Chapter 76

Alex’s Clone

The command pulsed through me—and it was unbearable. It wasn’t a voice. It wasn’t a thought. It was a chain, coiling around my bones, tugging every fiber of me toward one purpose: Kill her. Destroy the Primordial. Complete the mission.

My arm rose. Magic crackled in my palm. Across the battlefield, Alex stared at me. Not in fear. Not in anger. With understanding. That was worse. I wanted her to hate me—it would’ve been easier. If she screamed, if she spat “monster,” if she’d looked at me the way everyone else did… I could’ve obeyed. But she saw me as someone worth saving. And I hated her for it—because she was right.

“I can’t,” I barely whispered.

The command tightened like a vise. Pain exploded up my spine. My knees buckled. Sebastiano snapped his head my way. For the first time, he saw me—not as a weapon, not as a project—but as a problem.

“Stand.” His voice cut through the ruin.

My body trembled. “I said—stand.” He advanced.