Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“What tools?”
“Look down.”
Bastien looked. The locket against his chest—Charlotte’s locket, the one he’d worn for two centuries—was no longer just tarnished silver. It was glowing. Faint, but distinct. A warm gold light that pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat.
“That locket,” the reflection said, “is keyed to the network’s original frequency. The one I set before any corruption was possible. It’s a tuning fork, cher. A way to distinguish what I built from what Gideon added. And if you take it to the altar point—the convergence—you can use it to reset the entire network to its original state. Purge his corruption. Restore the choice-architecture I designed.”
“If it were that simple—”
“It’s not simple. It’s dangerous.” Charlotte’s voice was firm. “Because to reset the network, you’ll have to flood it with pure intent. And intent this pure, this strong, requires an anchor—something to hold you steady while the network channels through you. Someone whose presence grounds you. Someone soul-bonded.”
“My soul.” Bastien’s breath caught. “You mean your soul. Delphine.”
“Delphine.” The reflection smiled. “Who doesn’t remember me. Who doesn’t know what she’s part of. But who the network already recognizes. Who already stabilizes reflection energy just by existing near you. She’s the anchor you need. But asking her to be that anchor—to stand with you at the convergence point and hold steady while you channel two centuries of accumulated network energy—that’s asking her to trust you before she has all the memories back. That’s asking her to risk herself for something she doesn’t fully understand.”
“That’s asking too much.”
“Perhaps.” The reflection’s expression softened. “Or perhaps it’s asking exactly what soul bonds are designed to enable—trust that transcends individual understanding. Faith that connection means something even when you don’t have perfect information. The choice to stay even when staying is dangerous.”
Bastien’s jaw tightened. “You built this network to preserve choice. Now you’re telling me I need to ask Delphine to make a choice without full knowledge?”
“I’m telling you,” the reflection said gently, “that every choice involves incomplete information. Perfect knowledge isn’t possible. Trust is always a risk. What matters is whether the person asking deserves that trust—and whether they’ll honor the trust if it’s given.”
“And if she says no?”
“Then you find another way.” The reflection began to fade. The pharmacy window showed only his actual reflection now, tired and alone on an empty street at two a.m. “But she won’t say no. Because the soul we tethered two centuries ago remembers what matters, even if the mind doesn’t. And what matters is building something beautiful with someone who sees you clearly and stays anyway.”
The locket’s glow faded to normal tarnish. The street remained empty. Behind Bastien, the parked sedan’s mirror showed only ordinary reflection—no temporal echo, no autonomous movement, no Charlotte’s voice speaking wisdom through glass.
He stood there for a moment, processing. Network memory. Imprinted intent. Defenses built into the foundation that only activated when corruption attempted to override original design. Charlotte had known this would happen. Had prepared for it. Had trusted him to recognize the tools she’d left behind.
And now those tools required him to trust Delphine. To ask for help before she knew everything. To invite her into danger while being honest about the risks but not certain of the outcome.
Bastien checked his phone. 2:47 AM. Too late to call anyone. Too early to make decisions this large.
He pocketed the device. Looked once more at the pharmacy window. His reflection looked back—just him now, no Charlotte, no workshop, no voice offering guidance. Just a tired angel who’d spent two centuries trying to protect what they’d built together, and who was now being asked to actually use it.
“All right,” he said quietly to the empty street. “I’ll find her. I’ll explain. And I’ll trust her to choose.”
Behind him, the parked sedan’s mirror flickered once. Brief. Easy to dismiss as streetlight refraction.
But Bastien knew better. Charlotte had heard him. And approved.
He walked back toward his apartment. The Quarter’s streets were empty, reflecting only present state—no echoes, no temporal bleeding, no autonomous voices. The network had delivered its message. Now it was waiting to see what he’d do with it.
By the time he reached his door, dawn was three hours away and his mind was clear. He knew what needed to happen. The convergence. The reset. The choice to trust and be trusted in return.
Three days. He’d give himself three days to prepare. To study Charlotte’s counter-measures. To understand exactly what he was asking Delphine to risk.
And then he’d ask. Honestly. Without manipulation or compulsion or pretense that he knew better than she did what she should choose.
Charlotte had built a network for love that honored autonomy. The least he could do was apply that same principle to how he approached the woman whose soul had loved his across three lifetimes—and who deserved the chance to choose for herself whether this lifetime would be any different.