"Set them on you? We've been trapped in that hellhole for months."
We've?! He's been trapped? A crown prince?
"Trapped why?"
His face contorts with raw, unfettered anger. "Because, years ago, your fucking mother stole one of our best scientists. And then, more recently—not sure when—she had them create avirus. A virus she released in half a dozen cities throughout my country.”
My tongue turns to lead in my mouth, and claws of trepidation slash down my spine. It’s suddenly hard to breathe, to suck in a full breath, when it feels as if the air is laden with razor blades.
"A virus that does what?" I ask, my throat growing dry, because even as I speak the words…I know.
I fucking know, and I suddenly want to retch all over the forest floor.
"You saw," Stefan responds with a disgusted curl of his lip. "It turns alphas into violent maniacs. The first drop happened five years ago. At one of our largest cities, just a couple hundred miles north of the capital. According to our scientists, the virus is only airborne for about twenty minutes, but…but that’s enough time to infect thousands and thousands of alphas.”
His jaw clenches, and he squeezes his eyes shut, as if blocking out a particularly horrific memory.
I feel sick.
Oh god.
My stomach clenches painfully, twisting into knots as wave after wave of nausea washes over me.
“They…” He grits his teeth and forces himself to continue. “The alphas went crazy. They killed everyone.”
"Everyone?" Shock infuses my tone, and I feel something wet prick my eyes.
Tears, I realize belatedly.
I’ve been taught my entire life that the Noths are our enemies, but to attack an entire city? Full of innocents? Children?
My mother wouldn’t…
She couldn’t…
"Their own mothers. Their own children. Everyone." His voice is bleak, and it rips my soul apart as though it were made of tissue paper. “We had to send the national guard to round all the alphas up.” He swallows again, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “Or kill them.”
"And there is no cure?"
He gestures toward his own eyes. "We can take a suppressant. Kind of like what an omega might take. But the effects dull over time.”
Breathing becomes difficult. There’s a spike in my throat that’s impossible to swallow around. “How did you…?”
A self-deprecating smile tugs up his lips, though his eyes remain empty. “My brothers and I were on a press tour when the virus was dropped from your war planes. It was the third city you hit. I…I don’t want to talk about what happened before we were contained.”
Another shadow flicks across his face. Haunting. Horrific.
Nauseating.
“We volunteered to help find a cure,” he continues. “My brothers and I. But the scientists had to abandon the lab a few months ago, when your forces started closing in.”
“So they locked you in the basement?” I whisper, the words a breathy croak.
“No,” he says briskly. “Welockedourselvesin the basement. It was the only way we could think of to protect everyone. We had food, supplies, and enough suppressants to last the next few months. A team was supposed to return for us, but…”
He shakes his head.
But they never did.
