Lana
The morning breeze brushed against my face, but I couldn't relax yet. My legs were still trembling. My heart hadn't climbed back down from my throat.
Ezric walked beside me, still panting—but grinning like a kid who'd just won the lottery.
I glanced at him. "You know… I thought you said 'just borrowing'. That it would be returned after the duplicate was ready, right?"
He turned to me, still smiling. "Of course. Borrowed."
I pointed behind us—toward the ruins that used to be a house. "Well, the place is flat now. How exactly are we returning it?"
Ezric shrugged, all innocent. "Not my fault. I didn't touch the self-destruct button."
I raised an eyebrow. "But you did forcefully take the Cleanshard. Look what happened."
Ezric grimaced, then chuckled. "Okay, fine. I thought the security system would be just an alarm or sleeping gas or… I don't know, not a murder-bot and a house that literally came to life. Raaawwrrr."
