By the time I was done talking, my throat felt raw.
It was as though each word had been dredged up from somewhere deep and jagged inside me, scraping its way out. My shoulders sagged, and for the first time in weeks, the tightness in my chest loosened—only slightly, but enough to let me breathe without feeling like I was stealing air from someone else.
Lia—Amelia—hadn't interrupted once. She simply sat there, her pen unmoving now, eyes fixed on me in the way only a trained observer could manage: present but not invasive.
She let a few heartbeats pass before speaking.
"I've heard parts of this before," she said finally, her voice even. "Hades' battle with the Flux wasn't exactly a secret among certain networks. I'd heard rumors he'd been overtaken entirely at one point." She sighed deeply. "I was not surprised. It was bound to happen."
My fingers twitched involuntarily around Elliot, but I didn't interrupt.
