Kaelen POV
I can't stop thinking about the shock.
It's been six hours since I touched Nyxara Solene's wrist in the hallway, and my fingers still remember the jolt of electricity that ran between us. Not painful. Not pleasant either. Just... wrong. Like my body recognized something my brain refuses to accept.
I'm standing in Mother's office, watching her pace like a satisfied predator, and all I can think about is that girl's storm-gray eyes widening in surprise.
Focus. This is your final exam. Your entire future depends on this.
"She's perfect," Mother says, pulling up holographic data screens around us. "Already making waves. Professor Vex sent me her performance analysis—she cracked a level-seven encryption in under two minutes. On her first day." She turns to me, smiling. "She's brilliant, desperate, and naive. Exactly the kind of human who'll make mistakes when pushed."
"What kind of mistakes?" I ask, keeping my voice flat.
"Treason. Theft. Whatever we need." Mother waves her hand dismissively. "Your job is simple, Kaelen. Make her trust you. Make her love you if necessary. Once she's attached, you'll suggest she access restricted medical files—for her dying brother, of course. Such a tragic motivation. When she does, we'll have our evidence."
My stomach twists. "You want me to trick her into committing a crime."
"I want you to expose the crime she was always going to commit." Mother's eyes go cold. "Don't be naive. These Fringe rats are all the same—give them a chance and they'll steal everything we've built. Better to catch her now, make an example, than let her contaminate other students."
"And if she doesn't take the bait?"
"Then you'll create a situation where she has no choice." Mother steps closer, her voice dropping. "This is your test, Kaelen. Can you manipulate a human into destroying herself? Can you watch her fall and feel nothing? Or are you still that weak little boy who cried over a dead cat?"
The memory flashes through me—blood on white fur, Mother's cold smile, the saw in her hand. The way she made me watch while she—
No. I buried that boy. I'm not him anymore.
"I understand the assignment," I say mechanically.
"Good." Mother touches my face, almost loving. Almost. "You have six months. Seduce her, break her, bring me evidence. Then we'll execute her publicly and you'll become High Enforcer." She pauses. "Unless you fail. And we both know what happens to failures."
The Culling Zones. Where defective Celestials go to die slowly, stripped of enhancements, left to rot with the humans they once ruled.
"I won't fail."
"See that you don't." Mother turns back to her screens. "Oh, and Kaelen? Don't actually fall for her. That would be... unfortunate for you both."
I leave before she can see my hands shaking.
I find Nyxara in the library at midnight, exactly where her tracking chip says she'd be. She's hunched over a ancient data terminal in the corner, so focused on her code she doesn't hear me approach.
I watch her for a moment, studying my target.
She's tiny compared to Celestials—barely reaches my shoulder. Her silver hair falls across her face as she works, and she keeps pushing it back with ink-stained fingers. She's wearing the same borrowed clothes from this morning, and there's a hole in her sleeve she's tried to sew shut.
She's poor. Alone. Desperate.
Easy prey.
So why does watching her code make my chest ache?
Stop it. She's an assignment. Nothing more.
I clear my throat.
She jumps, spinning around so fast her data pad crashes to the floor. When she sees me, the color drains from her face.
"You." Her voice is barely a whisper. "What do you want?"
"To apologize." The words surprise me—they weren't part of my plan. "For earlier. I didn't mean to frighten you."
She blinks. "You're... apologizing?"
"Is that so strange?"
"You're Kaelen Voss." She says my name like it's a curse. "You don't apologize to Fringe students. You hunt them."
Smart girl. She's right to be afraid.
I should leave. This is already going wrong. I'm supposed to be charming, not honest.
But something about her makes me want to be real, just for a moment.
"I don't hunt students," I say quietly. "I hunt criminals. There's a difference."
"Is there?" She crosses her arms, and I see fire behind the fear. "Because from where I'm standing, being Fringe is already a crime in your world."
"You're right." The admission shocks us both. "It's not fair. But fair and legal aren't the same thing."
She stares at me like I'm a bomb that might explode. "Why are you really here?"
Because my mother ordered me to destroy you. Because you're my final exam. Because I need to make you love me so I can rip your life apart.
"Your code," I say instead. "This afternoon. It was... beautiful."
Her eyes widen. "Beautiful?"
"Most people code like they're building walls. You code like you're writing music." I step closer, careful not to spook her. "Where did you learn that?"
"I taught myself." Pride creeps into her voice. "From salvaged textbooks and—" She stops, realizing she's said too much.
"And black market files?" I finish. She goes pale. "Relax. I'm not going to report you. Half the Academy uses black market files. The other half writes them."
A tiny smile touches her lips. "Really?"
"Really." I pick up her dropped data pad, and our fingers brush as I hand it back. That shock again—stronger this time. She feels it too; I see her breath catch.
What is that?
"I should go," she says quickly. "It's past curfew."
"So why are you here?"
She hesitates, then says quietly, "My brother. Zephyr. He's sick. I'm trying to find information about his condition, but the medical databases are restricted."
Perfect. She's already looking for restricted files. This will be easier than I thought.
So why does that make me feel sick?
"I could help," I hear myself say. "I have access to medical databases. High-level clearance."
Her eyes light up with desperate hope. "You would do that? For me?"
No. I'm doing it to trap you. To make you dependent on me. To start the manipulation that will end with your death.
"Yes," I say. "Meet me here tomorrow night. Same time. I'll show you what I can find."
She smiles—really smiles—and it transforms her entire face. "Thank you. You have no idea what this means."
I do, actually. It means I'm one step closer to destroying her.
She starts to leave, then turns back. "Kaelen? Why are you being nice to me? Everyone else here treats me like I'm diseased."
Because I'm supposed to earn your trust. Because you're my mission. Because in six months, I need you to love me enough that the betrayal will destroy you completely.
"Because you're interesting," I say instead. It's not a lie. "And I don't meet interesting people very often."
She ducks her head, blushing. "Goodnight, Kaelen."
"Goodnight, Nyxara."
She disappears into the shadows, and I'm left alone with the ghost of electricity on my fingers and the terrible knowledge that I just took the first step in destroying the most fascinating person I've ever met.
My communicator buzzes. Mother's message: Well done. First contact successful. Continue cultivation.
I delete it and stare at the empty space where Nyxara stood.
This should feel like victory.
Instead, it feels like I just made the biggest mistake of my life.
Because when she smiled at me, something inside my broken, surgically altered heart tried to beat again.
And if Mother finds out I'm feeling anything for my target—anything at all—she won't just kill Nyxara.
She'll make me watch.
Just like she did with the cat.