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Recognition. Almost…relief. A faint smile touched her lips.

“Oh,” she said quietly. “You came.”

Then her knees gave way.

Chapter 28

Emilia

The syringe was empty. Victoria was on the floor.

I don’t remember the last few seconds clearly. What I remember is the empty barrel and her open hand. She went down in stages, not all at once, like her body had forgotten how to remain upright. I was already moving before she hit the floor.

Behind me, I heard the footsteps. They were growing faster and closer. Alexander was saying my name in a tone I had never heard from him before.

“Are you hurt?”

He was at my side before I could answer. His hands found my shoulders, my arms, turning me toward the light. He was looking for a wound he was terrified to find.

He didn’t ask what happened. His only question was whether I was hurt.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Alexander. I’m fine. I wasn’t injected.”

His hands remained on my arms for another second, his eyes searching my face. He needed to see for himself that I was all right. The fear in his expression hadn’t caught up with my words.

I didn’t have time to wait for it to.

My eyes landed on the syringe beside Victoria’s hand. I picked it up. The label was small, the print impossibly fine. I recognized the molecule’s name before I had finished reading it. It targeted the same pathway we had studied with Aurora.

The Helix compound.

I turned and knelt beside Victoria. Marcus was already there, checking for a pulse and speaking to her calmly.

He pulled the radio from his belt. “Medical response, ninth floor. Now.”

I barely heard him. My eyes were on Victoria. I knew exactly what I was looking at. Her body was being starved of oxygen, and I didn’t know how severely. Worse, I had no idea how the compound had been stored or what six years had done to it.

“Marcus.” My voice came out steadier than I felt. “Tell them exactly this. She was injected with an experimental compound with suspected hypoxic effects.”

Marcus repeated the information into his radio, calm and precise. A voice answered through the static and Marcus gave a single nod. The room fell strangely quiet after that.

There was nothing left to do except wait.

I watched Victoria. Each shallow breath came with visible effort, separated by pauses that seemed longer than they should have been. I said her name once. Then again. I told her help was coming. I had no idea if she could hear me. Perhaps I was saying it as much for myself as I was for her.

Alexander had gone completely still behind me. He did not interrupt. He did not ask questions. He simply remained there, close enough that I could feel him without looking. I had never known him to be speechless.

The sound of running footsteps reached us first. Then voices. The medical team swept into the office carrying equipment I recognized only in passing. The room filled with practiced movement. Someone gently took the syringe from my hand. Someone else guided me back a step. An oxygen mask appeared over Victoria’s face as they took over with speed and confidence.

I stood where they had moved me, watching hands that knew exactly what to do, and only then did I realize mine had begun to shake.

* * *

They wanted to take me to the hospital too.

I understood why. There was a syringe with mysterious contents. They had to confirm it hadn’t entered my skin as well. I did not fight them on it.

“I wasn’t injected,” I said to the paramedic checking my pupils and to the one wrapping a cuff around my arm. “It went into her. Not me. I’m not symptomatic. I would be, by now, if I were.”