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I hear a noise but don’t turn, focusing on my task as I hum until there’s a deep sigh. “I don’t know how you could become a doctor.”
“It was easy,” I reply as I turn and gesture to the seat near me, but she remains standing, so I shrug. If that’s what makes her feel more in control, then okay. “I’m good at science. It made sense to me when human nature did not,” I explain. “I like to help people and figure out problems. I hated labs for what he did in them, but I can understand the beauty and science behind it. It doesn’t mean I agree with what he did, but I can understand the sophistication and work it took.” I hurry on when her eyes narrow. “The things he did with research, however, were monstrous, and I’m sorry that ever happened to you,” I offer softly.
She nods but doesn’t look away, and I pick up the chip gun. “This will hurt, but only for a moment. It’s an RFID chip that will be implanted into your hand; that is all. It’s simply a key.”
She nods and relaxes a little as I talk her through each step. When I get to the blood work, she snarls but stoically stands as I take the vials. I stroke her hand and squeeze it, talking about everything and anything until it’s over. She’s very much like Nico, who struggles with touch and medical equipment. It will make my job harder, but I find I like to comfort her, especially when her eyes soften a tad when she looks at me as if I am protecting her. Unlike the others, where it’s my duty and what I’m good at, this feels different.
If I were Jonas, my chest would puff out, but instead, I have a dopey smile on my face.
The others hate my chatter, but she doesn’t seem to mind, so I don’t stop. “Other children?” she finally asks, interrupting my story of a time when Jonas shot up my lab.
“Hmm?” I ask as I analyse her blood.
“The other children. You said . . . Where are they? Are there any here?”
I round my shoulders and turn, playing with my coat. We had mentioned some had died, maybe it’s hope that she’s asking if any survived. “No.” Pursing my lips, I think of the best way to explain it. “Louis is better at answering your questions—”
“Please, Isaac, I need to know,” she implores, her eyes widening.
Whether it’s her round, trusting eyes or the hand she places on my arm, I find myself answering. I am unable to say no to her. A dangerous thing, I know, but she has her father’s magnetism, if not his streak for cruelty.
“They are dead.”
She flinches but nods, probably already guessing that.
“According to his notes, some were . . . terminated. They failed some of the experiments, so he, um . . . Those that survived were pushed further. He would infect some with diseases or genetic impurities, as he liked to call them. Cancer, MS, or congestive heart failure were introduced into their bodies to see what effects could be created. Some died when they could have been saved. One I read about, a girl, killed herself at only thirteen.”
“Fuck!” she cries, smashing her fist into the table. I surge to my feet and rub her back.
“I know, it’s horrendous, but that’s why we must do this. We need to stop anyone else from being hurt like us.”
“Why me? Why us?” She tilts her head, and I see tears in her eyes. “When I thought it was just me, I could survive. I asked why all the time, but I survived . . . and the others . . . I didn’t know. I left and ran like a coward while they suffered because I thought I was the only one. Fucking foolish. I could have helped them!” she yells, but then her voice breaks as she tries to hold back her tears.
Her pain calls to the caring part of me, the doctor part, though I know it’s a lie—it’s deeper than that. Her pain feels like a knife in my heart.
I wrap my arms around her. She’s stiff at first, but then she relaxes, turning to bury her head in my chest as I stroke her back and hair.
“There is nothing you could have done, nothing any of us could have done,” I murmur. “You were a child yourself, and you did the best you could to survive the unimaginable. We all did. We have a chance now to make it right, so do not let guilt change you, Nova. It was Dr. Davis who did this, not us. We are innocent, but we have a chance to avenge them and save others. Do not let the past fill you with hatred until you blindly fall into the madness like he did. Let it guide you instead. Learn from it, and let’s do better.”
She nods and pulls back slightly. Her eyes are rimmed red, and tears stain her cheeks, yet she’s utterly beautiful. Then it hits me. I was looking at her like another patient, as if I knew when I looked too hard, I would see it, but now I can’t not. I can’t look away from her as my hands tunnel into her hair and touch her as if I can’t get enough. My gaze drops to her lips then up to her eyes.
She’s stunning.
She’s so strong, beautiful, and intelligent.
It’s a powerful combination that leaves me breathless, and for the first time in my life, I want to lean into another person instead of being the person they lean on. It makes me want to break all my carefully built rules and kiss her.
I can tell she feels the same because her eyes widen and her breath picks up, causing her chest to rise and fall against my own. Her hands clench the material of my coat, and a blush flushes her cheeks as we stare. We are both fighting the electricity between us, one that’s so potent, I’m surprised we haven’t set the room alight.
Something grows between us the longer we stare, and then I start to tilt my head down, unable to resist her.
Nova is one of us. I would never hurt her, not like other women, and it’s that knowledge that has a slight groan leaving my lips as I finally give in. I lower my head, and she doesn’t move away, making me believe she feels this too. Whether it’s the desire to feel loved since we spent our childhood alone or she simply wants me as a man, I can’t tell, and I don’t care.
The spell is broken when we hear footsteps.
She jerks back, wiping her mouth like I kissed her, and looks at the door. I turn, my lips dipping into a frown as disappointment fills me. What was I thinking? She won’t trust me if I force myself on her like that. I don’t know what came over me. It’s clear Nova is deadlier than we expected, considering I almost gave into the dark urges inside of me when I am usually perfectly in control and calm.
The beauty standing next to me nervously buzzes with embarrassment as Dimitri steps into the room. As usual, he enters farther than the others who would simply wait outside, as if by doing so he is telling his past to go fuck itself. He appreciates knowledge and computers as much as I do, though he hates how he obtained his interest for them.
