“One night.”
His shoulders ease.
“Don’t make me regret it,” I say.
He gives me a look I can’t quite name.
“I already regreteverything else.”
CHAPTER 24
JAV
Itake her to the roof.
Not just any roof—theroof. One of the few places on Glimner where the Nine haven’t sunk their claws in. No surveillance grids. No street-level scanners. Just air. Cold, clean, and quiet.
She doesn’t say a word the entire ride up. Her arms stay folded across her chest like armor, and her eyes stay fixed on the city lights smeared across the horizon. I catch a glimpse of her reflection in the windowglass. Jaw tight. Lips a thin, stubborn line.
She doesn’t want to be here.
But she came.
That’s something.
The airlock hisses open, and the night greets us like it knows we’re intruding.
The rooftop garden’s not much. Just a forgotten patch of green welded onto a condemned comms tower. A few stubborn plants cling to recycled soil in rusted hydro-trays. Vines curl up rusted railings. The scent is damp ozone, mint, and something faintly sweet—nightbloom, maybe.
It’s not much, no.
But it’s ours.
I built this place years ago. Before the raids. Before prison. Before Ben.
When I needed somewhere to breathe.
Now, I’m hoping it still remembers me.
Kairo steps out slowly, blinking in the soft amber light from the faux-moon panels I installed back when I thought ambiance mattered. Her boots crunch over gravel. She tilts her chin toward the air and closes her eyes like she’s daring the universe to give her a reason not to run.
I let her stand in silence.
Let her soak it in.
When I finally speak, my voice sounds too big in the quiet.
“You said you wanted honesty.”
She doesn’t open her eyes.
“You said you’d explain.”
I nod. Walk past her and sit on the old bench near the edge. The metal creaks but holds.
“You know what I used to be.”
“That’s not in question.”
