Kyrax leaned slightly toward the projection, the red slits of his helm darkening. “If she exists, you will find her. And if none exists…”
Karian’s golden eyes met his without wavering. “Then you will accept that the restitution you seek is impossible.”
Kyrax’s voice sank to a metallic growl. “Test that, Marak, if you choose.”
The connection cut.
The projection dissolved.
The mist outside the Nhaelor deepened and rolled over the viewing panels—dense, heavy, reacting to the Vykan’s mood.
Somewhere across the gulf of stars, a human life continued unaware.
A human who, willingly or not, would shape his fate.
CHAPTER 3
The dining room in her father’s Hillsborough house always felt too large for two people.
Glass walls opened to the ridgeline, the city glittering far below, but the view did nothing to soften the weight of expectation that hung over the long lacquered table. Everything was ordered, symmetrical, untouched. Even the in-house sushi chef moved with an almost reverent quiet as he prepared the courses.
Richard Halden sat at the head of the table, posture straight, eyes already appraising her as she took her seat three chairs down. The place he’d always assigned her.
“Thank you for coming,” he said, which in his language meantyou were summoned.
Morgan reached for her water. “You said it was important.”
“It is.” He nodded, and the chef stepped forward to serve the first dish—o-toro arranged like something meant to be photographed first and eaten second.
Her father waited until the chef exited the room before continuing.
“You are aware the Li family has extended renewed interest.”
There it was.
Morgan lowered her chopsticks. “I thought we finished discussing that.”
“We haven’t,” he said. “Because it isn’t finished.”
Her stomach tightened. “Dad?—”
“Their son, Daniel, is an exceptional young man. Brilliant strategist, disciplined, already embedded in operations at his family’s fabs in Shenzhen and Chengdu. He understands responsibility.” A slight pause. “Something you have yet to demonstrate.”
Morgan exhaled slowly. “Daniel Li cares about markets, leverage, and quarterly outcomes. Not people.”
“He cares about stability,” Richard corrected. “And he has the temperament required to lead a multinational enterprise.”
Temperament.
The same word her father had used about himself.
Morgan looked down at her plate as memory pressed in.
A fundraiser three months ago. She’d worn a dress her father approved, diamonds her grandmother had given her, and stood beside Daniel Li while he complimented her exactly the way a person appraises a potential acquisition.
“You project calm,” Daniel had said, studying her the way he might study a semiconductor yield chart. “Predictability is valuable in a long-term partnership.”
She remembered smiling politely while her insides went rigid, like a wire pulled taut.
