Page 14

TRAZ

S ilpha doesn’t move.

Neither do I.

The dust from the wreck swirls between us, thick and choking, the heat from the crashed freighter licking at my back.

I keep the barrel of my gun locked on her chest, finger tight on the trigger.

"Ten seconds," I rasp, voice jagged. "Say something real good."

Her hands stay up. Slow. Steady.

"I’m not here to fight."

"Bullshit," I growl, shifting just enough to keep my wounded side out of her sight.

She steps forward once, careful, like she’s approaching a wild animal.

"Listen to me, Traz," she says quickly. "It’s about Kelli."

The name punches a hole clean through my gut.

I show nothing.

Just cock the gun back a hair more.

"Talk," I bark.

Silpha’s face twists—grim, almost desperate.

"Kelli’s alive."

The ground rocks under my boots.

Alive.

The word keeps echoing, louder every time.

"And…" Silpha falters for the first time since I’ve known her. "You have children."

I stagger a half step, blood roaring in my ears louder than the burning wreckage behind me.

"You’re lying," I rasp, because the alternative would split me in two.

"I’m not." Her voice slices through the smoke and chaos. "Twins."

My grip on the gun slips for half a second before I clamp down.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t think.

"Petru—?" I start, my voice barely more than a growl.

Silpha cuts in quick. "She hid it while it's growing. We hid it."

My vision tunnels, black creeping at the edges.

Silpha steps closer again, careful, deliberate.

"She knew it wasn’t safe. Not inside the Spine. Not with Petru watching. Once I realized she was pregnant... I made moves."

Moves.

I narrow my eyes, heart pounding so loud it drowns out everything else.

"What moves?"

"I got her out," she says, fierce. "I staged it. Made it look like she died during a punishment detail. Slipped her out through the trade tunnels."

The words hit like a punch.

"You moved her?" I grind out.

Silpha nods.

"She’s been hidden. Living in one of the scrap sectors outside the city grids. Quiet. Off the books. Safe."

Safe.

For three years.

Without me.

Without knowing if I was alive or dead.

My hands shake, and I don’t even bother to hide it.

"And the kids?" I manage.

"They're with her," Silpha says. "Both of them. Healthy. Strong. Fighters, just like their mother."

I press a bloodied hand against my side to steady myself.

Everything inside me cracks.

Splits wide open.

Kelli.

A boy.

A girl.

Alive.

Waiting.

Silpha’s voice drops lower.

"I came to find you because it’s getting harder to keep them hidden. Petru’s new dogs—mean bastards—are sniffing too close. If you want to save them, you need to move fast."

I grind my teeth until my jaw screams.

"You should’ve come sooner," I bite out.

"I couldn’t," she snaps back, raw. "Not until now. Not until I was sure you were strong enough to do something about it."

I glare at her.

Long and hard.

But the rage isn’t for her.

Not really.

It’s for the years lost.

The time stolen.

The life I could've had.

I lower the gun.

Slow.

Trembling.

"I’m going to her," I say, voice rougher than I’ve ever heard it.

Silpha nods.

"I’ll take you."

I start to move, but she lifts a hand.

"And Traz?" she says, voice razor sharp.

I stop.

"You’re bleeding bad," she says. "If you don’t pull yourself together, you won’t make it two blocks."

I grunt.

"Doesn’t matter," I growl.

Because dead or breathing, I’m not leaving this planet without her.

Without them.

Not again.

Silpha watches me, sharp and wary, like she half-expects me to turn around and put a bullet between her eyes anyway.

I don’t.

I can’t.

I’m too busy trying to shove all the broken pieces of myself back into some kind of shape that can move forward.

She steps closer, voice low but urgent. “You don’t understand, Traz. They don’t have much time.”

I stare at her, fists clenched so tight my nails cut into my palms.

"Explain," I grind out.

"Petru’s men are spreading," she says fast. "New blood. Paranoid. Aggressive. They’re sniffing around the old districts. Asking too many questions. It’s only a matter of time before they find her. Before they find the twins."

The word twins hits me again, raw and brutal.

Kids.

My kids.

Out there, hidden under the filth and rust of Glimner, thinking nobody’s coming for them.

Thinking they’ve been left behind.

Just like Kelli probably thinks.

My stomach twists, acid and guilt burning a hole straight through me.

"I got them this far," Silpha says, voice rough. "But I can't hold it together much longer. I don't have the pull I used to."

Her jaw tightens, eyes flashing.

"You’re the only one strong enough to get them out."

I turn away, dragging a hand through my filthy hair, staring at the horizon burning red under the planet’s dying sun.

The easy thing—the smart thing—is to walk away.

Cut ties.

Let the past rot where it belongs.

But as I stand there, fists shaking, blood leaking from my side, I know the truth.

There’s no walking away.

Not from this.

Not from them.

Not anymore.

I spin back to her, jaw set.

"Where are they?" I rasp.

Silpha exhales, shoulders sagging for just a second, like she’d been holding her breath all this time.

"In the scavenger quarter," she says. "Sector Six. Old freight tunnels under the scrap fields."

"And Kelli?" I snap.

She meets my eyes.

"Fighting every damn day to keep those kids fed and hidden. Same as she’s always done."

Pride. Sadness. Something sharp flickers across Silpha’s face.

"They’re hers, through and through," she says, voice hitching. "But they’re yours too."

The words land like hammer blows.

Mine.

A future I never believed I deserved.

A future I sure as hell don’t deserve now.

But fate doesn’t care about what you think you’ve earned.

It just keeps coming.

I tighten my grip on the gun.

"Take me to them," I say.

"Now."

Silpha nods once, fast.

Urgent.

Relief and fear bleeding across her battered face.

I stagger a step, pain flashing white behind my eyes.

Silpha grabs my arm to steady me.

I jerk away.

"I’m fine," I snarl.

"You’re not," she says coldly. "But you’re stubborn enough to fake it."

A rough laugh slips from my throat, half-cough, half-growl.

"Then let’s get this over with."

Because if anyone lays a finger on Kelli or those kids before I get there.

I’ll burn this entire goddamn planet to ash.