"Then protect that. Because Father will go through them to get to you. That's not speculation. That's precedent." She looked at me with something that might have been envy or might have been grief, the two looking identical on D'Angelo features. "He went through my mother to control me. He'll do the same to yours."
The room went very quiet.
"My mother is dead."
"I know." Vivian's voice didn't waver. "I'm not talking about your mother."
She walked past me toward the door. Her shoulder brushed mine as she passed, and the contact lasted less than a second, but I felt the drain stir. Just a flicker. A recognition. Her Essentia registered against mine like a fingerprint on glass. Brief. Faint. But present.
Vivian was a Null.
Except she wasn't.
Her ability was structural reinforcement. Unregistered. Hidden. Active beneath a surface that every scan in the world would read as empty.
Just like mine had been.
She paused at the door.
"Good night, Rome."
"Good night, Vivian."
