POV: Aurora
All morning I try to convince myself that today will be a normal day.
Work, coffee, Seraphim charts. No Dante saying, "Then you will be mine." No Valcourt talking about "when you choose a name."
Obviously, it doesn't work.
The phrase repeats itself in my head as I check cells. "You will be mine." I hate it, and at the same time, it tightens my chest.
Lina peeks over the monitor.
"You've been staring at the same number for a while," she says. "Everything okay?"
"I didn't sleep well," I reply.
"Because of the tower or the men upstairs?" she insists.
I think of Dante and Elias.
"Both," I admit. "One offers himself as a shield, the other as an alternative. Neither sounds free."
Lina sits on the edge of the desk.
"Just remember one thing," she says. "Inside Noir, they're in charge. Outside, you decide. Don't forget that."
I engrave it on my mind like a mantra.
