190

190

Snow’s pov

His blood sizzled on the stone like it had something to say. Too late.

I stared down at what was left of Agent Micah,my once most loyal handler. “Weak men,” I muttered, nudging the charred wrist with the tip of my boot, “make poor allies.”

He had failed me. Failed us. The intel got compromised, and now Eira was crawling toward the heart of my empire with blood in her eyes and memory on her tongue.

I lit a clove cigarette from the same fire that devoured Micah’s body. The scent of burning flesh, smoke, and sea salt curled into the midnight air, mixing with the metallic tang of control.

Tonight was critical. The ghost ship would set sail at precisely 01:34. Every girl marked under Eliza’s Gate project,every ghost child I manufactured from ruin and survival,would be loaded like phantom freight. It wasn’t just trafficking anymore. It was legacy.

A legacy Eira was trying to erase.

“Ma’am,” Antonio said from behind me. Voice clipped, barely respectful.

I didn’t turn around. “Tell me the coast is clear.”

“It is. Security has been doubled. Interceptors placed along Route Nine. We’ve locked down the port.”

“You better be sure,” I said coldly. “You remember what happened to Micah.”

Antonio’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yes, ma’am.”

I finally turned. He was pale,good. Fear kept dogs obedient. “The shipment tonight will be our last. After that, we vanish. Eliza’s Gate will become a myth. Like us.”

“And the girl?” he asked.

I smiled faintly. “Eira’s the final thorn. But I know her better than she knows herself.”

His brows twitched. “You mean...”

“She’s always needed a reason to fight. I’m giving her one. I'm giving her me.” I flicked the cigarette into the fire, the embers hissing like warning bells.

Antonio hesitated. “And once she comes?”

I stepped past him, my coat flaring like wings behind me. “I slit her throat. Then I wear her face.”

“Snow…” He reached for me, then pulled his hand back before it touched my shoulder. Wise. “There’s something I need to confess.”

I stopped. Slowly. “Go on.”

He looked away. “One of the girls— subject Chloe’s duplicate, went missing two days ago.”

My blood froze. “What do you mean duplicate?”

“The lab made a secondary subject. A fallback. You said we needed a spare if something went wrong.”

I did say that. I remembered the night clearly,when Eira was first declared unstable and Chloe’s memories failed to anchor in her. I needed a second host. A clone.

“You lost her?” I said, voice sharp like breaking glass.

“We think she’s in Washington. Someone tipped her off.”

“Washington?” My mind immediately flashed to Eira. That damned city. That cursed ledger.

“She doesn’t have full memory yet,” Antonio added quickly. “She’s nothing without integration.”

“She’s everything if Eira finds her,” I snapped.

Antonio bowed his head. “I’ll handle it.”

“No,” I said, turning to the shadows behind him. “Bring in Unit Six. The Cleaners.”

Three shapes detached from the dark,silent, masked, cloaked in black armor. My personal reapers.

“Find the girl. If Eira touches her, kill them both.”

Antonio flinched. “You want Eira dead?”

“I want control,” I hissed. “Whether it’s through Eira or her shadow. But if I can’t have either,then I bury both.”

I walked toward the cliff’s edge where the sea met night, black on black. Below, the ghost ship idled,silent, massive, hungry.

“Antonio,” I called without looking back.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“When this is over, when the last of the girls are gone… remind me to discard you too.”

His silence said everything.

I descended the stone stairs into the holding cells. Dim lights flickered overhead. Caged girls stared at me with dull eyes and stitched lips,silent as sheep, marked as cattle. They didn’t cry anymore. That had been stripped from them long ago.

But one of them,a small girl with violet eyes and silver hair,met my gaze without fear.

I paused. “Name?”

She didn’t answer. Just stared.

Antonio appeared beside me, whispering, “New arrival. Picked up near Rome. Unscannable.”

My lips parted slowly. “She looks like her.”

“Who?”

“Chloe.”

I knelt in front of the girl. “Do you know who I am?”

She blinked once. Then said, quietly, “You smell like fire.”

I froze.

“She’s just a kid...” Antonio started.

“No. She's not.” I stood. “Run a full DNA trace. Now.”

“And if she matches?”

My jaw clenched. “Then we move the timeline up. If there’s a second Chloe out there,Eira has to die tonight.”

The child watched us leave. And behind her eyes, something far too old stirred.

I climbed the tower alone, wind battering the glass windows, candles flaring and dying in my wake.

My throne room sat at the apex of the old Sicilian fortress. No gold. No jewels. Just cold stone, fire, and the bones of kings buried beneath it.

I touched the obsidian crown,handcrafted by blood contracts and betrayal.

“Let her come,” I whispered to the flames. “Let her think vengeance gives her strength. But when she sees my face in the mirror...” I smiled darkly, “...she’ll remember who the real twin was.”

I wasn’t Eira’s reflection.

I was her replacement.

And the world would kneel to the shadow on the throne.