Chapter 19 · The Vera in the Core

The core isn't a room. It's a gallery.

Nyx's hand is still in mine when the walls finish loading, and I wish it wasn't, because now I can feel the exact moment he realizes I'm seeing what he didn't want me to see. His fingers go stiff. His breath stops. The kind of stop that says oh shit, she knows.

I know.

The saves are everywhere. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. They line the walls like portraits in some nightmare museum, except they're not paintings, they're windows, and every single one is me.

I take a step forward. My hand slips out of his.

"Vera," Nyx says behind me. His voice is too careful. "Let me explain."

I don't answer. I'm staring at the nearest save. It's me, crouched in the starting zone, hands over my face. Crying. I don't remember that. The next one is me laughing at something off-screen. The one after that is me sleeping against a tree, head tilted back, mouth open. I look so tired. The next one—