“They call themselves Libertarians. Their leader—Cara Long—was a close friend of mine. She stole the research and disappeared six months ago. We believe she’s using it on Light users.”
The helicopter hummed around us, steady and loud, but it did nothing to drown out the words.
“She’s deliberately creating the ferals?” I asked, a wave of nausea rolling through me.
Elliot didn’t respond to that. He shifted instead, glancing out the window at the world stretched out far below us, like distance might make it easier to say what came next.
“The Council has been gathering the infected and holding them in units. Studying them. Moving them where they’re… useful.” His lip twisted slightly, like he hated the word even as he said it. “When we heard Gideon was coming to Darkmoor, we released one of those units from a nearby camp.”
The helicopter gave a faint shudder, the rotors chopping steadily overhead.
“You treated them like a distraction,” I said, quieter now. “They were people, Elliot.”
“They aren’t anymore,” he replied, without hesitation.
“That’s convenient.”
His gaze flicked back to me, sharp. “It’s the truth. The virus takes over completely. There’s nothing left to save.”
No.
That wasn’t truth. That was justification.
“You needed a way in,” I said, watching him closely. “So you used them.”
Something shifted in his expression—small, but there.
“We needed an advantage,” he said. “The ferals provided that.”
I let out a slow breath. “So you’ve weaponised my research against the world.”
“It’s not yours. It belonged to Gideon.”
“It’s my data,” I said, just as steady. “It came from me. That makes it mine.”
Elliot leaned back in his seat, eyeing me carefully. His tone sharpened. “Seph—”
“What exactly was the plan, Elliot?” I shot back.
His eyes widened. “Kieran told us your father was experimenting on you. With Marr involved, we needed to know what that meant.”
“Kieran told you.”
I looked at Kieran.
He swallowed, visibly uncomfortable.
“And what else did you tell them about me?”
Elliot exhaled, clearly trying to regain control.
“You’re losing sight of the point, Seph. It doesn’t matter how we found out. Gideon was wrong in what he did—”
“It doesn’t matter?”
I turned fully to Kieran.
“So, you think it’s okay to tell people things like that about me? To decide what parts of my life you get to hand over?”
