The transition from the velvet-lined silence of the Iron Wing to the cold, glass-and-steel heart of Fox Tower was jarring. I felt like a ghost being paraded through a world of the living.
I was dressed in a gown of charcoal silk that felt more like armor than clothing. It was high-necked to hide the violet veins on my throat, but the back was completely open, revealing the smooth expanse of skin Kai had spent the morning marking with his lips.
But it wasn't the dress that was making it hard to breathe. It was Rule Number Two.
With every step I took through the executive lobby, the Silver Jewel—the heavy, internal weight Kai had installed—shifted and pulled. It was a constant, throbbing reminder of the man whose hand was currently clamped firmly on the back of my neck, guiding me like a prize animal.
"Keep your head up, Amara," Kai whispered as we approached the double mahogany doors of the Grand Boardroom. "You are the Fox's Queen today. Not a single man in that room is allowed to see the fear in your eyes."
"How can I not be afraid?" I hissed, my voice barely audible over the clack of my heels on the marble. "I can feel the countdown vibrating in my teeth, Kai. And I'm carrying... this... inside me."
Kai stopped just before the doors. He turned me to face him, his body shielding me from the security cameras. He leaned in, his obsidian eyes scanning my face with a terrifying intensity.
"That weight is the only thing keeping your hormones balanced enough to stop that countdown from accelerating," he lied—or perhaps he believed it. He reached down, his hand splaying across my stomach, his heat seeping through the silk. "Focus on the weight. Focus on the shame of it. Let that be the fire that keeps you standing."
He didn't wait for my response. He signaled the guards, and the doors swung open.
Thirty men, the most powerful financiers in the country, stood up in unison. The room smelled of old money and new sweat. They were all staring at me—or rather, at the violet-eyed woman who had survived a "black fever" no one understood.
"Gentlemen," Kai's voice boomed, echoing off the 60th-floor windows. "Sit."
He didn't lead me to a chair. He walked to the head of the table and sat in his throne-like leather seat. Then, with a slow, deliberate movement, he pulled me onto his lap.
A collective gasp rippled through the room. It was an act of total, public dominance. I was sitting on the most powerful man in the city, in front of his entire board, while the silver weight inside me reacted to the sudden movement, sending a sharp, jagged jolt of sensation through my core.
I bit my lip to keep from crying out, my fingers digging into Kai's shoulders.
"Mr. Fox," one of the board members, a man named Sterling, stammered. "We are here to discuss the breach of the secondary lab. The theft of... the prototype. Surely the girl can wait in your office?"
Kai's arm tightened around my waist, his fingers splaying across my hip. "The 'girl' is the reason you still have a company to manage, Sterling. My wife is not a distraction. She is the centerpiece of the Fox future. And since my brother, Lucian, saw fit to steal the crib, I've decided to accelerate our timeline."
He looked at me, his gaze cold and calculating. "The board wants proof of the Fox legacy's stability. They want to know that Subject Six is... viable."
I felt a cold dread settle in my gut. "Kai, what are you doing?"
"Proof, gentlemen?" Kai asked the room, ignoring me. He reached for a small remote on the table. "You want to see the power of the bloodline?"
He pressed a button. The lights in the boardroom dimmed, and the frosted windows turned into giant screens. They displayed my medical vitals in real-time. My heart rate, my blood pressure, and a new, glowing strand of DNA that flickered with a violet light.
"Her biology is evolving," Kai announced, his hand moving to the small of my back, stroking the skin just above where the silver chain rested. "She is no longer just a vessel. She is a generator. In six months, the heir she produces will be capable of things you haven't even dreamed of."
The board was silent, mesmerized by the data. But I wasn't looking at the screens. I was looking at the reflection in the dark glass of the window.
In the shadows behind the board members, near the back of the room, a man was standing. He wasn't in a suit. He was wearing a janitor's uniform, his face obscured by a cap.
He looked up, and for a split second, our eyes met in the reflection.
It was Lucian.
He held up a small, handheld device and pressed a button.
Suddenly, the weight inside me—the Silver Jewel—began to vibrate.
A high-pitched, ultrasonic hum filled my ears. My back arched, a strangled gasp escaping my lips as the vibration turned into an agonizing, electric heat. Kai felt me stiffen, his eyes snapping to mine.
"Amara? What is it?"
I couldn't speak. The vibration was triggering the countdown. On the screens, my heart rate began to climb—120... 140... 180 beats per minute. The violet light on the DNA strand turned a violent, angry red.
"The countdown!" Sterling screamed, pointing at the screen. "It's accelerating! She's going to blow!"
Kai stood up, holding me against him as the boardroom erupted into chaos. He looked toward the back of the room, spotting the janitor just as the doors burst open.
"Get her to the lab!" Kai roared at his security team.
But as he lifted me, I whispered into his ear, my voice trembling with the force of the vibration: "The jewel... Kai... it's not a weight. It's a receiver."
Kai's face went deathly pale. He realized in that moment that he hadn't protected me. He had given Lucian the perfect tool to destroy me from the inside out.