“Bonds.” I keep my voice low. “The real ones. Not clusters — actual bonds. Soul connection, fated, whatever. Do you think they ever actually existed?”
Vaelor glances at me. His mouth curves.
“Bonds? Like the old stories?”
“Yeah.”
His smile widens. “You getting all romantic on us now?”
“Oh, shut up.”
“One night with her and suddenly you’re asking about soul connections—”
“Vaelor.”
He laughs, holding up a hand in surrender. “Okay, okay.” The teasing fades but the warmth stays. “I mean… there are references in the archives. Old texts, records that existed before the system. But nothing verified. Most Memory scholars think it was just how people explained strong cluster attachments before we understood proximity science.” He pauses. “Why?”
I can’t exactly saybecause I felt one lock into place last night while I was inside her.
“Just wondering.”
Vaelor studies me for a second. I can feel him trying to read what’s underneath the question.
“You okay?”
“Fine.”
I’m not fine. I’m carrying proof of something that supposedly doesn’t exist anymore. Something I don’t have words for. Something I don’t understand.
And I can’t tell anyone.
Not yet. Maybe not ever.
Nova laughs at something Rane says up ahead, and my chest tightens. She has no idea. She thinks last night was just… good sex. A right decision. Her body knowing before her brain caught up.
She doesn’t know what actually happened.
Neither does anyone else.
I watch Locke’s hand brush her back. Watch Rane lean in to say something that makes her smile. Watch the way they orbit her without thinking about it.
Will they feel it too? When it’s their turn?
Or was it just me?
I don’t know which answer scares me more.
I shake it off. Can’t think about this now.
We’re about to walk into a room full of people who are going to be watching every move we make.
I’ve never seen the building they take us to.
That’s the first thing that feels wrong.
I’ve been on this campus for years. I know every administrative office, every training facility, every shortcut and back hallway. I’ve never been in this building before.
It’s tucked behind the main offices — gray stone, narrow windows, no signage. The kind of place you’d walk past a hundred times without noticing. The kind of place that wants to be overlooked.
