Chapter 598: A Gift from the Goddess of Love
Chapter 598: A Gift from the Goddess of Love
Veronica’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. "The Aegis Prime secondary placement begins Thursday. Director Chen will be personally overseeing your orientation. She’s expressed significant interest in your... unique capabilities."
"Everyone seems interested in my capabilities lately."
"You killed an A-Rank entity as a first-year. You survived a Black Gate. You won a national tournament against prodigies who’ve been training since childhood. Interest is the natural response." Veronica set down her fork with the careful control of someone who practiced even the smallest movements. "The question is whether that interest will be beneficial or dangerous."
Reyna made a sound. Small. Almost subliminal. A warning directed at her sister.
Veronica ignored it. "I’m not threatening you, Nakano. I’m stating facts. You’ve attracted attention from powerful people. Some of that attention is benign. Some of it is not. The Valerius family has been making inquiries. Seraphina Vance has flagged your file for additional review. There are whispers in the VHC about classified projects that might explain your abnormal growth trajectory."
The pendant went cold.
Not Natalia this time. My own response. The kind of instinctive chill that happened when someone got too close to truths you’d rather keep buried.
"What kind of projects?"
"The kind that don’t officially exist." Veronica’s golden eyes held mine with the intensity of someone who’d built an empire from scratch and wasn’t afraid to watch it burn if necessary. "The kind that disappeared eighteen years ago along with everyone who worked on them."
Reyna’s hand found my knee under the table. Subtle. Grounding. A reminder that I wasn’t alone in this room full of corporate sharks and uncomfortable truths.
"You’re talking about my father."
"I’m talking about a pattern. Your father was a brilliant researcher who vanished without explanation. You manifested an Aspect at eighteen, which should be biologically impossible. Your growth rate defies every model the VHC has developed. Connect the dots."
"And if I choose not to?"
"Then you continue operating blind in a world where everyone else has already figured out the answer." Veronica leaned back in her chair with the casual grace of a predator who didn’t need to chase prey. "I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m asking you to consider the possibility that some people might be invested in keeping you ignorant for reasons that don’t benefit you."
The room was quiet. The kind of quiet that happened before storms and battles and conversations that changed everything.
Reyna’s hand squeezed my knee. Gentle. Reassuring.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because my sister kissed you on a rooftop last night and she doesn’t do that." Veronica’s mask slipped for half a second. The corporate empress vanished. Something older and more protective looked back at me. "Because you saved her life during the tournament and I still don’t understand why. Because in my experience, people who act against their own interests are either idiots or operating on information I don’t have access to. You’re not an idiot."
"Thanks. I think."
"It wasn’t a compliment. It was an observation." She stood. The corporate mask snapped back into place like armor locking into position. "Your schedule for today includes a tactical simulation at ten, a media training session at two, and a free evening. Use the time wisely."
She left without waiting for a response. The door closed behind her with the soft click of expensive hinges.
Reyna and I sat in silence for a long moment. Her hand remained on my knee. The pendant pulsed warmth against my chest. Natalia monitoring. Waiting. Keeping score.
"She’s not subtle," Reyna said finally.
"Was she supposed to be?"
"She thinks she was." Reyna’s fingers traced small circles on my leg through the expensive fabric of my pants. "Veronica’s good at strategy but terrible at human interaction. She processes everything through cost-benefit analysis. Genuine emotion confuses her."
"And you?"
"I’m confused by everything." She looked at me with those green eyes that had seen through La Sirena’s mask and found the girl underneath. "Last night on the rooftop. The things you said. The way you kissed me back. Was any of it real?"
"All of it."
"Even though you have five women waiting for you back home?"
"Because I have five women waiting for me back home." I covered her hand with mine. Her skin was warm. Slightly calloused from years of combat training. Real in a way that expensive suits and corporate breakfasts couldn’t replicate. "They know who I am. They’ve seen the worst parts. They’re still there. That’s what lets me be honest with you now."
Reyna’s breath caught. The same tiny sound from last night. The one that meant I’d said something that mattered.
"That doesn’t make sense."
"Most real things don’t."
She leaned across the table. Her lips found mine for the third time. Soft. Brief. A question rather than a statement.
The pendant went cold.
Extremely cold.
Liquid-nitrogen-might-be-warmer cold.
Reyna pulled back with a grimace. "Your pendant is doing the thing again."
"Natalia’s watching."
"She can feel when you kiss someone else?"
"She can feel when I feel anything." I touched the pendant through my shirt. The cold burned against my fingers. "Soul bond. Long story. Very supernatural."
"Will she actually freeze my blood?"
"Probably not. Maybe. Depends on her mood."
"That’s not reassuring."
"Wasn’t meant to be." I stood up because staying seated next to her was making the pendant colder and my self-control was already running on fumes. "I should go. Tactical simulation at ten."
"Dinner tonight?"
"Reyna."
"I’m asking. You can say no."
I looked at her. This girl who’d been shaped into a weapon and a brand and a commodity since childhood. This girl who screamed on rooftops because she had nowhere else to let herself be real. This girl who kissed me because she wanted to, not because someone told her it was strategically advantageous.
"I can’t say no to you."
"Then don’t."
"Natalia will actually kill me."
"Then die happy."
I laughed despite everything. Despite the pendant burning cold against my chest. Despite the mounting complications and the dangerous revelations about my father and the Valerius surveillance and the fact that I was absolutely going to pay for every single one of these moments when I got back to the island.
"Dinner. Seven o’clock. Your choice of location."
Her smile was worth whatever Natalia was going to do to me.
I walked out of the breakfast room with the pendant pulsing a rhythmic cold that felt like Morse code for you’re dead you’re dead you’re dead. Nel’s voice materialized in my mind with the professional distance of someone who’d been watching a trainwreck and had decided to start taking notes.
The Audience is impressed by your commitment to dramatic tension.
Glad someone’s enjoying this.
Apollo has increased his wager on your survival. The odds have shifted to fifty-fifty.
Better than sixty-forty.
Nike has expressed what she describes as exasperated respect for your ability to complicate situations beyond reasonable expectation.
Tell her I try.
Aphrodite has sent a gift in recognition of your romantic subplot development. I’ve deposited it in your inventory.
I stopped walking. Checked my inventory screen. Found a small pink bottle nestled between Maki’s emergency fish supply and the skeleton key I was saving for something that mattered.
A note attached.
For the brave and the stupid. You seem to be both. Use wisely. Or don’t. I’m not your mother. -A
The bottle contained five small pink pills.
Aphrodite’s Virility Pills. Enhanced stamina. Heightened sensitivity. Six hours of performance.
I closed the inventory and resumed walking.
Nel.
Yes?
How long until Natalia actually murders me?
Based on current data and the temperature fluctuations of the pendant over the past twelve hours, I estimate you have approximately seventy-two hours before she transitions from planning to execution.
That’s specific.
She’s organized.
I know.