Chapter 15 · I let them change you

"I let them change you."

Mira took one step closer. "Sera, his heart—"

"Stay back."

Kael’s breath shook against her fingers.

She felt it through the bond. The fear. The pain. And beneath both, the same memory repeating like a wound that never closed.

Young Kael reaching for the glass.

Young Kael saying something she still couldn’t hear.

Young Kael turning away as the machine came alive.

"What did you do after?" Sera asked.

Kael looked at her again. "I burned the records."

"Why?"

"Because Oren wanted you turned into a weapon."

"And you didn’t?"

"I wanted you hidden."

"You hid me in an execution block."

"I lost control of the city."

"You lost control?" She laughed once, sharp and empty. "You’re Kael Rusk. The ruler who had an answer for every knife at his throat. The man who can make a whole district kneel with one order. Don’t give me that helpless act."

His eyes hardened. "You think power means control? You have no idea what happened."

"Then tell me."

"I can’t."

"Can’t, or won’t?"

Kael’s jaw flexed. "If I tell you the rest, the Core will hear it."

The chamber went quiet except for the relay’s rising hum.