The expectation that Kencould control himself had never been realistic.
The remote sat in Elara's hand the entire time. From the moment she had seated the egg and locked the dial high, the outcome had been inevitable. She raised the intensity in small, cruel increments whenever his breathing began to steady—first a sharper pulse, then a stuttering pattern that refused to settle, then a sustained high that made the muscles in his abdomen jump. Five minutes was all it took.
