STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

“And Pascal?”

Leona hesitated, then sighed. “Keeping her head down. She doesn’t want to pick a side.”

Lucien ’s stomach twisted.

Darius, still loyal to the system.

Pascal, caught in the middle.

He couldn ’t blame them. But at the same time, it was hard not to feel…

Disappointed.

Leona must have seen it in his face because she squeezed his arm, her voice gentler now. “Don’t let it get to you, Lucian. Everyone’s fighting their own battles, in their own way.”

"What about Carter?"

Leona ’s smirk faded. A flicker of something unreadable flashed across her face—hesitation, regret.

She stood still, rubbing a hand over her arm. "He was in the streets when it all started. When the messages went up, he was out there, protesting. Calling for change."

Lucien felt a pang of something sharp in his heart. Carter had never been a rebel, not in the way Lucien and Lyra were.

"And then?" Lucien pressed, already dreading the answer.

Leona shook her head. "And then... nothing."

Lucien ’s breath caught. "Nothing?"

"No arrest record. No reports. No transfer logs. He just….." She hesitated, searching for the right words. "….disappeared. Like he never existed."

He’d seen people recalibrated, rewritten into shells of themselves. But this? This was worse.

"Recalibration?".

"Maybe," Leona said, though she didn ’t sound convinced. "But usually, there’s some kind of record. An incident report. A transfer log. Something. This? It’s like they wiped him out completely."

Lucien swallowed hard, forcing down the rage burning in his throat. "No one should be erased for wanting to be free."

Leona had a hollowness in her eyes. “It’s an unthinkable situation Lucien, but I’m here, and I am staying.”

Lucien blinked. “Wait—”

She ’s staying?

Leona ’s grin widened at his expression. “Why not? If you’re crazy enough to try to fix this mess, someone should be here to keep your head out of the

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