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"On her?" I gape at her, mouth wide. "Why on earth would I do that?"

"Just take your damn clothes off already!" Mandy sucks on her upper teeth as she glares at me. "Quickly. I don't have time for this. If you won't comply, then I'm leaving."

"Wait!" I throw up a hand as Mandy moves toward the door. Seeing Illyana is the only thing that matters. I need to confirm she's alive with my own eyes, and it wouldn't hurt to shrug off the lingering weight around my shoulders from where Boris's heavy arm was weighing me down.

"Well?" Mandy arches one dark, perfectly plucked brow and stares at me.

Fuck.

I shrug off my blouse, fighting with the damp material from being slightly soaked in the rain, and toss it down onto the nearby couch. Mandy's eyes drop to the crisscross bruising from the seatbelt on my chest but she doesn't comment. My jeans follow and then I cover my body with my arms once more.

"All of it," Mandy remarks. "Underwear too."

"What the hell do you think I'm hiding in my bra?"

"We're taking no chances. You can kill someone with an air bubble so I need to be sure you don't have anything, no matter how small."

"Who would I kill?" When Mandy doesn't reply, the answer hits me like a ton of bricks. "Illyana?"

"Like I said, I don't have time for your questions. Underwear off!"

Do they think I would do that? Then again, I had briefly contemplated it on the drive over. Relying fully on Cassian feels like a mistake because I have no idea what's happening outside while I'm here. He could die and I'd know nothing about it. So I toyed with the idea of saving myself and my daughter by letting us both die. A kinder fate than whatever a monster like Boris has in mind.

My hands tremble as I unclip my bra and slip it from my shoulders, doing my best to keep myself covered with one arm as the bra lands on the floor. Removing my panties is just as awkward and my cheeks flare as if I've been slapped hard on either side. As soon as my panties fall, I try to cover my crotch with my hand while Mandy looks on, unamused.

"Squat."

"Excuse me? This is ridiculous!"

"No, what's ridiculous is that you clearly don't want to see Illyana that badly if you can't follow a few basic instructions. If I deem you a threat, then you don't get to see her, understand?"

"I don't understand how you think I could have a weapon in my vagina, but sure," I snap heatedly while my heart pounds. Gritting my teeth, I follow her demand to squat while a humiliating sweat breaks out across my back like a thousand needle pricks.

"Desperate people do desperate things," Mandy replies. "Cough three times."

I oblige without argument. It can't get much worse at this point, and it's worth it for Illyana.

Mandy, thankfully, seems satisfied because she immediately leaves the room and returns almost instantly with a dress and fresh underwear.

"Get dressed," she says, tossing them at me. "I'll take you to see Illyana."

So I passed the test. Maybe I should be grateful, but all I'm overwhelmed by is a pull of sickness and the heat of clamminess as my nervous sweat immediately soaks into my dress and makes it stick to my back.

Once dressed, Mandy makes good on her word and leads me down a hallway with striking white walls and a deep red carpet that rolls down the length of the hallway, made of fibers that are exceptionally soft against my bare feet.

This might be the most expensive thing I've ever touched and I'm walking on it. A flutter of nerves pulls me up onto my tiptoes until Mandy ushers me into a dark room and closes the door. With the lights low, darkness closes around me like a blanket and it takes me a few seconds to adjust to what I'm seeing.

"Go away," snaps a weak, slightly breathless voice.

My heart stutters in my chest. "Illyana?"

"Sabina?" A low light near the bed suddenly blinks to life, flooding the room in warm, orange light.

My heart catches in my throat as Illyana leans up on her bed and peers around the edge of the railing.

The second her eyes land on me, they widen and a small smile creeps across her pale, slightly gaunt face. "It is you!"

"Hi." Hurrying forward, I almost trip over myself in my eagerness and I reach the end of her bed with a smile. "You've no idea how good it is to see you!"