Myles woke to a sight that stole his breath.
Lia was staring down at him, her eyes calm, focused. Sunlight streamed through the cracks in the curtains, catching on the damp strands of her hair and casting a warm glow over her smooth, dark skin. She looked radiant—like something out of a dream.
"…That's my shirt," he muttered sleepily, noticing the familiar black fabric clinging to her frame. His eyes closed again without thinking.
Then, a blink later—Wait. That's my shirt.
He slowly opened his eyes, brain now catching up. His gaze drifted downward: his bare chest… her bare thighs.
He shut his eyes quickly, his face heating. A strange calm settled over him as his thoughts went back to that surreal moment not long ago—when he'd been just a head. Literally. Decapitated, yet still somehow alive and aware. He remembered the eerie weightlessness, the strange clarity, the freedom of not being bound to a full body.
Now, with a deliberate breath, he tried to call on that same feeling.
Carefully, he reached out, lifting one of Lia's legs by the thigh and shifting it to the side. At once, a black aura shimmered to life around him, curling up his skin like smoke.
His body rose slowly from the bed, suspended in the air. Guided by that same strange instinct, he drifted between her legs, the aura flickering softly around him, and glided behind her.
Surprised by Myles' calm composure—and a little flustered by the fact that he was now hovering silently behind her—Lia stayed quiet for a moment. Then a mischievous thought crossed her mind.
"Hey, Myles," she said, turning her head just enough to glance back at him. Her voice lilted with teasing. "Do you like the view~?"
That did it.
He lost focus and dropped from the air with a dull thud.
She couldn't help the soft laugh that escaped her lips. Turning fully, she sat on the edge of the bed and reached down to help him up. Her touch was gentle, warm.
Myles muttered something under his breath and conjured a pair of sweats, tugging them on with what remained of his dignity. Before he could say anything else, Lia stood and pulled him into a hug.
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice unexpectedly sincere.
He felt the shift instantly. The teasing was gone. Her glassy eyes shimmered as they met his, filled with unspoken emotion. It hit him like a quiet wave—steady and deep.
"Why?" he asked softly, brow creasing.
Lia didn't answer right away. Instead, she gave him a look. The kind that said, Don't play dumb. The kind that reached somewhere behind his ribs and settled there.
He breathed out slowly, the corner of his mouth lifting into a gentle smile.
"Always," he said, just above a whisper.
Lia knew he didn't mean it quite the way she did—but she loved hearing it all the same. She tightened her hug, leaning down slightly to rest her chin atop his head, her taller frame gently folding around him in quiet affection.
Myles, meanwhile, stared down at the black ring on his index finger, thinking. How do I say this right? He wanted to express what he felt, but the words weren't coming easily.
Back in her workspace, Kaelen hunched over her desk, a concentrated glint in her eye.
"She's going to love this one," she muttered.
Before her floated a gem-like device, glowing faintly with pulses of criole energy. It was a criole siphoning module—something she'd been working on since the night before. She had even managed to shrink it down to something sleek and wearable.
More than just a gift, it was a statement. A bargaining chip of sorts. She was certain Lia would appreciate it. The runic tech their mother had taught her was woven deep into the device, allowing it to absorb criole from either the user or the surrounding environment. Once activated, it could awaken the criole codex in any tool or weapon it was linked to.
After hours of testing, tweaking, and recalibrating, Kaelen stood up and decided it was time.
She entered Lia's room.
"Hello," came a smooth voice from the darkness.
A soft spotlight flickered on, illuminating a chair that slowly spun around to reveal Lia's playful smile.
"—Master," she added with a wink.
Kaelen raised an eyebrow, amused. "You have impressed me."
Without warning, she tapped the device on her wrist. In a flash of green light, she vanished. A blur zipped across the room.
"Guess it's my turn then, huh?" Kaelen's voice came from behind Lia, her hand resting casually on her sister's shoulder.
Thia, who had been sitting quietly in the corner, let out a tiny squeak. Her eyes locked onto the wrist device with wide-eyed fascination. "What is that!?"
Kaelen pulled her hand away just as Thia reached for it. "Ah, ah, ah," she teased. "First things first."
Thia rolled her eyes and pulled up a holographic display, bringing up data from the attack the night before. Kaelen mirrored the stream on her own holoscreens and began typing across her hard-light keyboard. A chair extended smoothly from one wall, catching her as she dropped into it.
Thia coughed—loudly.
Kaelen didn't look up. "Right," she muttered, and tossed the wrist device toward Thia—along with nine more she'd had hidden.
"Show-off," Thia said under her breath.
"Whatever," Kaelen replied, still focused. Her fingers paused. "Hmm… That's… wow."
"What?" Thia asked, leaning forward.
Kaelen glanced at her sideways, then bent back in her chair until she could look at her sister upside down. "You scare me sometimes, you know that?"
"Huh?"
"They're artificial," she said, tapping a cluster of data, "but they believe they're alive. And this data…" she exhaled. "Damn."
She studied Thia's calm expression, then smiled faintly. "You're cold. Even for me."
Thia ignored the comment and had already cracked open one of the devices. She was halfway through dissecting its internals.
Kaelen returned to her own work but paused again as the distinct zing of laser tools echoed behind her.
"Already?" she blinked, genuinely shocked—and maybe a little annoyed.
She sighed, defeated but smiling. "I'd expect nothing less from my prodigy of a little sister."
She turned to confirm what she already suspected—and there was Thia, already working on the third device.