She opened the document labeled Mira Larkspur — Patient History (Confidential). Her pulse lifted a little as she scrolled.
Abnormal birth immediately caught her attention. A ten-second cardiac pause marked the infant’s arrival, then a sudden return of heartbeat and strong breathing amazed the medical team. A small photograph captured a pale silver sheen in the hair of a newborn only minutes old.
Early life carried intense reactivity. Mira cried hard when sounds grew loud, her heart raced during feeding or excitement, and sleep arrived only after long struggle.
Two hospital visits came from adventurous accidents: first a left wrist fracture from climbing furniture at one year and nine months, then a right clavicle fracture from a fall off a bookshelf just before her third birthday.
Both injuries healed faster than projected, leaving puzzled remarks from radiologists.
An ECG revealed brief surges of tachycardia (heart rate over 100 beats a minute).
Basic labs remained healthy.
Her developmental notes described advanced motor skills and bold curiosity.
Doctor’s remark:“Hyper-responsive temperament. High sensory-seeking.”
The years between four and eight brought more intensity.
Small injuries and broken bones happened again and again, driven by thrill and fearless movement.
Overreaction to everyday medicines appeared in the charts.
Specialists ordered neurological scans that returned ordinary structure, cardiology checks showing arrhythmia only when emotions surged, and blood tests edging dopamine slightly above the typical range.
Recommendations focused on paced breathing, monitoring behavior, protection from stimulants, and annual follow-ups.
The cause remained elusive.
Age nine.
The Marivena incident.
Collapsed from staying 2 hours in a confined space.
Hospital care lasted two full days with oxygen and close observation.
Stabilization came fast once pressure faded. Follow-up advice: breathing exercises and gradual comfort in enclosed places.
Symptoms decreased significantly after this age.
Selene held the screen a little longer here, aware that Adrian once stepped into a similar mission that same season.
Then age twelve arrived with a caffeine collapse.
A sip of iced latte, shared by a friend, led to shaking limbs, a heart racing above one hundred eighty beats per minute, vomiting, dizziness, and a dramatic drop in strength.
A thirty-six-hour stay restored balance. Elevated dopamine confirmed stimulant hypersensitivity.
The final note issued a strong warning: Caffeine is strictly forbidden.
Ages thirteen to sixteen.
Healthy heart function.
Energetic school life.
Still sensitive during sudden adrenaline spikes.
Selene leaned back slightly, amusement rising in her expression.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Mira stood on the opposite end of the spectrum from her son.
His neural regulation processed stress responses ten times faster than standard human data.
Specialists described a brain that adapted in real time, reshaping hormones and heartbeat the instant a challenge arrived.
Reports from his early years called it an ultra-stabilizing system, an extremely rare pattern that appeared in only a handful of recorded cases worldwide.
After the first abduction attempt at age seven, Adrian changed. He created distance from the Vale research cores and began strengthening himself in secret. He assumed she overlooked his efforts, although she observed every step from a distance with growing fascination.
At nine years old, he developed a drinkable biotic formula capable of altering microRNA pathways. It could regulate human emotion on a scalable level through food or drink—an innovation that, in the wrong hands, could turn emotional control into a biological weapon.
Her genius child finally understood the consequence of his own creation, and fear arrived for the first time in his life, every bond around him transformed into data stripped of feeling, showing him that ability alone could lead the world toward disaster.
He dismantled the entire project alone, incinerated every physical trace, and buried the data beneath encryption designed to attack any attempt to access it.
A nine-year-old protected the world from his own discovery.
Someone still found fragments.
Their attempt expanded beyond labs and into substances delivered through food and drinks. Confidential reports from Marivena showed children exposed to altered compounds—an event the Vale family used force to shield Adrian’s involvement.
The Marivena incident placed a weight inside him that no child deserved to carry, a weight that shaped his instincts and his choices from that moment forward. She often questioned whether he would ever feel excitement again or live with the ease that belonged to other teenagers.
Selene turned toward her assistant. “Edric,” she said, her tone light with curiosity.
He straightened instantly.
“You were in Marivena with Adrian that time,” she continued. “Tell me, what do you think about them?”
Edric hesitated for a moment. It's true that he had accompanied Adrian during that trip, though he had chosen to omit one detail—the girl who appeared beside the young master. Unsure how Selene discovered it, he lowered his gaze slightly.
“My apologies, Lady Selene… I had never seen the young master that happy before. Miss Mira looked like a miracle come to life.”
Selene laughed, the sound bright and unrestrained. “What if I tell you they are dating now?”
Edric froze, surprise flashing through his expression before he managed a composed bow. “I only wish the young master happiness, my Lady.”
Her hand returned to the phone screen, and a new call alert appeared. Adrian’s name glowed at the center. Surprise rose through her, lifting her shoulders a little as she answered.
His voice arrived with its usual calm ice: “Keep your men at a proper perimeter,” he said. “If they follow me, they maintain distance and behave with skill. And the pictures from today belong in my possession as well.”
Selene leaned back, eyes bright. Laughter rushed from her again.
“So tell me,” she replied, amusement warm in her tone, “is this a warning for my team, or a request for the photos you clearly enjoyed seeing?”
“Play your games elsewhere. She isn’t part of them.”
A soft pause passed through the line before her tone shifted into curiosity. “Huh? Are you afraid she would learn your secret? You haven’t told her yet, have you? Disguise yourself as someone else, use her to fix your own problem, then vanish?”
“Come home,” she added. “I will reconsider what to do with her.”
“Let anyone touch her and you will pay the price.”
The call ended with a single click.
Selene laughed out loud. “Oh, he hung up again.” She tapped the screen once, then looked up. “Edric, what do you think I should do?”
Edric folded his hands, expression careful. “My Lady, why are you always so hard on the young master?”
She smiled and turned to the window, watching the courtyard below. “He remained almost emotionless to everything. As his mother, I just want to draw out some of his feelings, even anger. It will be interesting to see how he reacts.”
Edric exhaled, helpless. “The young master may resent you, Lady Selene.”
“He will, Edric,” she said. “That is part of what makes him alive.”
Her gaze drifted toward the tablet on her desk. “Enough of that,” she added, reaching for it. “Let’s see what else those two managed to capture today.”
Selene opened the message thread and scrolled through the photos.
The roller coaster picture made her laugh aloud, bright and full. Adrian’s face showed pure shock—eyes wide, hair caught by the wind—while Mira raised her arm high, silver hair streaming, joy alive in every line.
She swiped again. Today’s photo, kimono? Mira smiling with light in her eyes in a crimson kimono, Adrian beside her in dark silk, posture straight, clearly flustered. The sight drew another laugh from Selene. Adrian, who treated time as sacred, had spent a morning wrapped in pattern and color beside a girl who carried spring wherever she went.
She wondered how far this balance could evolve when matched in love.
The mother in her cherished the thought of Adrian stepping into a life warmed by true feeling, a life that allowed him excitement and connection.
The genealogist within her sensed a discovery unfolding that surpassed every chart she ever mapped.
A memory surfaced of her father-in-law report about a stabilizer gene in the Vale line destined to connect with a fairy lineage. She removed the most speculative pages long ago, hoping to guide Adrian toward a future shaped by science and mastery, not some fairy myth.
But now, a question shaped itself inside Selene’s mind with undeniable clarity: if a fairy gene existed in human form, would this be how it revealed itself through a child? What if ancient stories truly lived inside their genes?