Halfway Gone
“Two vials?” Astra frowned as they walked beneath the floodlight glow toward Primrose House. “You could have asked for enough to last the whole term.”
It was their final night alone. Tomorrow they would move to Bloomingrose, the Junior House, cramd into a room with two others. Primrose, anwhile, was being turned into a quarantine ward.
Eydis stopped in the quad, her trench coat brushing Astra’s knees. Winter had stripped the maples to their bones, baring a sky dusted with starlight. She tried not to think about the other, more ominous presence looming above them.
Her breath misted in the cold. “He is not playing the hero, Astra. If he is taking this risk, it must be personal.”
“So that is your leverage. Make it the kind of threat only he can solve.”
“It secures Adam and Elias both,” Eydis replied. “Lust’s been spreading for a while now, infecting too many.” She exhaled slowly. For the first ti, she sounded uncertain. “I’m afraid this ti won’t be easy.”
Astra’s fingers gently circled Eydis’s wrist. “Last ti, and the ti before, you nearly died. Now you are… carrying everything alone. Promise you’ll stop. Promise you won’t be reckless anymore.”
Eydis should’ve bristled at the scolding. Instead, she angled her forehead against Astra’s, noses almost touching.
Finally, she murmured, “…I promise.”
Astra nodded, but her fingers didn’t let go.
“My power grows now that I no longer need to hide it from you,” Eydis continued. “The Council’s system hasn’t collected the energy yet, and the school’s wards are still blocking outside surveillance. I can cultivate whenever I wish.”
“St. Kevin’s takes donations from every faction to keep that neutrality,” Astra said. “At least it keeps you safe.”
A smile skimd across Eydis’s lips. “For once, the system works in our favor.”
Astra tucked a wind-loosened strand behind Eydis’s ear. Her knuckles skimd the ruby earring, and that slight touch felt illicit.
“And this ti I stand beside you.”
Eydis’s amber eyes shimred, soft. “You’d really trust ? Even knowing what I’m doing to Elias?”
“You don’t trust him,” Astra said gently. “And I understand why. He’s always acted in his own interest. Why wouldn’t you hold sothing back?”
The tightness in Eydis’s shoulders eased. “Careful, Princess. I am already halfway gone for you.”
Astra let out a low laugh. “Your honesty is equal parts terrifying and relieving.”
Sothing unguarded flickered across Eydis’s face. She leaned in, brushed a kiss over Astra’s mouth, then let it linger until both of them exhaled unevenly.
Astra’s composure slipped. “You know a kiss isn’t where this stops.”
“Am I pushing too far?” Eydis searched her eyes.
“That isn’t… quite it. I just don’t know if you’re…” Astra’s voice roughened. “…if you’re ready.”
“Ready for what, exactly?”
Astra looked torn, hesitated too long. Yet when she spoke her words ca low, almost trembling.
“For what happens when I don’t have to hold back anymore.” She breathed those words against the ruby, lips grazing gem, then gliding to bare skin. “You’ve been driving mad. And I don’t think you understand what that unleashes.”
Heat raced up Eydis’s cheeks. “Then let be clear… I’ve never wanted anyone. Not their touch, not their body. I didn’t think I could. But then you ca along.”
She t Astra’s gaze openly. Astra’s heartbeat thundered so hard Eydis could feel it.
“I…” Astra fumbled for words.
“You’ve always been the brave one, always the one to the first step. So I want you to know…” Eydis whispered. “I cannot stop thinking about it. About how you’d sound. About how you’d…”
Her words trailed off, cheeks blazing hot.
Astra matched her blush. “How I would what?”
“You’re making say it?”
A shy laugh fluttered from Astra. “Weren’t you trying to be brave?”
Eydis bit her inner cheek. “Naughty girl.” She lifted Astra’s hand, traced every fingertip with a lingering stroke of her tongue, letting the gesture convey the answer.
“You an… taste?” Astra’s lashes fluttered. “But we have ki—” The word died as new colour stord across her delicate face.
“Who said anything about kissing?” Eydis lifted her chin, amber eyes darkening. “Perhaps it is that, and perhaps it is more.” She leaned close until her breath traced the shell of Astra’s ear. “You have filled my waking thoughts.”
She retreated a single step, heartbeat loud enough to feel in the air. “You are such a tease.”
“You asked for honesty.”
“Impossible.” The protest sounded like a surrender.
“And impatient.” Fingers interlaced, Eydis tugged her close until thigh brushed thigh. “When this pet is leashed, I intend to feast.”
Her words turned to a purr against Astra’s lips. “I am starving.”
Astra’s answering smile lted into another kiss, and the quad fell away.
“Here we go,” Adam called, keys rattling, jolting Astra from her thoughts.
A mont ago she had been back in the fragrant courtyard of St Kevin’s, the mory of two nights ago still warm and low in her belly. Now she stood beneath an unfinished roof, exposed beams glaring overhead, the warehouse choked with coils of cable and shipping crates pressed into service as improvised cooling panels.
Adam’s idea, of course. Cooling was his gospel.
He had the server up at last. Next he needed to sync with Elias, thirty minutes away on the far side of the city.
Their target was Tweeter Data Centre, located in an industrial zone fifteen kiloters west of Alchymia’s CBD. She’d scouted closer warehouses to Tweeter, but every one bristled with caras; this forgotten shell was the only blind spot she could find for Eydis.
Astra had wanted to go with Elias instead of Adam. Sin-binding was Eydis’s specialty. But she refused, pointing out, with cutting logic, that a Council agent like Astra getting caught near Tweeter’s server would blow her cover.
No cara loop, no excuses, more complications.
So Astra stayed here, listening to Adam’s passionate, almost obsessive, narration of each step as he tuned the honeypot server.
Are all tech geeks like this? Indigo had the sa manic sparkle whenever a RGB-stripped keyboard appeared.
Her fingers twitched, torn between gagging Adam and giving in to the slow-burn thrill spiralling up her spine. After today…
She could… they could. Her heart kicked hard.
What’s wrong with ?
She’d never understood that need to touch, not before Eydis; now the need stalked every thought.
“Too warm in here?” Adam asked, glancing over his shoulder. “The servers aren’t overclocking, are they?”
Her cheeks betrayed her again, blooming pink. Damn it. She coughed. “Keep narrating.”
It ca out nearly a growl. He gulped audibly and refocused on his typing like it was a life-or-death mission.
Now she understood.
Now she got it.
How impossible it was to resist Lust’s hold. And how impressive, and honestly a little tragic, that Elias had chosen to sacrifice himself just to protect his friendship with this awkward, rambling ss of a human.
Astra could see it. Even if Eydis pretended not to care…
Well.
The so-called Queen of Shadows was more like a honey-sweetened latte: dark, layered, secretly gentle if you lingered long enough.
A sudden silence made her glance up. Adam had stopped typing and was openly staring. More like gawking.
“What?” she asked.
He clamped his mouth shut, then let out a nervous, almost surprised, “You’re… smiling.”
“And?”
“I’ve seen you a lot over the past three years, Astra. You’ve… evolved.”
“Evolved?” she deadpanned. “Fascinating choice of words. Like I’m a pocket monster.”
“No! I an yes—I an no! I an, ‘change’ suggests you couldn’t do this before. And I think you always could. Now you’re just expressing it more. It’s, uh… refreshing?”
She didn’t reply, but her lips twitched.
Ears flaming, Adam turned back to the screen. “For what it’s worth, you and Eydis are kind of perfect together,” he blurted.
“Perfect?” Astra asked, cheeks heating again.
“I an… aesthetically alone—uh, that sounds creepy. I’m saying you bring out this… tenderness in each other. Not that I’ve been analysing you, but you’re both really not subtle.”
Now he was spiralling. Just like Indigo used to when his brain outpaced his filter.
Astra scoffed, amused.
Maybe, she thought, teaming up with Adam wasn’t the cosmic punishnt she’d assud.
Elias lingered in the car, parked just beyond the cara grid. Ethan Tsai, drugged and snoring, lay folded in the trunk. He studied the stolen badge one last ti, morising every pore, every mole.
Photographic recall, his Gift, usually hid behind closed doors in his mindscape; tonight he turned it to full glare. Night brought the best conditions: fewer staff, laxer security.
He couldn’t slip up. Eydis hunted for more vials, but he knew the best they could offer was borrowed ti. This job was not a hack but a masquerade: walk in as staff, push a routine update, slow the video feed by two fras.
He tapped a switch, fogging the windows. Bones rearranged, pale skin pignted, hair blackened and shortened, beard burst through. The rest of him shrank until it matched Ethan to the millitre, green eyes drowning to dark brown. Rolled-up blue jeans, black tee. Looked like any typical techie.
The retina scanner accepted the borrowed identity and slid open the doors to Room 416.11, gateway to CDN Sector 3, the continent’s busiest node. A sharp drop of temperature greeted him. Ahead stretched a thirty-ter room, ten wide, lined with towering server racks.
Elias dropped into the console chair. The aisle was empty. At night, there were usually two techs here, at most. But today, one had called in sick. Lucky break.
Or maybe not luck at all.
Either way…
His pulse pounded, yet the mana roared even louder, near to cracking his disguise. He must trap the virus; he must believe it could cure him. Eydis’s explanations were riddles, but there were no other options.
Admin privileges. The laptop scanned Ethan’s face, believed what it saw, and unlocked. He allowed a thin smirk. Biotrics, corporate hubris.
Well, every system has a fl— He killed the thought and glanced at the CCTV. The lens tracked his movents. He thumbed the ultrasonic jamr for two minutes, then opened comms.
“I’m in.”
“You’re at the correct node?” Adam’s voice broke through the static.
“Confird.”
Adam sounded relieved. “Good. Honeypot’s prepped. Neither the virus nor Tweeter’s watchdog will notice.”
Elias inserted a delay buffer, rerouted caches, throttled video just enough to snap the hypnotic loop without tripping alarms. Final step: Eydis’s SD card.
He had asked her why. She’d answered with that infuriating smile, calling it contingency. The card held an API fingerprint, coordinates, and a ss of symbols she refused to explain. Plug it in during the window, autorun, Tweeter updates itself, no risk, no alerts.
Elias didn’t buy it. The plan ran fine without the extra mystery. Why re-upload Tweeter’s own API into Tweeter? Nonsense. Even if Adam had masked it well, those cryptic symbols might still set off the system.
If this goes wrong, it’s my face on every bounty list.
Elias clenched the card, then tucked back into his pocket. “Your move,” he muttered and hit Enter.
“Stream reads clean at max load,” Adam replied. “If she’s watching, she’ll hit the honeypot first.”
Elias almost laughed. Trust Adam to assign malware a pronoun. “Ten minutes before we…”
Agony lanced through his palms. Flesh rippled, threatening to lose shape. He sucked in a breath.
“You okay?” Adam asked.
“Fine.” Focus. Flesh, stay flesh.
Cold air coiled across the back of his neck. Hair lifted. This was no mana flutter; sothing stood behind him.
He turned.
“Mmm,” a woman purred, voice low and sweet. “You don’t feel normal, love.”
He stepped back. “Identify yourself.”
Violet smoke spiralled into view. “Identify? Oh, darling… at least buy a drink first.”
It rushed him; he leaped away. His eyes flicked to the cara, already calculating how to keep his seal intact.
The lens no longer moved.
Ice traced his spine, yet he stayed in character. “When feeds go dark, security cos running. Leave.”
The smoke thinned, then thickened, amused. “You know, after being here long enough, I’ve grown a bit tech-savvy, shall we say? Killing caras is so… unsophisticated. I prefer looping them.”
His face drained. If this was the entity that haunted Tiffany and Thomas…
He knew how that story ended.
Elias clenched his jaw. “You’re the purple smoke monster.”
The smoke curled tighter, almost coy. Then: “Yesn’t.”
“…What?”
“So you don’t know . And yet you nearly tricked .” It continued, “I watched so closely and then everything just… stopped.”
The smoke brushed his cheek.
“But then I found you and I realised… I know you. Why settle for a false feast when the chef sits right here?” Soft laughter. “False—heh, pardon the pun.”
He froze. Was the virus this smoke monster all along? If so, it had ignored the bait and co straight for the hand that cast it.
The smoke traced his throat lazily.
“Elias, love… what thoughts are bubbling behind that beautiful, changeable face of yours?”
It knew.
Fuck.
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