Todos los capítulos de The cursed mate's return : Capítulo 251 - Capítulo 260

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

Maia's povThe broadcast goes live by accident.That’s what it will be called later. An error. A cascade failure. A glitch no one could have predicted.But I feel it the moment it happens.The city exhales, and suddenly I am everywhere.Every screen lights at once. Transit walls. Wrist slates. Storefront glass. Living room projectors. A million private spaces breached in the same breath.My face stares back at me from a cracked monitor across the chamber.I don’t recognize myself at first.Not because I look different, but because I look unedited. No careful removal of the parts that scared people.I look alive.“Oh,” someone whispers behind me.Kael.I turn. He’s already watching the screens, jaw tight, eyes locked on my image like it might reach out and pull him apart.“This wasn’t planned,” he says.“I know.”The city doesn’t wait for permission.My voice fills the air, layered over itself, carried through open channels that never should have existed.“People of the city,” I hear m

Maia's povEvery screen in the city turns white at the same time. Apartments, transit hubs, wrist displays, old wall panels people forgot still worked. There is no countdown and no announcement. One moment the city is loud and fractured, the next it is focused on a single point.I did not plan it like this. I did not cue a system or issue a command. The city simply opens its throat and hands me the voice.Kael feels it before I do. His hand tightens around mine, firm and grounding, not asking permission. He looks at the nearest wall display, then at me, and something shifts in his expression. He knows what this means. He also knows there is no pulling it back.“Maia,” he says. Just my name. Nothing else.I breathe in. The air tastes like dust and ozone. The room we are standing in is stripped bare from the fighting earlier. Exposed conduits run along the walls. The lights flicker but stay on. The city wants this seen.Eli is pacing near the door, running a hand through his hair, eyes

Maia's pov“All stations are live. We are broadcasting.”The words echoed straight through the room.I lift my head slowly. Every screen along the wall flickers, then steadies. Faces appear confused, tense, scared. Some are framed by city apartments, some by offices, some by places I don’t recognize at all. Thousands of eyes. Then more. The counter climbs too fast to track.Kael swears softly beside me.“Who did that?” he asks.“I did,” Eli says, voice tight but steady. “You told me to run the data. I ran everything.”I don’t look at him. I’m watching the screens. Watching the city see itself for the first time.A woman on one feed presses her hand to her mouth. A man on another stands abruptly, knocking over a chair. Someone starts crying. Someone else starts shouting, the sound cutting out as the system tries and fails to moderate it.“What are they seeing?” Kael asks.I finally answer. “The truth.”My throat is dry. My hands feel strange, like they don’t belong to me anymore.Names

Maia's pov“Say it again.”Kael’s voice is steady, but his hand tightens around mine like he is afraid I will disappear if he lets go.“Say what again?” I ask.“Tell me you’re still here.”I turn my head and look at him properly this time. His face is streaked with dirt and dried blood that is not his. His eyes are locked on mine with the kind of focus that comes from having already lost too much.“I’m still here,” I say. “I haven’t gone anywhere.”That is not entirely true, but it is close enough to matter.The corridor shakes beneath our feet. Somewhere above us, something heavy collapses, metal screaming as it tears loose. The city is still breaking, even if it no longer knows who is in charge of the damage.“We need to move,” Eli says from behind us. “Public channels are going wild. Everyone can see everything. No filters. No suppression.”Kael looks at me. “Did you do that?”“I didn’t stop it,” I say. “That is not the same thing.”Eli swallows. “People are watching arrests happen