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She stilled then, leaning forward to place her cup on the table. “There’s movement again. Names started surfacing.”

Another pause.

“Yours was one of them.”

Names?

I knew exactly what this meant.

A faint trace of smoke drifted through the cracked sitting room window.

Sweet.

Spiced.

My stomach dropped instantly.

No.

No no no⁠—

I closed my eyes. “He’s back, isn’t he?”

14

ALARIC

Monitors hummed softly in the dark as cold screens flickered awake one by one.

Static crackled through the basement.

Then—

Breathing.

Uneven.

Female.

“Please…”

The recording warped briefly before stabilising again.

“I said I wouldn’t run again.”

Silence answered her.

Not mercy.

Waiting.

A chair scraped somewhere in the background.

Then a man’s voice.

Calm.

“You already did.”