Chapter 34 #4
“What would you have me say, Annie? That I have feelings for you?” He shook his head. “I can’t feel anything for you. It’s inconvenient at best, dangerous at worst.”
I opened my mouth but struggled to formulate a response that made any sense against the complicated tangle of emotions I was feeling.
“Don’t,” he said quietly. “You don’t need to say anything. Feelings change nothing in the grand scheme of things,” he continued. “I don’t date. I don’t do relationships. All feelings would do is complicate things horrendously.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that.
Cipher turned his attention back to the display.
“Interesting,” he murmured, more to himself than to me. His eyes flicked to my face.
“Would you like my professional opinion on your cuff?” he asked.
“Sure. What the hell.”
“Clunky,” Cipher snapped. “Inefficient. Outdated. Whoever designed this was working with limited resources and even more limited imagination.”
I pursed my lips. “Of course you’d say that. Is there anything you don’t think you could improve upon?”
“Your orgasms, perhaps.” He swiped through the data with a flick of his wrist. “Also, you shouldn’t use the stunner function again.”
“What? Why not?” I asked, despite my irritation that he’d bring his sexual prowess into the conversation.
His expression turned serious. “There’s a fault in the circuitry. You’re lucky it didn’t break when you electrocuted me off that rooftop.”
My stomach dropped. “What do you mean, break?”
“I mean the next time you use it, the shock might overload the dampening systems.” He leaned back in his chair. “The cuff might not survive, and neither would its control over whatever power it’s suppressing.”
Horror crawled up my spine like ice-cold fingers. My hand instinctively covered the cuff, as if I could somehow protect it, protect everyone, through sheer force of will.
“But it’s working now, right?”
“As well as it could be, given what it is.” Cipher shrugged. “I wouldn’t recommend testing its limits.”
“That’s not exactly comforting.”
“It wasn’t meant to be. It was meant to be accurate.”
I watched Cipher’s face as he studied the readouts, his expression absorbed.
Just like that, we were back to normal. Whatever normal was for us.
Something hollow opened up inside my chest, a cavern expanding with each breath.
In all the stories, those ridiculous fanfictions I’d devoured about Cipher falling for the heroine, this wasn’t how it went.
In those fantasies, the moment the Villain realized they were in love, everything changed.
They’d abandon their evil ways, throw aside their plans for world domination, all for the woman who’d somehow captured their heart.
Love transformed them, redeemed them, made them better. But that wasn’t real. That was never real.
I couldn’t even be angry with him for it. He’d never promised me anything different. He’d never pretended to be something he wasn’t. From the beginning, he’d been clear about what he wanted, what he could offer. No strings attached. No future. Just this moment.
It was exactly what I’d said I wanted too.
“Would you like to end our arrangement?” Cipher was watching me, his face unreadable as he powered down the diagnostic machine.
I should say yes. Every logical part of my brain screamed that I should end this now, before it got more complicated, before more people died, before I lost myself in whatever this was between us.
This was the moment to walk away, to return to the safety of rules and structure and everything that made sense.
But the thought of ending it, of never feeling his hands on my skin again, never hearing his voice in my ear, never experiencing that perfect moment when everything else fell away, sent a wave of panic through me.
“No. I don’t want to end it.”
“Good,” he said simply, his voice betraying nothing of what he might be feeling. “Do I get a better explanation of your extra sense? Or how the hell you absorbed a power?”
“No,” I said firmly. “You don’t.”
He leaned forward, his expression suddenly sharp with interest. “You aren’t concerned with me not giving you peace if I don’t get a better answer?”
“Since when have I known peace with you anyway?” I shot back, unable to keep the edge from my voice.
Cipher’s mouth quirked up at one corner, a flash of genuine amusement crossing his face. “Touché, Sparks.”
A soft ping sounded from his workstation and he glanced at the message.
“I have work to get to,” he said, already turning toward his computer. “Challengers chomping at the bit to get to me at the moment. They think I’m weakened after last night.”
I nodded, feeling awkward and out of place in his lab. “I should go, then.”
Cipher looked up from his screen, that predatory gleam returning to his eyes. “It’s cute how you think you’re just going to walk out of my lair without repercussions.”
I stared at him, trying to read his expression. “What?”
“You’re a prisoner, Bishop,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “It’s only fair for the audacity of walking into the Labyrinth uninvited.”
My mouth fell open. “Are you serious right now?”
The thunk of the lock clicking into place on the lab door was my response.