Page 180 of Interion

“Come on, Adele. You're a warrior, fight like one.” I felt death hovering over us both, and it brought back memories of the day I almost left but chose to stay with Zion. Tears began streaming down my face. “Please... stay with me, Adele.”

One, two, three... Another breath of air. It was cold, and my fingers barely moved, stiff from the chill.

“You have to fight, Adele. Are you listening to me? You have to fight.”

I noticed my hands getting wet on her chest. The metabolization was working—she was sweating profusely, the morphine pouring out of her, but her heart still refused to respond.

One, two, three... My mouth locked onto hers and I blew with all my strength. Droplets of sweat pooled on her skin and trickled away—pure morphine being purged from her body. One, two, three... Then I heard it: a weak beat of her heart, a flicker of life. I bent down and blew again. This time, her lungs expanded on their own. I stopped the compressions and concentrated on the liver. Now we just needed to expel all the morphine.

I was nearly frozen on top of Adele, barely able to feel my limbs while the stars twinkled as if watching everything from above. For a few seconds I just listened to her heart coming back to life, then, to my relief, I saw Adele's eyelids flutter and close. Her face contorted, and slowly she cracked open her icy eyes. Her mouth fell open as she coughed, gasping for breath after going so long without air. Still slightly purple from lack of oxygen, she fixed her eyes on me and parted her lips to whisper something halting:

“Idiot.”

A hysterical laugh escaped my throat—more relief than amusement. I couldn't sort out everything I was feeling or thinking; in fact, I could almost say I was ready to have a heart attack from the pain spreading through my chest. Or was it emotional? It didn't matter. Adele was alive.

“Welcome back to life, Adele.” My voice came out exhausted, as if I'd run a marathon across Jupiter.

I ran my hand over her face to brush away the hair stuck to sweat and tears. Then I heard clapping in the back of my mind. I looked around, confused, wondering if I was hearing things, because I had clearly heard applause.

“Congratulations,” Serguei said cheerfully. “You passed the psychological test.”

And like a ghost, Zion emerged from the trees.

Δ

I made sure most of the morphine had left Adele's system and that her body could handle the rest without life-threatening risk. I got off the Yonserian, closing her gown to cover her breasts, then growled at Zion to take her to the hospital. He seemed relieved, looking at Adele with a certain tenderness as he lifted her and left without a word.

I got up from the ground with so much rage it had warmed my blood, blocking out the cold, and stomped through the trees toward the exit. I wanted to get home fast and, most importantly, I didn't want Zion anywhere near me. I was furious and would start an argument the moment I saw his face. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, my feet ached from stepping on thorns and twigs, but at least the silence was comforting. I ran for about ten minutes until I saw shadows taking shape beside me and, to my utter frustration, Zion appeared in my peripheral vision.

“You were magnificent,” he exclaimed, running beside me.

I pressed my lips together to keep from cursing at him. He seemed strangely happy and was wearing the standard military outfit: shirt, vest, and a thick overcoat. He had a satisfied expression, and when he extended a hand to transport us home, I pulled away and stopped running, falling behind. He stopped immediately and turned to me.

“That was a test?” I stayed well clear of his hands.

“Not at first, but in the end it turned into one.”

He tried to reach for me.

“Were you having fun?” I asked, shoving him back and pulling away from his hands.

“We were observing. Serguei wanted proof that your mind was stable, and I thought it was the perfect moment for him to see that you're okay.”

The bastard wore a half smile, as if he were proud. I was still trembling with fear, anger, and cold.

“And you thought it was the right moment?” I let out a nervous laugh. “I was hanging on the edge of a cliff with a girl on the verge of death, and you thought it was the right time? If Serguei wanted proof, he could've just looked into my mind. He does it all the time—why did you need to put me through this?”

“Because we wanted to see if you'd still want to live even under stress. We had to push you to the limit to find out,” he answered, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Today more than ever, I saw Serguei in every feature of Zion's face. I wanted to strangle them both.

“I can't believe you let Adele and me almost die just to prove a point,” I shouted at him.

His eyes narrowed, finally noticing how furious I was.

“You weren't in any real danger. I was in the woods the whole time—if you'd fallen, you wouldn't have hit the bottom of the cliff. I would have transported you both.”

He extended his hand as he approached, and I backed away.

“Adele almost died of an overdose while you two were having fun treating this like a test. Did you enjoy the little show?”