Again.
That name.
Kel.
Soft. Like a lullaby slipping out between breaths.
I lean forward, elbows on my knees, blood pounding in my ears.
Kel.
Same name she muttered days ago.
I don’t say anything. Don’t touch her.
But something shifts in me.
I’ve killed for her. Bled for her. Taken her back into my bed, into my bones.
And still—she’s hiding something.
I sit there until dawn cracks the sky open like a rotten egg.
And I keep the name in my mouth like a secret.
Kel.
Who the fuck are you?
CHAPTER 19
JAELA
The lab pings.
A soft, anticlimactic chirp that sounds almost cheerful—like it doesn’t know the weight of the world’s about to shift.
I stare at the screen. My fingers hover over the cracked display, pulse racing like it’s trying to outrun the truth. The DNA profile blinks steady: two glowing helix spirals locked together, twisting around each other in perfect sync. A double match. Full alignment.
Kyldak’s genetic markers. Y-chromosome configuration. Stemline density.
Perfect. A bullseye.
A father.
I sit back, all the air wheezing out of me like someone just slammed a med compressor to my chest. My hand flies to my mouth, and I feel something hot and stupid sting behind my eyes. Relief? Guilt? Maybe both. Maybe everything.
He’s the match. Kel’s only shot at staying alive past age five. His only chance to survive the chromosomal failure crawling through his blood like a shadow with teeth.
And he doesn’t even know Kel exists.
I laugh. It’s ugly and sharp and tastes like copper.
“Gods,” I whisper. “I did it.”
The makeshift lab around me whirs and buzzes—old fans, scavenged stimulators, recycled data ports. It’s barely holding together, same as me.
But it worked.
