Nora stood in the cliff wind, her newly unfurled wings catching the first rays of sunlight.
“You're glowing," Lyall whispered, standing behind her.
She glanced back, feathers shimmering obsidian with silver edges. “Feels like fire under my skin."
“That's probably normal for someone rewriting their genome on the fly."
She smirked, then winced as a jolt shot down her spine.
“Still hurts?"
“It's not pain exactly," she muttered. “More like… something waking up that was always there."
---
Inside the rebel command chamber, Marius projected a 3D map over the stone table. Red pulses marked known Starblade facilities; one blinking dot floated alone over the ocean.
“That's our lead," he said. “Cyrus found a reference in Ravik's old flight manifest. An offshore platform—last logged as 'G-Vau
