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Chapter eighty two: we couldn't recognize her anymore
Last Updated:
2025-06-03 11:46:48
Latest chapter
The cursed mate's return Alignment
Maia's povPeople like him think waiting is power. They think stillness means control. But I know the difference between patience and paralysis. I was built in that gap.“You don’t need my answer,” I say. “You already decided.”Jonas’s expression doesn’t change. “Decisions can be revised.”“No,” I reply. “Outcomes can. Not intent.”The city hums under my skin, tighter now, like a held breath. It knows him. It remembers him. Not fondly.“You want me as an interface,” I continue. “As a filter. A conscience you can claim when it suits you and silence when it doesn’t.”“That’s an emotional interpretation,” Jonas says.“It’s an accurate one.”Behind him, the sealed doors begin to glow faintly. Custodian tech. Not Council. Older. Harder to break. Built for inevitability, not resistance.Jonas notices my attention shift. “We anticipated refusal.”“Of course you did.”“You’re not the first to resist.”“I will be the last,” I say.Something sharpens in his eyes. “You overestimate your leverage
The cursed mate's return Scrap above what's expected
Maia's povJonas Hale waits. I don’t then I moved again.The moment stretches wrong, like the world expects me to hesitate. That’s the mistake they keep making. I didn’t survive the Council by pausing.“You don’t get to recruit me,” I say. “You don’t get to threaten me. And you don’t get to decide what survives.”Jonas’s smile fades. Not anger. Interest.“That wasn’t a refusal,” he says.“It was,” I answer.The city reacts before he does. Power shifts. Floors reweight. The chamber tightens, not collapsing—aligning. I feel resistance immediately. Continuum-adjacent.Jonas exhales through his nose. “You think you’re in control.”“I know I’m not,” I say. “That’s why you’re nervous.”He lifts his hand.The air locks.Not freezing but restricting. Like gravity suddenly learned my name and decided to test it. Pain spikes behind my eyes. My knees bend but don’t touch the floor.Jonas watches closely. Measuring response time.“This is why we can’t allow you to walk away,” he says. “You desta
The cursed mate's return Dead shark
Maia's povI wake up to breathing that isn’t mine. I didn't know where I am. The world feels wrong, too soft at the edges, like my senses have been wrapped in gauze. It’s the city.I inhale, slow and careful. My chest aches like I ran too far on broken lungs. Every nerve feels tender, overexposed, like the skin after a burn.“Hey,” someone says quietly. “Don’t move yet.”Kael.I open my eyes.We’re not in the cathedral-core anymore. We’re in a smaller chamber off the main throat—maintenance by the smell of oil and dust, but warmer than it should be. Emergency lights glow low and amber, not panicked red. Someone’s jacket is folded under my head.Kael is sitting against the wall beside me, one knee drawn up, one arm braced protectively behind my shoulders. His face looks older than it did an hour ago. His eyes are bloodshot. He hasn’t slept. He hasn’t looked away.I swallow. “How long?”“Long enough for me to hate every second of it,” he says. Then, softer, “About ten minutes.”Ten min
The cursed mate's return A new phase
Maia's povKael is still holding me. I don’t remember when I stopped shaking, only that his arms are locked around me like if he loosens them I’ll dissolve into code and memory and regret. His heartbeat is loud against my cheek. I anchor to it.“Maia,” he says again, softer this time. “Talk to me.”I open my mouth, but speechless because something is wrong.Not collapsing-buildings wrong. Not Council-trying-to-kill-us wrong. This is subtler like when you realize you’ve won a fight but lost track of who else was watching.The cathedral-core dims, light columns flickering as if uncertain whether they should still obey me. I feel the city, millions of minds, newly unmuted, chaos blooming like a bruise under the skin of infrastructure.And beneath that was a pressure.“Kael,” I whisper. “Don’t move.”That alone makes him tense. His grip tightens, protective instinct flaring even as he obeys.Lena steps closer, boots echoing against the floor. Her face has lost its sharp composure. She’s
The cursed mate's return Challenges ahead
Maia's povThe building feels different when I’m inside my own head.Kael is at my side, matching my pace without asking where we’re going. He never asks. He learned years ago that if I hesitate long enough to explain, something worse is already happening.Eli’s footsteps slap unevenly behind us. He’s scared. Not useless-scared. The kind that keeps you alive if it doesn’t turn into panic.The corridor narrows, walls pulling inward, not collapsing but deciding. I feel the shift before it happens, like a muscle tightening.“They’re sealing behind us,” Eli gasps.“I know,” I say.I don’t slow down.The lights stutter, then settle into a dull amber. Pre-Council. The kind they used before they realized fear worked better in red.Kael glances at me. “You okay?”The question is almost laughable.I am holding the spine of a city together with borrowed breath and half-remembered code. I am running toward the place where they taught me how to disappear. I am feeling things that were locked away
The cursed mate's return Never expected the blast
Kael's povSomething went wrong before it went loud.I felt it in the way the floor vibrated under my boots, really shallow, like a skipped heartbeat. Maia felt it too. Her fingers tightened around mine, not in fear, but in warning.“This isn’t just the Council,” she said quietly.The corridor ahead dimmed, then brightened again, the lights stuttering like they couldn’t decide who was in charge anymore. A seam split along the wall to our right, metal pulling away from itself with a shriek that set my teeth on edge. Heat bled out, sharp and dry.“Backup command layer,” I muttered. “They buried it deep.”Maia shook her head. “No. This one’s older.”That was worse.The Council didn’t keep antiques unless they were afraid of them.The wall gave way with a low, violent crack, and someone stumbled through the opening, coughing hard. I shoved Maia behind me without thinking, already reaching for the sidearm I’d lifted off a guard earlier.The figure dropped to one knee, palm braced against
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