Chapter Four: The Man in the Mirror

A doctor had reviewed the photographs. The wounds looked less like blood draws than insertion points for short-lived tracking chips, designed to dissolve after monitoring whether a target visited a location. Marcus approached with wine. “Ms. Shen seems to enjoy frightening brides.” “Only when they sign away their lives without knowing it.” Iris flinched. Marcus looked at Adrian. “Control your planner.” “She doesn’t belong to me,” Adrian said. “You should get used to that.” Before the tasting ended, Mira touched Iris’s veil. The world turned white. There was no joy, no suffering, no human figure at all—only an empty chapel where vows echoed again and again, without a single I do. Her first blank vision.