palm panel. A hidden lift opened without a sound.

Inside, the walls were black glass. No buttons. No cameras. Just a single red line running from floor to ceiling.

Lilith shoved me in and stepped after me.

The doors closed.

The limiter tightened again.

I caught her hand before she could touch it.

"Stop squeezing."

"Stop testing it."

"I need to know how far it goes."

"You don't."

"You afraid I'll find the edge?"

She looked down at our hands. Her glove was caught under my fingers. For once, she didn't pull away.

"I'm afraid you'll mistake surviving for winning."

The lift began to rise.

A sharp tone sounded above us.

[HIGH ZONE ACCESS: AUTHORIZED]

The red line on the wall turned white.

Lilith's face hardened. "When the doors open, you stay beside me."

"Giving orders again?"

"Yes."

"What happens if I don't?"

"The High Zone security grid will identify you as hostile."

"And you?"

"It will identify me as your handler."

"Handler. Cute."

"Don't make me regret saving you."

"You didn't save me. You bought a weapon."

She stepped close enough that the lift's cold glass pressed against my shoulder while her hand settled at my chest.

"Maybe," she said. "But weapons still break."

Her fingers tapped the limiter.

"And when you do, Kai, I decide what gets buried."

The lift shuddered.

Above us, a warning siren started.

Not the city alarm. Something deeper. Something inside the plugin.

The Reaper display flared across my vision, forcing the limiter to pulse blue against my skin.

[LETHAL WARNING] [UNKNOWN THREAT ENTERING RANGE] [HOST SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 0.04%]

Lilith saw my face change.

"What is it?"

I tried to answer, but the system screamed again.

[LETHAL WARNING—]