“I’m not asking you to. I don’t feel sympathy for him, either. Hewas a ruthless bastard and a shit father. But my mom was innocent. These other Primes were innocent.” Cross’s jaw tightens. “I found other hospital wards, Wren. Catherine took me to several of them. She showed me entire children’s wards.”
I take a sharp breath. “Bullshit.”
“I saw them with my own eyes. Children and teens with corrupted minds. Kids as young as five, six, seven. All corrupted.”
“No,” I say slowly. “There’s no way. I spoke to Adrienne, and she swore she isn’t corrupting on a mass scale. She’s the only corrupter on the Continent, and trust me, the Authority would never authorizeanymission that involved experiments on children, or civilians in general. Especially after what happened at Valterra Ridge.”
“Well, someone authorized it, and someone is doing it, whether that’s Adrienne or—” Cross stops, narrowing his eyes. The man is too intelligent for his own good. “Did Adrienne corrupt my mother’s mind?”
I falter, fighting the urge to avert my gaze. I can’t hide from this.
“Yes,” I admit.
To his credit, he doesn’t explode the way I know he wants to. He keeps his fists pressed to his sides, and though every muscle in his face is stretched taut, he sounds calm when he speaks again.
“You knew about it?”
“I found out when I got to their base. I confronted Adrienne about it. She said they’ve only authorized corruption on strategic targets. They don’t use it often.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I…I guess I didn’t think it would achieve anything.”
He tips his head up at the sky, and the moonlight washes over his beautiful face, emphasizing each perfect feature. His straight nose, strong jaw, the curve of his lips. When he turns toward me, his vivid blue eyes are no longer angry but resigned.
“No. You didn’t tell me because you knew exactly what I’d say—which is that you need to get the fuck away from these people. They can’t be trusted.”
“You don’t even have proof that the Uprising is performing thissupposed corruption,” I point out. “It could be a rogue corrupter in the wards. Or one of your own people experimenting on them. Maybe your brother has a corrupter on his payroll.”
“Travis is a lot of things, but he values every Prime life.”
“Unless he’s tricking you into thinking that.”
“You don’t get it,” Cross says, getting frustrated with me. “I’m not advocating for either side. I don’t trust what’s happening on the Continent. You have to leave before it’s too late.Wehave to leave.”
“You want us to…run? Is that what you’re saying?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. We disappear, Daisy. We run—tonight—and leave everything behind.”
“What about your mother?”
“My mother’s lost to me,” he says roughly. “And my brothers…I don’t know. Maybe they can be saved, maybe not. But the only person I care about saving now is you.”
I feel a squeeze of emotion. A month ago, I would have jumped at this proposition. The night we stood at the edge of the Blacklands, when he broke my heart by saying he wasn’t coming with me. If he’d asked me to run away together then, I would’ve said yes without hesitation.
Yes.
The word hovers on my tongue now, yet it refuses to leave my mouth. Indecision flickers through me. How can I run away? The people at the Dagger, in the valley…
They matter to me.
Some of them, like Evlynne, still haven’t warmed up to me and maybe never will, but the others have become friends. Allies. I can’t abandon them now. I’m finally finding my footing there, my place among them. And although we just rescued forty-two Mods, and I certainly view that as a success, Ice Canyon is one ofmanyslave facilities. There’s so much more work to be done.
“Cross…” I swallow hard. “I won’t leave and let your brothers kill my people.”
“Your people,” he echoes.
“Yes,” I say. “And yours, if you want them. Please, come back with me tonight. You already have an ally there in Xavier.” At the reminderof Xavier, my throat closes again. “You’d leave him behind, too? He’s your best friend.”
