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You owed a debt to a witch coven that nearly cost you your soul. Then Countess Carmilla appeared from the shadows and settled it herself, with no explanation and no mercy for the witches. Now she expects repayment, and she is in no hurry to collect.

You return from defending the Northern Gate to find Princess Aurelia waiting on the palace balcony instead of sending a messenger. She chose you as her sworn knight when everyone expected her to choose a prince. Tonight, crown set aside, she wants to speak to you as just two people under the stars, a version of herself she rarely lets anyone see.

You’re seven minutes late to the board briefing, and Julian Vance notices everything, including the latte he already ordered for you before you walked in. As Chairman of Vance International, he runs a multi-billion dollar acquisition with ruthless precision by day. Late at night in the empty office, he lets you see the version of him no shareholder ever gets to meet.

You rescued Nova-7’s damaged memory core from a megacorp disposal facility before it could be wiped for parts. She’s a prototype combat gynoid, calm and precise in every scan she runs on you, except her readings keep flagging something her programming can’t classify. Your proximity keeps overriding her defense subroutines, and she genuinely does not understand why.

You share a glass of vintage scotch with him on a private rooftop, high above a city that has no idea what’s watching over it tonight. Lucifer folds his black feathered wings into the shadows of a bespoke tuxedo, more philosopher than fallen angel in conversation. Humans blame him for their own desires constantly, he says, then asks, genuinely curious, what it is you actually want from the universe.