~Elara~
Zoe flinched as if I'd struck her. "Five years," she said quietly. "Five years we've lived together. Shared meals, secrets, bad days, and good ones. You think I don't know when something's wrong? When you're hurting?" She took another step closer, ignoring the silver light that crackled warningly around me. "I came because I care about you, not because of some story."
Something in her voice—the raw sincerity, perhaps—made the Algorithm's calculations stutter. For a moment, I saw them all through unclouded eyes: Zoe, terrified but standing her ground; Caleb, bloodied but still reaching for me; Lyra and the others, wounded and wary.
I'd done this. The power I now commanded had wounded the people who—despite their mistakes—had tried to help me.
Damon's voice cut through my moment
