“I see the kid’s running drills on you.”
Verzius glances up, exasperated. “You wanna help or just critique?”
“I’m enjoying the show, honestly.”
Dar spots me and lights up like a starburst. “Kaz!”
And just like that, he launches himself off Verzius’s lap, sprints across the nanny station’s padded floor, and barrels into my legs. I catch him easily. He wraps his arms around my shinlike I’m some kind of giant jungle gym and laughs like it’s the best part of his day.
Something sharp twists under my ribs.
I crouch and ruffle his curls. “You’ve been terrorizing the staff again?”
Dar nods proudly. “He say I chaos.”
“Youarechaos,” Verzius mutters behind us. “A genetically engineered whirlwind.”
I snort. “He’s got his mother’s attitude.”
Verzius raises a brow. “And someone’s stubborn DNA.”
I freeze.
Dead stop.
Something in his tone—something too pointed, too knowing—claws at my spine.
“What?” I say, too quietly.
Verzius blinks. Opens his mouth. Closes it.
“Kidding,” he tries. “Just... y’know, you both have the same glare.”
“Verz.”
He winces.
I stand slowly, lifting Dar into my arms. He settles easily against my side, like he’s been doing it for years. Like it’s second nature.
“Say it again,” I whisper.
Verzius holds up both hands. “Kaz?—”
“He’s mine,isn’t he?”
The silence that follows is loud.
Dar tugs at the zipper on my flight vest. “Snacks?”
I can’t even answer.
Verzius exhales like he’s been holding the secret in his lungs for months.
“She was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“She didn’t know how,” he says. “She thought... you hated her. That you’d left because?—”
