I grinned at nothing and everything, teeth bared like I was tasting the fear of a thousand conquered worlds. Somewhere on the other side of this eternal residence, ARIA was registering that grin, and I could feel her register it—the same way I could feel her smile back, sharp and knowing, from whatever corner of her workshop she was currently bending reality into something worthy of me.
Probably designing another toy for her favorite monster.
I stepped off the platform. The pod's standby pulse resumed at the rim, soft and patient, like it was already mourning the absence of my divine presence.
I started toward the archway that led into the suite proper, and Machina's voice followed me—polite, attentive, the well-trained voice of a younger sister who had been told her entire existence was to keep her master pleased and had taken the assignment with the fervor of the damned.
{Bath, Master?}
"The way I like it."
{Already drawing.}
"You're a gem."
