"I know." My voice breaks. "I know it doesn't fix anything. But I need you to know I finally see it. See what we did. What I did. And I need you to know I'm sorry. Even if it doesn't matter."
Long silence.
Then:
"It matters." Barely a whisper. "It doesn't fix anything. But it matters."
Don't know how long we sit there. Both of us on opposite sides of a door. Both of us destroyed by choices that can't be unmade.
Eventually, I hear her move. Fabric rustling. Footsteps.
"Turn off the cameras," she says. "All of them. If you want forgiveness to even be possible someday, start with privacy."
"I will."
"And Dorian?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't pretend this conversation means we're okay. We're not okay. We might never be okay." Her voice is steady now. Stronger. "But at least you finally listened. That's something."
"It's not enough."
"No. But it's a start."
Her footsteps fade. Moving away. Going to bed or the window or anywhere that isn't here.
I stay sitting. Back against the door. Head in my hands.
Thinking about a girl with dreams who deserved so much better than this.
So much better than me.
Ifindtheminthe kitchen at two AM.
Oakley's making tea no one will drink. Corvus is reviewing data on his tablet. Both look up when I enter.
"We need to talk," I say.
Corvus sets down the tablet. "About?"
"About what we're doing to her."
Oakley's shoulders tense. "Dorian—"
"We're killing her." The words come out flat. Raw. "Not saving her. Killing her. Slowly. And calling it protection."
"The rejection sickness—" Corvus starts.
"Is our fault. All of it. We pushed. Claimed. Then acted shocked when she ran. And now we're keeping her prisoner and wondering why she's not grateful." I look between them. "We're the villains in her story. Not the heroes."
Oakley sets down the kettle carefully. Like his hands are shaking. "I know."
"You know?"
"I've known since the beginning." His voice is quiet. Guilty. "But I didn't stop it. Didn't try hard enough. Because biology said this was right. And I've been trained my whole life to trust biology over everything else."
Corvus is watching us with those calculating eyes. "The data supports biological compatibility."
