Vlad -w006- Veronica 61-68 ❲Newest❳

She turned around. “So tell me, Vlad. After all this watching—do you even like me?”

She started a journal. Not on paper—Vlad confiscated paper—but in her mind. She created a mnemonic palace: a vast library where each shelf held a previous cycle. Cycle 57: the week she learned to juggle. Cycle 59: the afternoon she stared at the wall for eight hours just to see if Vlad would intervene (he didn’t). Cycle 60: the day she cried and he offered her a handkerchief, then took it back because it might contain “trace emotional residue.”

“I don’t know if I like you,” he said. “But I know I can’t look away.” Vlad -W006- Veronica 61-68

For the first time in sixty-four cycles, Veronica felt something like joy.

She considered this. Then she smiled. It was not a kind smile. “So I’m your favorite.” She turned around

“So what happens to me?”

She looked at him.

“What’s on the other side?” she asked.