Cassian’s Pattern Lab looks like a mind that hasn’t slept.
Not chaos.
Obsession.
Every surface is layered with light—Vein maps overlapping Dock Seven, Pattern Lab, Underveil’s mirror-lattice bleeding into the Tower scar like the past refuses to stay buried. Nutrient packs sit untouched. A mug has gone cold and reheated so many times the handle is cracked.
Cassian doesn’t look up when Kaien and I enter.
Kaien steps fully into the room, Titanblood presence snapping the air into order whether the lab likes it or not.
“Did someone get an update on Nyra?” Cassian asks
“She hasn’t woken,” Kaien says.
Cassian’s jaw tightens. He exhales through his nose, slow, deliberate.
“Good,” he says flatly. “Because I’m about to say things she’ll hate.”
He flicks his wrist.
The lab blooms.
Underve
