Chapter 297: One Of The Better Ones

Morgana turned the knob, opening the door, and they stepped into the room.

The room was large, far wider than Lukas had expected, the ceiling rising high overhead.

However, the room was empty. There was no furniture or decorations to soften the space. Just the bare stone floor.

But in the center of the room was a single hospital bed. Akira lay on top of it.

Her body had been fixed. The gaping wound that had torn through her chest was gone, her skin smooth and unbroken where the flaming blade had passed through her.

Her chest didn’t move, as she was dead, and there was no need to expect the usual rise and fall expected from breathing.

She looked exactly as she had before the caves, down to the size of her breasts. The only change was her skin.

It had lost every trace of warmth. Where her complexion had always carried a healthy vitality, it was now pale, drained of color, and looked closer to porcelain than flesh.

It made her look like a statue carved in her exact likeness rather than the woman herself.

They walked closer, their footsteps echoing faintly in the empty room.

Melody reached the bedside first. She reached out with trembling fingers and took Akira’s hand in both of hers.

The moment her skin touched Akira’s, something in her broke.

A choked sob tore out of her throat, and then another, and she pressed Akira’s cold hand to her forehead, her shoulders shaking as the tears came freely, dripping down onto the sheets below.

"I’m sorry," Melody whispered between broken breaths. "I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I should have been faster, I should have—"

Lukas moved to her side immediately, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his chest.

He said nothing, simply holding her as she cried, his own throat tight, his jaw locked against the grief threatening to rise up his own chest.

Behind them, Morgana spoke softly.

"I anticipated you would choose the revenant path," she said. "Given who you are, and given what she means to you, I didn’t think you’d settle for bringing her back as a ghost."

She stepped closer, her eyes on Akira’s corpse.

"So I took the liberty of arranging something in advance. I found a specialist among our people, someone skilled enough to regrow damaged flesh entirely. Her wound has already been closed, and her body is whole again."

Morgana’s voice softened. "It seemed wrong to bring her back missing a piece of herself."

Lukas looked at Morgana over Melody’s shoulder.

"Thank you," he said quietly. The words felt inadequate for what she’d done, but they were all he had.

Morgana simply nodded, her expression unreadable, and stepped back to give them space.

For a long moment, nobody spoke.

They simply stood there, the three of them, looking down at Akira’s pale form on the bed.

Melody’s tears slowly quieted against Lukas’s chest, though she didn’t let go of Akira’s hand.

Lukas kept his eyes on Akira’s face, memorizing it, as if some part of him was afraid this might be the last time he saw her exactly like this.

Then he exhaled, voicing a question he’d been thinking about for a while now.

"What about Karrakas?"

The question came out quieter than he’d intended.

Morgana didn’t answer immediately. When she did, her voice carried none of the confidence it had held earlier.

"There’s nothing to be done for him," she said. "You saw what happened. His body wasn’t wounded, it was destroyed. Torn apart at the moment of death."

"We gathered what we could from the cavern floor. Enough to return to his family for a proper burial. That’s all that remains of him."

Lukas closed his eyes briefly.

"And revival?"

"Isn’t possible." Morgana said it plainly. "A revenant ritual requires an intact vessel. A soul anchor requires a corpse to anchor to. Karrakas has neither."

She folded her hands in front of her. "And beyond the mechanics of it, there’s the matter of who he was. His family isn’t privileged, Lukas. They don’t have the standing to petition the elders, and they certainly don’t have the resources to purchase a method on their own."

"The kind of miracle that could bring him back doesn’t exist for people like them."

Melody’s grip tightened on Akira’s hand.

"But they haven’t been abandoned," Morgana continued. "Karrakas died in service to this house, in the field, protecting contractors under his guidance. The family recognizes that."

"His people received a substantial reward, and every surviving member of his immediate household has been placed on a permanent pension. They’ll never want for anything again."

Lukas said nothing for a moment.

Money, a pension, and a box of what could be recovered from a crystal floor.

That was what a man’s life came out to.

He thought of Karrakas in his signature suit, complaining about ruining their beauty sleep. Of the man laughing about finding a girlfriend of his own.

"He was a good man," Lukas said finally.

"He was," Morgana agreed. "One of the better ones we had."

The silence returned for a few seconds before she broke it.

"You’ll need someone to replace him," she said. "I can assign another guide to your group. Someone experienced, vetted personally by me this time. Your contract with the family still entitles you to guidance on the Second Floor."

"No."

Lukas didn’t have to think about it.

Morgana raised an eyebrow. "You’re certain?"

"I’m certain." He looked at her. "Karrakas spent his last weeks teaching us how to operate without him."

He nodded, almost to himself. "So we’ll handle things ourselves. Anything else would waste the knowledge he gave us."

Morgana studied him for a long moment, then inclined her head.

"As you wish."

"I’ll show you a method of contacting me directly, later. If you’re operating without a guide, you’ll want a line to someone who can move resources on your behalf. Use it when you need it."

"Understood."

She paused then, and something in her posture shifted.

"There’s one more thing you should know," she said. "I’ve ensured that knowledge of your Fate Key hasn’t spread beyond this house. The two surviving cultists have been dealt with, and every record we recovered has been sealed."

Lukas’ head snapped up.

She knew.

For a second his mind raced through every conversation, every moment he might have let something slip. Then he realized that he was worrying for nothing.

She’d said it herself that her family had specialists who could pull Sol’s memories directly from his fresh brain tissue.

"You went through Sol’s memories," Lukas said. That was the only way she could’ve gotten the information.

"I did." Morgana didn’t pretend otherwise. "And what I found there would have made you a target for a few factions on this floor."

"A tri-classed operative was sent personally to retrieve you as a vessel. That kind of information doesn’t stay contained on its own." She met his eyes. "So I contained it."

Lukas held her gaze.

She hadn’t needed to tell him any of this. She could have simply done it and let him remain ignorant, keeping the leverage for herself. Instead she’d laid it out plainly, and in doing so had made certain he understood exactly how much she’d done for him.

"Thank you," he said. "Truly."

Morgana smiled in satisfaction. "You’re welcome, Lukas."

He recognized the expression for what it was. Another stone added to a debt that was growing heavier by the hour, and she wasn’t hiding it in the slightest.

She wanted him to see it. To feel the weight of it accumulating, favor by favor, until repayment became inevitable.

He found he didn’t mind. Not today.

A knock sounded against the door behind them.

"Come in," Morgana called. To