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“Perhaps.”

Talia glanced up. Neither of us believed that.

She pressed the seal closed and released my hand. No light. No current. Nothing.

“There.”

“Thank you.”

She blinked. “What?”

“I said thank you.”

“I heard you.”

“You look surprised.”

“You’re developing manners.”

“I have manners.”

“Hidden extremely well.”

I almost answered. Then the communicator pulsed again. Once.

Black priority.

I looked toward it.

Talia followed my gaze. “You don’t have to read it.”

I did.

That was the problem. Some part of me still needed to know what the Veil expected. Still responded to command even after refusing it.

I opened the message.

FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN OPERATIONAL COMPROMISE STATUS.

The meaning was clear.

If I did not kill Talia, I would no longer be Ghost pursuing a target.

I would become the target. I closed the message.

Talia watched me. “What now?”

I looked at her, then at the hand she had just bandaged.

A faint trace of silver-white light moved beneath my wrist again. Not enough for her to see. Enough for me.

I curled my fingers into a fist.

The order I could explain. The compromised mission I could explain. Even the possibility that the Veil had been penetrated could be investigated.

But this?

My own ŭre reacting to Talia Mercer’s touch as though it recognized something I did not?