Page 153 of Stars in Umbra
She pressed the stolen pass against the sensor, and the door whooshed open with a soft pneumatic hiss.
The room was what she expected: opulent in a cold, masculine way.
Antler chandeliers, dark timber shelves lined with first editions and antique blades, a burning fire behind a steel-meshed grate.
However, her focus was on the obsidian safe built into the stone wall.
Mirage?
Already prepared. When he scanned you earlier, I ran a mimic calibration program of his retinal signature. Hold still.
A pulse of light swept her iris, and the locked box clicked open.
Inside was a slim black data cube, engraved with a red sigil she didn’t recognize, and a leather folder of hand-written papers in Thrall’s neat, spidery script.
She snapped photos and slid the matte cuboid into her clutch bag.
Got it.
In the Corvette, Mirage’s systems devoured the files, decrypting with rapid-fire precision.
Holy shit,the synth AI murmured.
What is it?Rina asked.
Thrall’s funding The Stygian Corp. He’s the shadow architect behind them.
‘Stygian?’ Mo’s growl cut in.
Mirage didn’t hesitate.I’ve conducted a quick analysis across Sysnet and DarkNet and verified it against the data cube. Turns out Stygian is the group that abducted you on LeCythi, Mo, and indoctrinated you. Perhaps they also implanted you with that command override node. The symbol on that node matches the one on the data cube. So itwould seem Thrall’s not just a power broker, he’s behind the organization that controlled you, Mo. I can also see that Stygian experimented on you and extracted your DNA in secret lab trials - to what end is not clear.
The silence that followed crackled with restrained rage.
Rina,Mo snarled, his tone like steel cooled too.Leave. Now. You don’t know what Stygian is capable of. They don’t just kill. They erase. They own black cells in six systems and use children turned adult assassins like me to do their dirty work.
Rina exhaled.Mo, I’m not leaving.
Fokk!His roar slammed through her neural node, not wild but deadly controlled. Cold, commanding, terrifying.Trust me for once, woman.
She froze, the echo of his words slamming into her chest with the force of a command. Her skin prickled. Her back straightened.
Damn, she almost saluted. Her mouth quirked, and her eyes lit up.
Then come and get me, baby,she whispered.
She headed to the door to the study, her pulse racing.
The wail of alarm fractured the silence like a blade splitting glass. Rina froze, every nerve in her body going taut as the corridor outside erupted in the clatter of boots and shouted commands.
The secure door before her burst open with violent force.
Caidan strode in, his eyes glittering, catching the light like a predator’s gleam.
A phalanx of personal guards moved in behind him, their weapons trained on her, ready to fire at the first sign of threat.
His gaze found her at once, clocking her position in the room, her posture, his eyes flitting to the safe, which was shut, giving nothing away.
His stare narrowed.
