Chapter 14: The Living Code
The silence after Julien's declaration was thick—alive, like the space between lightning and thunder.
He hadn't meant to say those words. Not with such certainty. But the moment they left his mouth, they felt… true. Undeniably his, yet not his alone.
Veldaric stood frozen for a long time, the flickering cipher-glow dancing across his sharp features.
Then, with controlled deliberation, he lowered his weapon.
"Say it again," he said quietly.
Julien blinked, his breath ragged. "Say what?"
"That you are both." Veldaric's voice dropped, almost reverent. "That she's inside you."
Julien turned, shaky legs carrying him to the edge of the cot. "I don't think I'm just remembering her. I think she's alive in me. Not like a ghost—more like... a cipher thread. A living pattern, embedded deep."
Veldaric crossed the room, each step deliberate. "Aureline was a master encrypter. Some say she designed a soul-binding protocol—code that could embed itself into a bloodline, living on through inheritance."
Julien's pulse spiked. "You believe that?"
"I do now." Veldaric's gaze flicked over Julien's face—neck—chest, where the mark still glowed faintly. "You're not just a descendant. You're the vault. She coded herself into you."
Julien swallowed. "Then what does that make me?"
"Dangerous," Veldaric said flatly. "And invaluable."
He crouched in front of Julien, gloved hand reaching up, slow, deliberate, to touch the center of the glyph burning on his chest. Julien didn't flinch. He let him.
"I felt the moment she activated," Veldaric murmured. "Felt you slip just out of reach. Like something older had taken your leash."
"You sound jealous," Julien said, trying for humor. It came out hollow.
"I'm not jealous of a ghost," the marshal said, almost gently. "But I am aware that I'm no longer the only one in your head."
Julien dropped his gaze, throat tight. "She whispers when I sleep. Not in words I know—but I understand them anyway. She calls me by names I've never heard. She… mourns."
Veldaric's eyes sharpened. "What does she mourn?"
"Her throne. Her machine. Her brother."
He looked up then, locking eyes with Veldaric. "She mourns you."
For a long second, Veldaric didn't react.
Then: "I'm not her brother."
"No," Julien said, voice soft. "But you remind her of him."
That hit like a blade to the side. Veldaric stood, retreating two paces to the dim glow of the wall terminal. "Then she's remembering wrong."
Julien's voice was quiet. "She said he betrayed her."
Silence.
Veldaric didn't move.
"She said he tried to unmake her work. That he feared what she created. That he died trying to lock it away." Julien's fingers curled into fists. "She doesn't want vengeance. But she wants it found."
Veldaric finally turned back. "The Vault."
Julien nodded.
Veldaric exhaled slowly. "There's one place in the empire where Aureline's data might still exist in pure form. A deep-seal crypt hidden in the Seraphim Ring. It was off-limits to even the Council after her death. It's buried in orbit."
Julien looked up. "Take me there."
"I will."
"But not because you control me," Julien said, voice sharpening. "Because she wants me to see it."
Veldaric's expression flickered—then settled into something almost hungry.
"Then prepare yourself. We descend in eight hours."