Ty heard Mason through the waiting room television.
The route carried the child's voice badly. Static chewed the edges. Cafeteria echoes folded over each other. Still, the sentence arrived whole enough to hurt.
My name is Mason Bell in this room.
And I think Kieran Stahl was me when everybody forgot.
JJ pressed one hand to her chest.
"He kept both names without letting either one own him."
Heissman adjusted his torn sleeve with unnecessary care.
"He preserved current identity while acknowledging the erased designation."
JJ looked at him.
"That is agreement, so please stop sanding the heart off it."
Ty stayed facing the chair. The child in the memory remained tucked in the shadow with the dinosaur beneath his coat. Erebos's mark burned into the tile, and the old promise waited for the wrong kind of help.
The route offered forced testimony again.
Ty lifted his sickle.
Yun-Jin caught his wrist.
"You said Mason chooses, and you said no force."
