Celestine stared at the black electronic cards in her palm.
For a long moment, she did not speak.
Her eyes moved from the cards to the open penthouse, then to Kael, then back to the cards again as if the answer might change if she looked at them in the correct order. The massive living room waited beyond the doorway, sun pouring through reinforced glass, furniture arranged with elegant care, the city spread wide beneath the terrace like something distant and harmless.
"This is a joke," she said.
Kael shook his head. "No."
"A rental?"
"No."
"Temporary?"
"No."
"Then whose place is this really?"
"Yours."
She stared at him.
Kael stepped inside first, then turned back toward her. "All of this is your property. I signed the documents under your name, with my account attached jointly for payments, maintenance, and expenses. You have access to the money in it too. The Association handled the legal side."
Celestine's fingers closed around the cards.
