chapter 56

The Man Who Shouldn’t Exist

The air inside the Gate of Forgotten Things was not air at all.

It felt like Kael was breathing memory—thin, brittle strands of moments he’d never lived. Whispers tugged at the back of his mind, slipping in under his ribs, brushing the inside of his skull. A hundred voices, a thousand faces, and not a single one belonged to him.

But the man standing over Cradle?

He wore Kael’s face better than Kael ever had.

Same eyes—only both were molten gold. Same jaw, same mouth,