Page 74 of GlitchBorn Heart

I lean forward without realizing it, palms braced on the console. “You don’t get to play games in my system. You agreed to that.”

Her laugh is humorless. “How else am I supposed to figure out how to use my magic in ‘your system?’ ” Her eyes flicker, signaling she’s readying to fight. “Besides I agreed to not sabotage your system. Again, there’s a difference.”

I can no longer argue. It’s futile.

“If you could stop your psycho AI girlfriend from chasing me, I could go back to DreamNet.” Harsh words.

I open my mouth to defend myself, to justify it, to say something cold and precise, but nothing comes out.

Because whatever she’s done to me, whatever I’ve become, I’m now able to see it from her side. The fear. The loss. The terror of waking up nowhere, owned by some captor you never agreed to.

Her image wavers slightly as an emotion slips through. She notices. I notice. But it’s too late. She exhales through puffy cheeks like she hates herself for it. “Don’t look at me like that,” she softens. “I didn’t wound you. Don’t try to make me feel sorry for you.”

“You wound me,” I say, quieter than intended, half-joking, half-hurting. So unlike me.

She stares deeply, doesn’t blink. And there it is again, that fragile space neither of us wants to step into.

“What is it really, Dr. Kael Ryudon? Tell me,” she asks honestly. “You’re untouchable, forged of cold steel. Surely you have something to share with me?”

I don’t answer fast enough.

Her vulnerability slams back behind glass walls. “Forget it,” she snaps. “This was a mistake.”

She turns away. But I see it. The trust she almost offered me.

“Taiyō, I won’t let anything happen to you,” I say, the vow slipping out before I can stop it.

She pauses. “Careful, Kael.” My name. Gods the feelings that surge in me when she says it softly. “Promises like that are how people get hurt.”

Lyra’s face lingers in pixelation, beautiful but two-dimensional. Trapped in my machine like a butterfly pressed under glass. I want more. I want her to feel my touch.

The window flickers in the silence. I think she may be softening toward me. Well not really, not in the way I want her to, but something has definitely shifted between us. The way her gaze lingers. The way she doesn’t disconnect and go back to DreamNet when she should.

I know I’m staring but can’t seem to rip myself away.

“Don’t,” she says quietly, when she catches me watching her. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” I ask, even though I know.

“Like you’re replaying it,” she snaps. “That night on the beach in my dream.” She softens her tone, almost betraying herself. “Like you want to touch me again.”

The servers continue their low thrum like they’re listening for my confession.

“I do.” No point lying, not now. “And that’s the problem. That night plays on repeat in my head every damn day.”

Her smile turns cold quickly. “You can’t. It’s different now.”

“I know.” I step closer to the console, away from the monitor wall, as if proximity might halt the ache.

“Which is why I have an idea. You know the VikkCorp PleazureHolos? I built them.”

That gets her attention. Her head tilts with curiosity. “The PleazureHolos,” she repeats.

“Yes. The holo-pipelines run in just about every building and home in the city. Citizens, yes mostly men, can choose to have their own personal holos built for pleasure, or some just seek simple companionship. Businesses often use holos to assist with staffing. Higher grade holos are created by elite women as servants or best friends. The men for escorts and sex, the more attractive and obedient, the more status the man has in the city hierarchy.”

“You’re admitting that?” Her face fills with disgust.

“I said I built it. I didn’t come up with the idea. I’m merely explaining it.” My fingers curl against the edge of the console. “They were never about indulgence for me. Not really. They were about interfaces. Like could I do it? Could I trick the system into believing data is touch. Could I make the mind feel pleasure, or heat, or taste, artificially”—I look into her golden eyes—“and respond to it like a real human.”