Page 344

Veyr.

Not Ghost.

Not deceased.

Not compromised asset.

Just Veyr.

“For most of my life, wanting something had no operational value,” I said.

Talia waited.

“I followed orders. Completed missions. Recovered enough to continue. If a location became unsafe, I left it. If an identity became compromised, I abandoned it. If someone died, I finished what remained.”

My mouth tightened. “I thought that made me disciplined.”

“And now?”

“Now I think it made things easier.”

“For who?”

“For me.”

The answer came more easily than it once would have.

“If I wanted nothing, I could pretend losing things did not matter.”

Her gaze held mine.

“It mattered anyway,” she said.

“Yes.”

I looked toward the window.

Central Zunator stretched beyond it, full of people moving through lives I had stepped out of eight years ago.

“I do not want to return to my family because a record was corrected or because Anik says it is time.”

Talia’s expression changed.

“I want to go.”

She said nothing.

“I want my mother to know I am alive. I want my sister to know. I want to know the children whose names I should have learned years ago.”

My chest tightened, but I let it. “I am afraid to see them.”

“I know.”

“I am still going.”

Talia nodded once. “Good.”

The word hit harder than praise would have. I looked at the credential again.