Page 59 of Ravaged By the Reaper

And he asks, voice low, hoarse in a way I’ve never heard from him before, “Do you want to stay?”

NotDo you want to run?NotAre you ready to die?

Just that.

Do you want to stay?

I swallow, hard. My fingers tighten around the edge of the steel panel, grounding myself.

“You asking as my bodyguard?” I murmur.

“No.” A pause. Then, “As your equal.”

That does something to me. Somethingdangerous.

All this time, he’s been my shield, my shadow, my monster made flesh. But this—this is not protection. This is permission. A choice.

I face him fully, stepping into the low light. It carves shadows across his cheekbones, catches the glint of old scars and fresh worry. He looks... almost boyish, like a soldier who’s only just realized the battle will take something from him.

I breathe in slow.

“I want to finish this,” I say. “With you.”

It’s not poetic. It’s not diplomatic.

But it’s the truest thing I’ve ever said.

Haktron doesn’t smile. He just nods once, like that’s all the ceremony this kind of vow requires. Like anything more would cheapen it.

And gods, the heat in my chest—terrifying and anchoring all at once. It’s not just loyalty. It’s not just war-bonding or desperation. It’s something deeper. An understanding that survival is not the point.

Doing it togetheris.

He moves closer, slow, like I might vanish if he gets it wrong.

His hand hovers near mine.

I let my fingers brush his—callused, inhuman, still trembling faintly from holding too much tension. He’s always been built to carry weight, but this? This is different. This is personal.

“I won’t leave you,” he says, voice soft but made of iron. “Even if everything burns.”

“Then we burn bright,” I whisper back.

He exhales like it’s a relief.

We are no longer two separate forces orbiting crisis—we are aligned.

The war is coming.

Let it.

We’ll face it together.

Or not at all.

CHAPTER 18

HAKTRON