The words hit me like a bullet. “Hello, mother.” My chest constricted, a thousand emotions colliding, fear, disbelief, rage, and a flicker of something I didn’t want to name: sorrow. My hands shook as I stared at the digital face, eerily familiar, impossibly precise, and impossibly wrong.
Vordon’s grip on my arm tightened, grounding me, though I wasn’t sure if he could stop the trembling in my core. His blue eyes were sharp, questioning, afraid, yet tinged with that pride that always made my heart twist.
“What, what is this?” I whispered, voice breaking.
Marcus leaned forward, his smug bravado faltering under the gravity of the moment. “Mother? Are we seriously doing this AI family reunion nonsense now?” His laugh was weak, brittle, and didn’t hide the spike of fear cutting through him.
