Chapter 40 · Before Zero

"Say that again."

Kael's eyes snapped to mine. Blood still dripped from his nose where the memory transfer had hit him. He wiped it with the back of his hand, slow, like he didn't know what his own fingers were doing.

"I didn't—" He stopped. Blinked. "What did I say?"

"Tango-Three-Alpha." I kept my voice flat. "That's a field evac code. Earth code. You don't get that from a vision or a rune bleed."

He pushed himself off the ground, boots scraping stone. The core room was still smoking where the anchor had shattered. Chunks of black crystal glittered across the floor like broken teeth.

"I don't know what that means," he said.

Lie. I could see it in the way his jaw locked. He knew. He just didn't know how he knew.

"Bullshit." I stepped closer. "You just lived through forty-six loops in three seconds. You remember every reset, every death, every time I bled out in your arms. So don't stand there and tell me you don't know."

His hand went to his chest, fingers splayed over his sternum like he was checking for a wound that wasn't there. "It's not—" He exhaled hard. "It's not my memory.