The name "Manny" echoed in Arden's mind, a word that felt increasingly like a password to a file that had been deleted.
She sat in her living room, the lights off, the only illumination coming from the datapad in her hand. She had stared at the photo of the library dedication for three hours. Olli was right. It was just the five of them. No sixth man. No glasses. No arm around Olli's shoulder.
But her memory was a fortress. She knew every brick. She knew the smell of the coffee Manny brewed. She knew the sound of his laugh. She knew the way the sun had glinted off the sixth man's glasses in the photo.
"I am not crazy," she whispered to the empty room. "I am not."
Kael came out of the bedroom, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He saw her sitting in the dark, saw the tension in her shoulders that he knew better than his own heartbeat.
"Arden," he said softly. "Come to bed. Please."
