Page 29

V anya

I keep my face blank. The paper might as well be a death sentence. “No, Marek. Thank you.”

After he leaves, I sit perfectly still. Sunlight inches across my desk. One hour. They’ve given me one hour to prepare for a procedure designed to strip away fifteen years of carefully built defenses.

Shit. I knew this was coming, but it’s still a shock.

At least Ember is safe. The thought wraps around me like armor. Whatever happens, my daughter is beyond their reach. Still, it doesn’t stop the swirl of apprehension from building in my gut.

I arrange my already orderly desk, using the precise motions to settle myself.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Ember may be safe, but I can’t guarantee they won’t tap into other thoughts I’ve been hiding.

Silently, I begin building mental defenses. Layer by layer, I construct walls around dangerous memories. Ember’s face as she left. Hargen’s hands on my skin. Names and locations of every family in our network.

I bury them beneath false images and misdirection. It might not be enough, but I have to try. By the time the knock at the door comes, I’m the picture of calm.

“Elder,” a guard says, dipping his head deferentially. “They are ready for you.”

I stand and nod, straightening the fabric of my jacket before joining him on the walk that will lead to the wing where Vex is running this whole farce. We remain silent as we head there.

The verification chamber is pristine white. Windowless. A single chair sits beneath harsh lights. Ancient runes mark the floor—a containment circle older than the Syndicate, designed to prevent dragon shifting during interrogation.

Elder Vex waits inside, flanked by two technicians in gray, their expressions professionally blank.

“Elder Arrowvane.” He gestures to the chair with mock courtesy. “Thank you for your prompt arrival.”

I maintain the Shadowhand’s imperious bearing.

“Standard procedure,” I say, settling into the chair. “I assume we’ll proceed efficiently.”

“Of course.” He nods to the technicians. “Though your session has been designated Priority Level Alpha.”

Ice slides down my spine. Alpha designation means direct Ivory League interest. Special scrutiny for special cases.

The technicians attach devices to my temples and wrists. Their touch is clinical as they adjust settings. Magic brushes my consciousness like cold fingers.

“Comfortable?” Vex asks.

“Perfectly.” I keep my hands relaxed, though every instinct screams to break free. Dragons hate confinement above all else—it’s written in our bones.

“Excellent. We’ll begin with standard questions. Please respond truthfully.”

The preliminaries are simple. Position. Rank. Bloodline history. I answer easily, maintaining a measured tone.

The devices hum, mapping neural pathways. I feel magic probe my defenses and reinforce them with ease.

“Your cooperation is appreciated,” Vex says, though his posture suggests dissatisfaction. “Now, let’s discuss recent events. Your interrogation of the Aurora Collective operative, Hargen Cole.”

I prepared for this. “The subject provided valuable intelligence before being transferred to the secure facility. However, it soon became clear that he was planning to play a double game.”

“Most unusual to move such a high-value asset to your private facility.”

“As we discussed in our meeting, Elder,” I say smoothly, “his psychological profile required specialized handling. Standard chambers were counterproductive.”

The magic pulses stronger, seeking emotional responses. I visualize ice—solid, impenetrable, reflective. The technique has served me well, projecting calm while hiding fire beneath.

“Did these techniques yield additional intelligence?”

I deliver prepared lies with perfect conviction. “Confirmation of Aurora’s territorial expansion. Details of recruitment methods. Connection patterns between former assets.”

Vex gestures. A technician adjusts settings. The magic intensifies, pressing against my defenses.

“Your logs show significant gaps. Periods where recording devices were inactive.”

“Standard protocol for certain methods. The subject’s handler training included resistance to magical extraction.”

The pressure increases. No longer gentle probing but deliberate pushing, seeking weakness. I reinforce mental walls, drawing on techniques I’ve studied in anticipation of something like this.

“Alternative approaches,” Vex repeats. “Yet the results seem minimal for the time invested.”

The devices warm. Magic sends tendrils deeper into my consciousness. I feel the first real threat—a seeking presence that brushes buried memories.

Ember’s face, flushed with anger learning her father was alive.

Hargen’s eyes in morning light, watching me with such tenderness it hurt.

The safe house, our last refuge.

I push these images deeper, beneath layers of ice and shadow, focusing on manufactured memories of interrogations that never happened.

“Results require patience,” I say, reinforcing the rigid Shadowhand persona that has served me for so long.

Vex gestures again. A technician steps forward with a crystal vial. Liquid shimmers with unnatural blue light.

“This enhances magical conductivity.” He smiles coldly. “A little something I had developed for just such an occasion.”

Shit! What now?

“Is this necessary?” I allow arrogance to color my tone. “Surely my cooperation—”

“Is appreciated. But thoroughness serves us all. Unless you have objections?”

The trap is elegant. Refusal confirms suspicions. Acceptance might break my defenses.

The technician draws the fluid into a syringe, the needle glinting in the harsh light. Vex’s expression is growing increasingly calculating.

Fuck. What if I can’t resist this?

I extend my arm. “Proceed.”

The needle pierces the fine skin of my arm. I twitch as new magic floods my system but resist the urge to grit my teeth.

“Now then.” Vex’s voice seems to come from inside and outside my head. “Let’s discuss your recent activities more thoroughly.”

Questions become precise, targeting specific dates and decisions. I answer mechanically, fighting to maintain defenses while magic seeks weaknesses. The room’s temperature drops as my dragon nature stirs, responding to threat.

Dragons are creatures of memory and fire. Both work against me now—vivid memories harder to suppress, fire threatening to break free under stress.

Control. Maintain control.

“Interesting,” Vex says suddenly, studying a display only he can see. “Unusual activity in your bond centers.”

My heart stutters. The magic found the thread connecting me to Hargen—the bond maintained through decades of separation.

“Handlers often form rudimentary connections during intensive interrogation. Temporary resonance patterns that fade with time.”

“Perhaps.” Vex turns to the technicians. “Deepen the scan. Focus on recent bond activity.”

The magic plunges deeper, no longer probing but forcing past my first defenses. Memories flicker—not just images but sensations, emotions, things harder to conceal.

Hargen’s mouth on mine after twenty-one years.

Ember’s weight in my arms as I said goodbye.

The ache of watching them leave.

I fight to contain these memories, but verification magic is designed for exactly this—to find what’s hidden, expose what’s protected.

“Your resistance is impressive. Most subjects show significant deterioration by this point.”

I say nothing, focusing every ounce of concentration on maintaining defenses. The dragon within stirs urgently, responding with ancient instincts.

Keep it together.

I can’t let my animal side show now; it’ll only give him something to focus on.

The magic pushes harder. I feel something crack—a fissure in my defenses, small but growing.

Vex sees it too. His expression shifts into something smug and ugly. “There. The scanners detect a familial bond. Active and recently accessed. Yet your records show no immediate family. How curious.”

Ember.

I push the thought away desperately, but it’s too late.

An image flickers in the display—a young woman with platinum hair and dark eyes, features blurred but recognizable.

“Who is she?” Vex asks, voice dangerously soft.

I reach for the Shadowhand’s imperious tone. “A memory. Nothing more.”

“A memory with whom you share a blood bond? I think not.”

He steps back, signaling the technicians. “More.”

Fear shoots through me. I’m already struggling to keep them out of my head.

“Is that truly necessary? I’ve cooperated fully.”

“And yet you continue to hide someone of great importance.” Vex’s eyes flicker, pupils becoming reptilian for a second.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

I don’t know how much longer I can fight this.

“An anomaly.” I raise my chin. “Nothing of significance.”

He leans close, voice dropping to a whisper. “Whatever you’re hiding, whoever you’re protecting—I will find them. And when I do, their fate will be considerably worse than yours.”

The magic tears through my defenses. Each layer I’ve built crumbles under the assault. My vision blurs, the white room spinning as foreign power floods my mind.

No. Not like this.

I feel Vex’s satisfaction as another wall falls. He’s close now, so close to everything I’ve hidden. Ember’s face flickers clearer in the display. Names of families start to surface despite my desperate attempts to bury them.

One option remains.

Let them know about my daughter and the man who fathered her. They’re safe now. Not like the others within the Syndicate who would become targets if I exposed them.

I can’t allow that.

I reach for the bond with Hargen. It pulses warm against the cold invasion of verification magic.

The effort costs me. My remaining defenses shudder as I divert focus to send the message. Four words. All I can manage.

“They know. Protect her.”

The moment I transmit it, everything shatters.

Images cascade through the display. Ember at five, manifesting dragon scales while crying over a scraped knee. Hargen in our bed just days ago. I shake with the effort of holding back everything else. Of hiding the faces of the others we’ve saved.

“There,” Vex breathes, triumph coating every syllable. “Finally. You have a child.”

The last wall falls. My mind lies exposed, my secret laid bare for Syndicate examination. The Shadowhand’s mask can no longer hide what I’ve become.

What I’ve always been.

A mother. A protector. A traitor to their cause.