Replaced by His First Love
It is a paradise built on a funeral pyre.
At the very center of the city, a massive holographic projection hangs in the air, miles wide. It shows Kael—older, harder, his eyes like dead stars—standing next to a radiant, silver-haired Serena. She is touching a phantom scar on her neck, smiling at the camera with a predatory grace.
The caption below them scrolls in a continuous loop: THE SAVIORS OF THE NEW LIGHT.
I turn away from the window, the gold in my veins burning hot. I take the chip from Silas and press it into the port at the base of my skull.