Page 21 of Aviatrix

His gaze lingers. “Thank you, Kin.”

Before I can respond, one of the agents steps forward. His tone is all business. “We need to keep moving, Colonel.”

Lark straightens. The moment between us disappears behind that rigid military posture, the one I used to mistake for strength.

I fall into step behind him. But the ache in my chest doesn’t.

We walk. Down halls. Up stairs. My boots echo like warning shots. With every step, my walls rise. Tight, fast, necessary. The quicker I build, the less I’ll bleed.

And right now? I don’t want to feel. I just want answers. I want to know why everything in my life shattered in a single day.

Eventually, we’re ushered into a windowless room lit only by a single glowing screen mounted on the far wall. A long oval table stretches through the center, surrounded by unforgiving metal chairs. The air is cold. Sterile.

Perfect.

We’re not here for comfort. We’re not here for closure.

We’re here because we’re at war.

Regardless of what happens in this room, I’ll find out what really happened at Langdon. To my father. To the base that no longer stands.

I take a seat and a sobering breath. Gary thinks staying close to Lark might help uncover why we were attacked. But I’m not sure Lark knows anything. The shock on his face, the way he scrambled into action, it wasn’t staged. He was blindsided.

But there’s one person who wasn’t supposed to be on base today.

Eli.

He just happened to show up right when everything went to hell? That’s not nothing and it gnaws at me. Because part of me still wants to believe he was just checking in. That he missed me. That some invisible thread still pulls us toward each other even after all these years.

But another part—the part that's bleeding—knows better. Eli doesn’t just show up. He arrives with secrets. And if he knew something was coming and didn’t say anything…

Before I can finish the thought, a voice breaks through.

“Dad?!”

I turn just in time to see Amber throw herself into Lark’s arms. He catches her instinctively, like this is the one thing in his world that still makes sense.

And it wrecks me.

Lark may be a lousy fiancé and a frustrating colonel, but he’s a good father. And that’s why I fell for him.

He would never fly off one day and disappear into the unknown.

Not like my father.

Not like Eli.

Amber clings to him for a beat longer than expected. When she pulls back, her eyes are red, but her spine is straight. She’s trying to be brave. Trying to be him.

Lark brushes a hand over her blond hair. “Are you okay?”

She dips her chin. “I just needed to see you.”

And I hate how tender he sounds. How familiar. How fatherly. Because I remember that voice. I remember it telling me I was safe.

And now? Now, I can barely look at him without tasting betrayal.

The door at the far end of the room hisses open. Every muscle in Lark’s body stiffens.