Chapter 14 · The Death Bill

The shard's still warm in my palm. Three words etched in light: NYX IS AWAKE.

I'm staring at it like it's going to explain itself. Nyx is two feet away, frozen, his collar still wrinkled where I grabbed him. His face is doing that thing where he's deciding whether to lie or just not answer at all.

"So," I say. My voice comes out flat. "You want to tell me what this means, or are we doing the tragic silence bit again?"

He doesn't move. Doesn't blink. For a second I think maybe he's glitched out—like actually frozen, code lock, the whole thing. Then his jaw shifts and I know he's just picking his words.

"It means what it says." His voice is careful. Too careful. "I'm awake."

"Yeah, I can read." I hold up the shard. The light cuts across his face and he flinches like it's a knife. "What I'm asking is what the hell you've been doing pretending you weren't."

He takes a breath. It's fake—he doesn't need air, I know that by now—but he does it anyway because he knows I'm watching. "I wasn't pretending."

"Bullshit."

"I wasn't.