Page 79 of The Monster's Daughter

We reach Nulegion’s core.

I see it now. A black sphere of recursive data, throbbing with stolen memories. Natalie’s fears. Bella’s doubts. Myrage.

We link hands.

Then we let go.

And let everything we are burn through it.

CHAPTER 43

BELLA

The first thing I feel is breath. Mine. Rushing into lungs that ache like they’ve never worked before. Everything hurts, but it’s the kind of hurt that says I’m alive. Not code, not light, not thought twisted into war—but flesh. Blood. Skin that tingles with returning nerve endings. I smell antiseptic, overheated wiring, something faintly charred. And under that, stronger than all of it, I smell him.

Kage.

His arms are wrapped around me, trembling. Not with effort, not with pain—but with relief. I hear the hitch in his breath, feel the way his huge frame folds in like he’s praying with his whole body. His voice cracks, barely a whisper in my ear.

“Bella.”

I open my mouth. Don’t speak. Just breathe. I can’t stop shaking. My fingers flex like they’re learning how to move again. My spine arches, instinctive and raw, and then I sag against him.

He makes a broken sound, something between a sob and a laugh, and buries his face in my neck. His tears burn hot, sinking into my skin. I don’t stop him. Ineedhim.

“Don’t ever—” he rasps. “Don’t ever do that again.”

I want to say I won’t. That I promise. But we both know I would. If it meant saving her. I’d do it again in a second.

A little voice cuts through the heavy quiet.

“Mommy?”

We both turn toward the other medbed. Natalie’s eyes flutter open, groggy and rimmed with silver lashes. But the glow is gone. Her voice is soft, uncertain.

“Is it over?”

I crawl across the gap, every movement agony and miracle all at once. I cradle her against me, forehead to forehead, breathing her in like oxygen.

“It’s over, baby,” I whisper, tears falling freely now. “He’s gone. You’re safe.”

She starts to cry. Quiet at first, then full-body sobs. And Kage wraps both of us up, pulling us into the curve of his chest. We just hold each other, shaking, snotty, whispering nonsense and names and I love yous and I’m sorrys until it feels like we might fall asleep in the tangle.

We don’t.

The ship hums gently around us, drifting without destination, just a silver ghost in the vacuum beside a burning blue gas giant. I look out the port window. The stars seem closer now. More personal.

I let out a half-crazed laugh.

“Did we just save the goddamn galaxy?”

Kage presses his lips to my temple. His voice is raw velvet.

“Yeah. And each other.”

Back on Glimner, things move fast.

The minute the story gets out—what we did, what Natalie is, what Nulegionwas—the newsfeeds erupt like someone lit a match in a fireworks factory. Speculation. Panic. Worship. Fury. Conspiracies by the dozens.