“You didn’t do it.” He scoffed and nuzzled my hairline. “Besides, it’smewho should apologise toyou. I took far too much. They might’ve knocked us out with that nasty frequency, butIwas the one who hurt you. I couldn’t control myself. I caused you to almost dissipate again. I started to join you, but I guess the emitter interrupted whatever breakdown I triggered.” Dusting my hairline in kisses, he held me impossibly close. “I’m so incredibly sorry. I should never have done that. I felt how difficult it was for you to wake. It killed me to see what you did—to hear the whispers of death as they tried to take you from me. I feared I would never be able to bring you back.”
I smiled weakly. “So it’s true then? The link between us isn’t just telepathic anymore but allows us to share what we see and feel?”
God, that scared me so much because yet again...we were evolving.
First ice and fire, then death and life, and now the blurring of lines between individuals into one.
My parents’ late-night conversations as they poured over failed immortality experiments echoed in my mind. Even the ones who wore frequency collars to stop the ascension couldn’t be containedin a physical form for long. They might’ve lasted longer than those who hadn’t worn a collar, but in the end, the power—the R gene—continued to mutate until they either died of a ruptured heart or disintegrated into thin air.
Lucien sucked in a breath, seeing those helpful, morbid memories. “So wearedying? Is there no way to stop it?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged sadly, absolutely terrified that he would turn to ash and vanish on me again.
“I won’t.” He captured my lips in a swift, determined kiss. “Neither of us is dying. Now do as you’re told and eat.” Bringing the sandwich back to my mouth, he added sternly, “Replace the strength I stole, and then we’re getting out of here.”
Almost as if my body had been waiting until that moment to reveal just how much it needed strength, pain arrived.
God,everythinghurt.
My hip throbbed from the bullet graze. My head pounded with dehydration and my stomach gnawed with starvation. But...it was theothernessthat hurt the most. The hollowness as if someone had scooped out my entire being with a spoon.
Lucien cursed under his breath, his guilt palpable. “I’m so fucking sorry, Rook—”
“Stop apologising.” Leaning forward, I bit into the offered sandwich, hoping to interrupt his remorseful spiral. “Hmm, tasty.”
Liar.
The bread was disgusting; the cheese rancid—
I gagged and choked it down, trying to avoid chewing.
“I know it’s hard to eat, but...it’s not rotten. A little stale perhaps but perfectly fine.” Lucien sighed, watching me as if he wasn’t surprised by my reaction. “However, I couldn’t eat it either.” Shifting me on his lap, he reached for the apple. “Try this instead.”
I cringed. Even the sweet scent of the fruit made nausea grip my throat. I loved apples. I’d drunk enough apple blossom wine to crave a glass or four. But this one...this one was as appealing as eating maggots.
“I don’t think I can...”
My stomach snarled loudly.
Lucien grimaced. “Just a bite. You need at least something in your system. It’s been days since we’ve eaten anything.”
I eyed up the bruised fruit as he spun it in his fingers, searching for the best part. A bite had already been taken out of the side—hinting he’d tried to eat it too.
“It wasn’t just the sandwich you struggled with.” I caught hiseyes. “You couldn’t eat anything either.”
He flinched as if he hadn’t wanted me to know that part—as if he hoped I would be different and would happily devour the meal. Hunger ached in both of us. A hunger that didn’t just grumble in my belly but in every limb, cell, and beat of my sickly heart.
I sagged on his lap, recalling yet more notes my parents had taken—typing furiously on their laptops when they thought I was fast asleep on the couch in their office, waiting to go home.
I’d read those notes in secret.
I knew that the lab animals nearing the end always went off their food.
Nothing could entice them, and if the lab technician took matters into their own hands and forced them...everything came back up again.
Lucien followed those thoughts too. A flash of pain at the thought of me leaving him was quickly smothered with savage determination not to let that happen.
Tossing the apple away, he snatched up a bottle of water. Cradling me against him, he twisted the top off and held it against my lips. “I’m not taking no for an answer on this. Who knows how long we’ve been unconscious. If we stand any hope of getting out of this place, you need to at least sate your thirst.”
