Page 72 of The Warlord's Secret Heir

I set it down in the case. Seal it. Label it with a shaky hand:"Alpha Source - Gen Extractor."

Then I just… stare at it.

That’s all it is. A tool. A device.

But to me, it’s a countdown clock.

And I don’t know if I can press “start.”

Out the viewport slit, the camp glows in flickering red.

Kyldak’s out there.

Alone.

Training again. Probably working out rage with fists and weapons. Typical.

He’s shirtless. Of course he is. Even in the dark, I can see the sweat tracing down the golden scales on his back, the scar crossing his side from that prison riot he told me about last night. His fists are wrapped in bloodied cloth, striking a battered metal target over and over again like it insulted his ancestors.

And something inside me just… cracks.

I can't do it. Not tonight.

I close the case. Slide it into the corner where even I won’t trip on it.

“Tomorrow,” I whisper to no one.

CHAPTER 20

KYLDAK

“You sure that’s what she said?”

Scout flicks his eyes to the dirt. “Heard it clear, boss. ‘Extraction.’ Then something about ‘resonance.’ She was talking to herself.”

I stare him down across the oil drum fire we’ve half-assed into a debrief table. Sparks spit upward like they want to get away.

“Genetic resonance,” I mutter. “She said that exact phrase?”

He shrugs. “Sounded sciencey. Didn’t make no sense.”

It makessome.

Just enough to wedge its way under my ribs like a sliver of glass I can’t dig out.

I dismiss the scout with a nod. He sprints off, happy to still have both kneecaps.

The fire crackles.

Extraction. Resonance.

She’s not sick. I would’ve seen it by now—Jaela hides a lot, but not dying. And she’s toourgentto be after data. Too reckless.

So what the fuck is she doing in that lab?

I don’t knock.

I don’t warn.