Chapter 123
last update2026-01-06 16:25:32

THE SHAPE OF HIS SILENCE***

Celeste Cain had learned, very young, how to stand still when the world was about to break.

She stood that way now.

The abandoned Cain laboratory smelled of dust, old coolant, and buried lies. Emergency lights cast everything in a low red wash that made shadows look like wounds. Rows of obsolete equipment lined the walls—early Gene stabilizers, neural cages, failed prototypes stamped with dates Victor had scrubbed from the official record.

Revenant waited in the center of the room.

Not pacing, not watching her like a predator just… standing as if he knew she would wake exactly when she did.

“You’re early,” Celeste said, her voice steady despite the ache in her wrists. The restraints were light not physical, but probabilistic. If she moved the wrong way, the field would tighten. If she moved right, she might slip through.

Revenant tilted his head. The movement was familiar enough to make her chest tighten.

“Luther wakes early too,” he said. “Always has.”

The
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