Page 179 of Somno Slave

Peter leans forward. “What did they take?”

Deogal doesn’t look at him. His eyes stay fixed on me, dark and unbroken. It does something ugly to me.

I can hear Peter breathing. I feel pinned here, throat tight, pulse beating too hard in the soft place beneath my jaw.

Peter asks again, sharper this time, but it barely reaches me. “What did they take?”

Still nothing.

I force myself to swallow. It hurts.

“What did they take from you?” I try.

His eyes don’t leave mine. “The part that says no.”

The words go through me so cleanly that I almost don’t feel them at first.

My thighs suddenly ache again, sharper this time, sudden enough that I have to shift my weight to hide it. I feel heat climb the back of my neck and then drain out of me just as quickly.

Peter lets out a hard, disgusted breath beside me. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Deogal doesn’t answer him. He watches me absorb it.

The part that says no.

I know what he’s doing.

He’s giving me pieces. Not enough to help him. Just enough to hurt me.

My voice comes out lower than before. “What did they do to you?”

Peter turns his head sharply. “Rheda—”

I don’t look at him.

I can’t.

Because if I look away now, if I let Peter shut this down, it disappears. It goes back inside Deogal. Back inside the dreams. Back into things I can’t prove.

And Friday stays Friday.

My fingers dig into my badge.

Say it.

Please.

Just say it.

I ask again, slower this time. “What did they do to you, Deogal?”

“You want me to make this easier for you,” Deogal says.

My pulse climbs. “That isn’t what I asked.”

“No,” he murmurs. “It isn’t.”

He knows.