**Dawn.**
The air was cold, clean, and pulsing with the hush of inevitability.
Inside the converted surgical bay, Mara scrubbed in. Her voice was calm, but her eyes kept flicking toward Aria's vitals.
Dominic lay on the adjacent table, IVs already in place.
Aria's chair had been wheeled to the head of the bed. She wouldn't be unconscious for most of it. There was too much to risk—too much to *lose.*
Mara looked between them. “You're both sure?"
Dominic nodded once.
Aria tapped her stylus, blinking commands onto the HUD screen:
**“Yes.
He gave me freedom.
I give him time."**
Mara exhaled. “Then let's begin."
She inserted the needle into Aria's spinal column.
Aria clenched her teeth, blinking fast as cold shot up her back.
On the other table, Dominic flinched as the antibody-ri
