All Chapters of Midnight Debt: Never His, Always His: Chapter 101 - Chapter 110

REINAZaden crossed the kitchen slowly.Stopped beside me."There's someone at the gate," he said quietly. "I need to tell you before I do anything else."I looked at him.Something in his voice."Who?" I said."Your father."The bowl in my hands almost slipped.I caught it.Set it down carefully on the counter."What?""Yes."I pressed my hands flat on the counter.My father.Here.At these gates.I hadn't spoken to him since the night I walked through them. Not once. Not a single call. Not a message. Nothing. Months of silence because I didn't know what to say to the man who had handed me over like a parcel and walked away."Did he say what he wants?" I said."No," Zaden said. "Just his name. And yours."I stared at the counter."Are you okay?" Zaden said."I don't know" I said honestly.He nodded. Didn't push."You don't have to see him," he said. "Say the word and I send him away."I looked at him.At the man who would have made that decision without asking me."Let him in," I sai

REINAI made it to the garden before I stopped holding it together.Not crying really. Just, sitting on the stone border with my hands in my lap and my head down and the specific feeling of someone who has been carrying too many things for too long and just put down the last one and doesn't know what to do with their hands now.Lena found me ten minutes later.She didn't say anything.She just sat down beside me and handed me a cup of tea like she had been carrying it specifically for this moment.I took it.We sat quietly."He did it for Sofia," I said finally."I know," Lena said. "Damian told me.""He had no choice.""He had a choice," Lena said carefully. "He just made the one that protected her." She paused. "Same thing you would have done."I looked at the garden.She was right.That was the part that made it complicated. That was the part I couldn't be simply furious about. Because I had done the same thing. I had walked through those gates for the same reason he had sent me th

REINAHe knocked on my door at nine."Come in," I said.He opened the door.Stood there for a second before coming in, like he was giving me a chance to change my mind.I didn't.He came in and closed the door behind him."I don't want to overwhelm you," he said. "I know I said everything I needed to say in the garden. I'm not here to repeat it.""Then why are you here?" I said."Because I want you to know I'm not going anywhere," he said. "Even if you need time. Even if you're still angry. I'm not disappearing after one apology and expecting that to fix anything."I looked at him."Sit," I said.I moved to the window seat. He sat on the other end of it. Not close. Careful about the space.The garden was dark outside. A few pack lights visible far off.We sat in silence for a moment."I keep thinking about the boundary night," I said. "How different everything could have been if you'd just... seen my face. If you'd known it was me from the start.""I've thought about that too," he sai

ZADENI woke up before dawn with her still in my arms.For a moment, everything was quiet. Just her breathing, against my chest, and the grey light starting to come through the curtains.Then I remembered.Kira.I eased out from under her carefully. She stirred but didn't wake. I pressed a kiss to her forehead and got dressed in the dark.Damian was already in my office when I got there. Like he'd been waiting all night."You look like you didn't sleep," I said."I didn't," he said. "I've been going through everything. Every transaction on that list. Every date." He slid a folder across the desk. "It's not what we thought."I opened it."Kira's name is on the list," I said. "But look at the dates."I looked.Six months ago. Before Reina ever arrived. A payment. A transfer."That's before the coalition even made contact with us," I said slowly."Yes," Damian said. "Because it wasn't a payment to Kira. It was a payment Kira made. To someone else."I looked up at him."She's not the leak

REINAI found Kira in the training room that night.Not training. Just sitting on the mat, back against the wall, staring at nothing. There was a cut above her eyebrow that hadn't been bandaged properly."You should get that looked at," I said.She glanced up. "I will."I sat down across from her. My whole body ached, but I didn't want to be alone yet, and something told me neither did she."You saved my life out there," I said. "Twice, I think. Maybe three times.""I lost count too," she said.We sat in silence for a moment."I need to explain something," Kira said finally. "About the letter. The list.""You don't have to," I said. "Zaden and Damian already figured it out. You were trying to stop them, not help them."Kira looked at me for a long moment."Six months ago," she said, "before you even arrived, I found out someone in the coalition was trying to buy information about Zaden's border patrols. I paid one of their contacts to feed me false intelligence instead. To protect the