“I didn’t mean to break it.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
“I just wanted to be strong.”
Oh gods. My heart stuttered.
“Youarestrong,” I said, choking on the words. “But you don’t have to hide it from me. Never from me.”
She didn’t answer. Just wrapped her little arms tighter around my ribs.
And that’s when I knew. I couldn’t keep spinning plates anymore. Something was going to fall.
I finish clearing the compad.
The last thing I do is open a secure relay and draft a message.
TO: DREL'KANIS [Secure Alias Link]
SUBJECT: Contingency
Message reads:If I don’t come back… you know what to do.
I don’t encrypt it. He’ll know how to wipe the trace. He always has.
I close the pad. Power it off. Tuck it inside the lining of the emergency pack I haven’t touched in two years.
The room is dark except for the glow of Nessa’s sleep lantern — a slow-pulsing blue light in the shape of a star. It casts soft shadows on her wall where her drawings hang—ships, planets, strange claws that look more like dream monsters than anything real.
I step into her room, lean over her bed. She’s curled in a tight ball, wrist bandaged, breathing soft and shallow.
My fingers brush her hair. She stirs but doesn’t wake.
I drop to my knees beside the bed.
Tears come. No warning. No resistance.
I press my forehead to the edge of her mattress and sob into the fabric.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry, Nessa. I never meant for any of this to touch you.”
My fingers find her small hand.
“I’ll fix this,” I swear. “I’ll find a way. I don’t care what it takes.”
Her hand twitches. She turns over in her sleep.
And for a moment, she looks exactly like him.
CHAPTER 14
VAEL
She’s slipping.
Rynn used to be clinical. Methodical. The kind of medic who logged everything twice and triple-checked corridor exits before passing through.
But now… her rhythm’s off. She hesitates at doors. Her shoulders twitch with nerves. She’s bracing for something.
