The Ark

38.

We stared at each other, the groan of the barge's engine filling the silence between us. Zaphron's gaze drifted between my face and the shard in my quivering hand, calculating his next words carefully, no doubt.

"Astrid." He unhooked his boots from the board and took a step toward me.

I raised the shard and he stopped abruptly, the strobing beacon lighting his serious expression in amber.

"Stay the fuck back," I said slowly, my voice shaking. A warm trail of blood tickled my wrist as it began to ooze from where I held the jagged glass tightly. "What are you doing here? Did Zenith send you?"

He raised his hands, palms out, as though I had a laser pistol pointed at him. "Astrid, I'm here for you. What happened in the tunnels—that interrogation... it's not what you think."

I let out a derisive snort. "Yeah? Well, you handing me over to Zenith and collecting my bounty doesn't exactly seem like a misunderstanding."

He dropped his hands and let out a sigh. "It was the only way to keep us both alive after you gave away our location."

"So, it's my fault I ended up strapped to a chair while Emrys interrogated and humiliated me?" I demanded, my words sizzling with caustic edge. "I don't recall you saving the day there Zaph."

"You know I don't mean it like that," he said, taking half a step toward me. "And why do you think you woke up here? I swapped out the lethal injection Emrys planned to give you with an anaesthetic. Then arranged to have you put on the barge—rather than incinerated."

I tried to keep the surprise off my face by jutting out my chin. What was it he said to Emrys during the interrogation?

I'm convincing when I need to be.

He certainly was.

Zaphron read my expression and threw up his hands with a bitter laugh. "You don't believe me," he said, sounding incredulous.

"Why should I Zaph?" I said, ignoring the part of me that wanted to see the plausibility of his story. "I saw you in that interrogation room—you were so cold."

He scoffed, rubbing a hand over his mouth. "I could barely look at you Astrid. I was worried that if I did, my face would give me away." He dropped his hand and closed his eyes, taking a breath. "You had to believe my betrayal as much as Emrys did—especially with the truth serum."

"Well, you were believable alright."

He let out a sharp exhale, frustration flashing in his eyes. "If I was really working for Zenith, then why would I come back for you?" he asked, his voice going rough. "What possible reason could I have for being here right now?"

I could think of one very likely reason—and it was hanging around my neck.

But I was not going to make the same mistake twice.