Chapter 11 · Sanguine Sync

"Get your face out of the dirt, Kael. It’s pathetic," Vera spat, her boot clicking against the concrete just inches from his ear.

Kael didn't move. He couldn't. His chest felt like it had been collapsed by a hydraulic press, and every breath tasted like copper and ozone. The world was a blur of grey concrete and the harsh, flickering red of the emergency lights. He could hear the heavy thrum of the Sector Zero containment field humming above them—a constant reminder that he was just a rat in a very expensive cage.

"I'm... not done," Kael wheezed, the words bubbling through the blood in his throat.

"Done?" Vera laughed, a cold, sharp sound that didn't reach her eyes. She leaned down, grabbing the collar of his shredded jacket and hauling him up just enough so they were eye-to-eye. Her grip was like iron, and the smell of expensive gunpowder and something floral—jasmine, maybe—hit him. "Look at you. You're shaking. Your pulse is erratic. You're not even a challenge anymore, just a glitch in the system that Mord wants scrubbed."

She didn't let go. Instead, she pulled him closer, her face inches from his.