The revelation hung in the humid air of the quarantine cell like a thick layer of poison.
Never entirely human to begin with.
Alera felt the words strike her chest with the physical velocity of a lead bullet. Her mind scrambled for traction, searching for a defense, a logical counterargument born from twenty-three years of ordinary doctor visits and blood tests. But as she stared at Arcturus’s mocking, ancient smile, her tongue felt like stone.
"That is biologically impossible," Kael countered instantly, his baritone dropping into a dangerous, subterranean growl that vibrated through the floorboards. He stepped even closer to Alera, his massive shoulder completely obscuring her from the elder’s vision. "Her medical files were vetted by our own corporate security before she was granted a
