RECKONING

Rhys survived the truth about his bloodline. He didn't survive what it cost him. Six months into the Ascendant Directive's black program, Rhys is stronger than he's ever been — and more isolated. The enemy has a name now, and it isn't who command claims it is. When a mission goes sideways and Rhys is forced to save the one person Command explicitly ordered him to sacrifice, he uncovers a truth buried inside the program itself: the war isn't being fought to end the psychic threat. It's being fought to grow it. With allies turning into strangers and a mentor's loyalty thrown into doubt, Rhys has to decide how far he'll go to expose a machine built from the inside — even if dismantling it means becoming exactly what it engineered him to be. Some betrayals you see coming. This one was standing next to him the entire time.