I want to know who Desiree really is. Not the curator. The woman. I want to see her fail.
Desiree took the file, her hands trembling. The Lattice would continue—other desires would come, other burdens to witness. But for one private, impossible moment, a desire had not just been witnessed.
Member #7: The Architect. He had designed cities that scraped God’s kneecaps, but his desire was small, almost painful: To stand in a room where no one asks me for a decision. For ten minutes.
The Collector nodded, reached into his pocket, and handed her a file. "Her name is Lena. She’s a librarian in a small town three states over. She has your eyes. And she has been looking for you for two years."
"Then what?"
He set the photo down gently. "I've spent forty years acquiring things no one else can have. But I've never been known. Not really. I desired to see you fail because I wanted to know if you were human. If you could bleed like the rest of us."