Sabine and Talor—his makers—could track him down, but after Kit had ripped apart each guard sent to bring him back, they’d stopped trying. It had been too quiet for too long except for the orders. It was like they were waiting him out to see if he’d grow tired.
But how could Blackfall Industries’ beloved Phoenix tire when he had the most intriguing prey?
The orders went out of focus the longer he stared at her.
For weeks, he’d been plagued by the words, and now she was the only thing to quiet them.
If he wasn’t more metal than flesh and bone, he would’ve sagged in relief. If he could evenfeelrelief.
He felt nothing anymore.
No.
That wasn’t true.
Kit felt obsession. And need.
The two emotions threaded into one—sparked by the very image of her.
Snow fell around her in thick flakes. The tip of her nose was red. Her eyes were wide. The grey shade chased away the cold emptiness inside him. Grey like the snow as the moonlight hit it.
Snow crunched beneath his boots as he walked to her. She was rigid, frozen.
He did not like that.
Return to the base. Return to the base?—
The prosthetic fingers of his right hand curled into a tight fist.
When she ran from him, he had no room in his head left to think, no space for anything but her. He needed her to run, but right now, he needed something else—to hear her voice, to break the apathy inside him.
"You remember." Kit took a step closer to her. "We are Soulbonds." When she did not speak, he spoke, if only to get her to. "It is a secret I kept from you for years. They took your memories. I played along."
Each word was spoken in monotone. He was an arm’s length away from her now.
Her scent drew him in. He cocked his head.
Her eyes focused on something behind him. He was wholly in tune with her and his surroundings. He heard the faint sound of breathing, the forced quiet of footsteps.
He did not turn, did not look, knowing whatever was behind him was nothing of consequence—he couldkill; he was made to kill and hunt.
"You played along?" she whispered, her fingers red with frost, gripping the edge of the headstone before her.
"I—" The word was long and drawn out. Kit struggled to find the rest of his thoughts, but they were hidden. "I hunted you down here. I’ve been hunting you since you left me, Vesperin. You can’t hide forever. I found you. I?—"
Return to the base. Return to the base. Return?—
Kit’s speech faltered.
His single prerogative: hunt her down.
It was finished. He had hunted her down. Now what?
She looked different here, outside, in the real world. Less like the memory of the girl he had held onto, as he was conditioned into this unfeeling thing. His thoughts shifted—less like the girl who had seized and convulsed beneath his hands, strapped down as he tortured her.
What would she do if he hurt her again? Would she cry and beg like she had before?
Auren imperceptibly shook his head.The Soul Searcher was half-hidden in the shadows behind Kiton, his white cloak blending with the snow.
