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I spin around, looking for the recipient of his conversation. But I’m the only one here. The room is entirely empty.
“At least we can rest knowing that Aurick won’t make a move until she’s of age.” Dessin nods, looking to his feet. “Yes, but he isn’t his father. His only redeeming trait is that he shows signs of having remorse. A conscience.”
Kane must be the other person in this conversation.
I take a step back, watching him with burning eyes and a locked jaw.
“I’ll keep watching, and so will DaiSzek. But it’s been quiet.” His brow furrows, and I realize how much I missed that. Analyzing his facial features, the way he’d arch his brow or roll his eyes. It was fascinating to me seeing what made him tick. What brought feeling from that cold exterior. “I noticed that too. There’s a strong chance that they’ve already broken Scarlett.”
My spine molds into a steel rod. Was Scarlett like me before she died? A female subject that has visual and auditory delusions? I think back to her behavior. The violent outbursts, the way she’d scrub her body in the shower as if she was reliving her abuse.
I gasp.Oh my god.She was seeing her own memories, her own trauma playing back. That’s why she would act out, throw fits, and go completely still in thought. I even caught her talking to herself on more than one occasion.
“We’ll keep an eye on her too. She didn’t”—he exhales sadly—“she didn’t have you growing up to protect her from the experiment. It makes sense that she’d show the same signs of self-harm as the other subjects. Hopefully, having Skylenna living with her will change things.”
“Holy shit,” I breathe. That’s why Kane felt so guilty. They were trying to protect us both. And he didn’t get there in time.
I slip out of the void, sinking back into reality with a knot in my stomach. With a few short steps, I lower myself to his bed. My new bed, for a short while. It’s firm, cheap, and slightly uncomfortable. And his presence is all around me.
It’s all fucking around me.
Through the thick wall, I hear a woman crying. Muffled and feminine. A slow breakdown in room twelve. My head perks up. It’s not easy, but the pressure around me is the signal I need that this is also another memory. Hearing a woman weep through this—
My eyes flick to the man sitting on the bed in front of me. Dessin is listening to this woman cry. His jaw is flexed, eyes filled with ruthless fury, and his chest moves up and down rapidly. I press my ear against the stone wall and faintly recognize the voice.
Me.
I’m the one crying on the other side. When Dessin and I came back to find Judas. I sobbed my first night here; I was so scared. And he heard me.
I watch as Dessin places his large hand against the wall, around the same place my hand touched on the other side.
He was here with me all along.
Never letting me burn alone.
I fall back on the bed, curling against the iron railings and fighting the flashbacks of his death. I can feel myself slowly slipping into the agonizing depression, that endless sea of numbness. But I have to do this. Accomplish what I came here for. For Dessin. For Kane. For every alter that suffered the cruelty of these horrible people.
Then, I can rest. Then, I can finally sleep.
22. Waking The Dragon
My eyes flutter open before they reach the thirteenth door.
It’s a thrumming in my veins, a skip in my heartbeat, a buzzing sensation under my flesh that warns me a threat is closing in.
The giant door creaks and rattles from the opening locks, and Suseas steps inside, followed by Meridei. I watch them enter with lowered lids and a bored expression.
Suseas walks to me woodenly, with purpose and conviction. That lanky posture, those wrinkled, pursed lips. She wears her judgment for others like it’s a fashion statement.
She doesn’t give me the chance to sit up as the back of her hand whips across my cheek. Shock and a sharp sting zing across the left side of my face. Involuntary tears flood my eyes. And I have to restrain myself from smiling.
That’s one.
“Never in my career has anyone managed to humiliate me this way.Never.” Suseas’s face turns a bright-apple red. “You should have done everyone a favor out on your little forest adventure and died.”
I look up at her slowly, memorizing the details of her pinched face. Tracing the lines of the crow’s-feet around her eyes and lips. Imagining the many ways I’m going to make her bleed.
“But… I missed you, Suseas.” My pleasant, sweet tone doesn’t match the coldness in my eyes. I sit up slowly, never breaking the long contact of our glares. “Didn’t you miss me?”
