Page 74 of Lost in Fire

“Who is she?” Vex asks, voice dangerously soft.

I reach for the Shadowhand’s imperious tone. “A memory. Nothing more.”

“A memory with whom you share a blood bond? I think not.”

He steps back, signaling the technicians. “More.”

Fear shoots through me. I’m already struggling to keep them out of my head.

“Is that truly necessary? I’ve cooperated fully.”

“And yet you continue to hide someone of great importance.” Vex’s eyes flicker, pupils becoming reptilian for a second.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

I don’t know how much longer I can fight this.

“An anomaly.” I raise my chin. “Nothing of significance.”

He leans close, voice dropping to a whisper. “Whatever you’re hiding, whoever you’re protecting—I will find them. And when I do, their fate will be considerably worse than yours.”

The magic tears through my defenses. Each layer I’ve built crumbles under the assault. My vision blurs, the white room spinning as foreign power floods my mind.

No. Not like this.

I feel Vex’s satisfaction as another wall falls. He’s close now, so close to everything I’ve hidden. Ember’s face flickers clearer in the display. Names of families start to surface despite my desperate attempts to bury them.

One option remains.

Let them know about my daughter and the man who fathered her. They’re safe now. Not like the others within the Syndicate who would become targets if I exposed them.

I can’t allow that.

I reach for the bond with Hargen. It pulses warm against the cold invasion of verification magic.

The effort costs me. My remaining defenses shudder as I divert focus to send the message. Four words. All I can manage.

“They know. Protect her.”

The moment I transmit it, everything shatters.

Images cascade through the display. Ember at five, manifesting dragon scales while crying over a scraped knee. Hargen in our bed just days ago. I shake with the effort ofholding back everything else. Of hiding the faces of the others we’ve saved.

“There,” Vex breathes, triumph coating every syllable. “Finally. You have a child.”

The last wall falls. My mind lies exposed, my secret laid bare for Syndicate examination. The Shadowhand’s mask can no longer hide what I’ve become.

What I’ve always been.

A mother. A protector. A traitor to their cause.

Chapter 25

Hargen

The cafeteria buzzes with conversation that would have blown my mind six months ago. At the table to my left, a wolf shifter argues politics with a dragon whose scales shimmer golden-green along her forearms. To my right, three witches demonstrate ward techniques while a bear shifter offers commentary on forest magic applications.

I watch it all while picking at lunch that tastes like cardboard. The novelty hasn’t worn off—seeing supernatural beings interact without fear, without the rigid hierarchies that governed my world for decades. But today, the easy camaraderie feels distant. My mind keeps drifting toward Syndicate territory, toward the woman I left behind.

---