OPERATION WINTERSPINE (Strings Between Us Book 2)

CHAPTER THIRTY: OF FRAGILE CONTROL, FAILED SYSTEMS, AND THE CODED

Veil distortions.

Modified cloaking. Possible Halcyon-grade.

My heart dropped.

"Hold formation," I ordered. "I'll intercept from the east flank."

I rounded the Allievo Commons and slipped into a restricted side hallway—one only the Ardent Court used. I didn't break stride. Didn't blink. My necklace, the Velaris Thread Link, throbbed against my skin like a war drum.

Not painful. Not lethal.

Just... wrong.

KD's signal was pulsing in erratic spikes.

Heartbeat irregular.

Pulse fractured.

Not just anger.
Not just betrayal.
Fragmentation.

"KD's not in the Imperial Wing," Keryn confirmed through comms.

I didn't hesitate.

"I know where he is," I breathed. "Arcanum House rooftop."

"They're heading there too," Tofer cursed through gritted teeth. "Straight to Khaizer Dylan."

I stopped thinking.

I sprinted.

I exploded up the emergency stairwell of Arcanum House, two steps at a time, my lungs burning. The wind howled above. My comms buzzed with overlapping chatter—but I couldn't hear anything clearly anymore. Just KD's pulse, flickering through our link like shattered glass dragging through a heartbeat.

And then.

Three shadows.

Top level. Turning the corner. Blades drawn.

Not students. Not anymore.

Navy blue uniforms without insignias. Sleeves stitched with bio-synthetic thread. Movement—flawless. Controlled. Augmented.

One spotted me. Raised a blade.

Too slow.

I spun into a slide, momentum converting into torque. My boot collided with his shin, flipping him over. He hit the floor with a crash. Blade skittered away.

The second attacker lunged from behind.

Wrong move.

I twisted my heel, shifted gravity—and slammed an arc-blade from my hidden boots compartment. The blade kissed his collarbone. Then sunk.

He dropped like a cut cable.

Third one tried to run.

"Seb!" I called.

From the far end of the corridor, he dropped from the ceiling vent like a wraith. His dual claws extended with a click-snap.

"Tagged," he said calmly.

Then he slammed the attacker into the wall with enough force to crack cement.

The rooftop was just ahead.

I didn't slow down.

Didn't breathe.

The door slammed open.

Wind blasted my face, hot and wild.

There—at the far edge—KD.

His back to me. Shoulders hunched. Fingers white against the railing. His other hand still held a Yakult—absurdly calm in contrast to the storm wrapped around him.

His uniform was rumpled. His tie was loose. His hair whipped in the wind like it was caught in a silent hurricane. But it wasn't the clothes or the mess that made my breath catch.

It was his breathing. Ragged. Shaking. Like something inside him was clawing its way to the surface.

"KD."

My voice barely rose above a whisper.

I crossed the distance in three strides and wrapped my arms around him from behind.

He froze.

"Riyee?" His voice was low. Distant.

I pressed my forehead between his shoulder blades, anchoring him.

"You shouldn't be here. You're cutting class," he muttered.

"Same goes to you."

Silence.

Then, a bitter sigh.

"They betrayed me again," he said, broken. "No. They've been betraying me. Over and over. The Council. The Board. I feel like I'm—"

"Alone," he finished.

"You're not," I whispered. "You never were."

I pulled him tighter.

"I'm here. The Court is here. And we're not letting you fall. Not now. Not ever."

The wind screamed.

So did something deeper.

KD's pulse stuttered through the Velaris Thread. Wrong rhythm. Off-beat. Like static in a song that used to sound whole. Something inside him was fracturing—shattering like a mirror dropped on stone.

"There's something wrong inside me, Riyee," he said, voice low. "Like I'm remembering pain that's not mine. But it feels like it is."

I clenched my fist, jaw tight. "No, KD. There's nothing wrong with you. It's the world that tried to destroy you."

He turned to me. Eyes empty at first.

Then... haunted.

Then—him.

Still him.

Khaizer Dylan Dela Vega.

My KD
Not Lucem.
Not Echo-9.

But I saw it.

A crack in the mask.

A flicker of the thing that sleeps inside him. The ghost they built to destroy. The contingency they called Project: Echo-9.

And somewhere out there.

Rowan Lopez still waited. Still activated. Still encoded to kill the boy I loved the moment he remembered who he truly was.

But they were too late. KD wasn't breaking. He was choosing.

And if the Halcyon Pact wanted him back? They'd have to go through me. They'd have to go through the Ardent Court. They'd have to fight through blood, fire, and the full wrath of the people who rebuilt him from the ashes of the monster they left behind.

Let them come. We are no one's failsafe.
And this war just got personal.