"You're right. Nyla deserves to know her real father."
Liora stopped breathing.
Real father.
She pulled up the photo albums with shaking hands—not from emotion, but from the adrenaline of discovery. Page after page of family photos. Thessian, Aria, and little Nyla. The perfect family.
Except.
Liora grabbed a magnifying glass from the medical supplies and studied Nyla's features in the photos. Dark hair like Aria. But the eyes—those amber eyes—were different. Thessian's eyes were a deep, burning amber. Nyla's were lighter. Almost golden.
And her facial structure. The shape of her nose. The set of her jaw.
Liora pulled up Thessian's personnel file, comparing his features side-by-side with photos of Nyla.
The resemblance was there. But it was subtle. Learned, maybe. Mimicked from years of being raised by him.
Not genetic.
Liora's heart hammered—not with shock, but with the cold thrill of uncovering something massive.
