Chapter 33 Public Announcement
Public Announcement
Loyalty isn’t clean or moral. It’s understanding the cost of the game and choosing to play it anyway.
— THEODORE HARRISON
Ihadn’t risen from my kneeling position when Zara arrived in Theo’s office, a puzzled frown on her face. When she saw me, her eyes widened, and she hurried to my side. “Sophia? I’ve been so worried.” Her kind touch found my shoulder, but I couldn’t gather the strength to look her in the eye.
“I’m fine,” I said, voice dead.
“She needs an examination. She’s been—ah—she’s been in the company of Jack Miller for many days.”
I squeezed my eyes shut against the thick silence that followed.
Zara’s tone went careful. “Sophia, would you like to come down to the hospital wing? I can—”
“I just need you to look at my back,” I said. “That’s all I need.”
She hesitated, but out of the corner of my eye, I noted her forced smile. “Alright. Let’s go down and have a look.”
Obediently, I stood and followed her to the door, but Theo stopped me before we left.
“I’ll do my best, Sophia,” he said.
I turned to meet his gaze.
“But I can’t make guarantees. This isn’t my decision.”
Silent tears dripped, and I left with Zara at my side.
The hospital wing looked the same as always—cots lining the walls, some filled, some empty. Two of my fellow medics were on duty, and they jumped to attention when we entered, their wide eyes taking me in with disbelief.
“Reeves?” one of them said. “You’re back?”
I turned to look at him, but I barely recognized his face. I was no longer close to any of the medics. Certain we’d inevitably die, I’d isolated myself from these people just like everyone else.
Clearly they recognized me, though.
“I’m back,” I said. “Not sure when I’ll return to duty.”
He nodded, seeming to sense my skittishness. Both of them backed away, but their gazes followed Zara and me into the private examination area.
“So, your back?” Zara said, tone like velvet.
I slipped off my shirt, showing her the wound.
Her tender smile faltered as she took in the damage. She motioned me to lie on the bed, which I did with only a slight grimace.
Zara pulled a chair to the side of the bed. “It’s—it’s been well tended. I’m assuming Jack Miller is not the person who took care of it?”
“No.”
She hummed. “How well did this person clean it? Do we need to worry about infection?”
“He’s obsessive. He spent a lot of time cleaning and gluing.”
Her fingers brushed my back. “Infection is still a risk. Are there…other injuries?”
I hesitated, thinking of the teeth marks and the bruises on my throat. “None that won’t heal with time.”
A few seconds passed, and she sighed. “I’m so sorry, Sophia.”
The tears, which hadn’t quite stopped, started anew. “You were there too. How’d you escape?”
“A few of us were on the third floor when the attack came. There were some hiding spaces they didn’t check. I just… I got lucky. Only a handful of medics made it out. They were targeting the medical facility specifically. To weaken us.”
“Aren’t there laws against that?” I asked. “It’s like…a war crime.”
“I don’t think they care, Sophia. We’ll check on this every day, okay?” she said. “In the meantime, be careful with your movements and try not to put pressure on your back.”
I nodded.
“Is there anything else you need from me?” she asked. “Would you like an internal examination?”
“It’s not necessary,” I said. “Nothing hurts but my back.”
And my mind.
And my heart.
And my soul.
“Why don’t you sleep in my quarters tonight?” Zara said. “It’s no time to be alone, don’t you think?”
I gave no argument and followed her to her small, private room in the sleeping wing, the bed big enough for two. She offered me pajamas, but I refused to remove Lucas’s clothes.
Before I slipped into bed, Zara handed me a brown paper bag.
“You don’t have to discuss it, but it’s important you have this.”
I peeked into the bag and froze.
Two white pills. Two labeled syringes. A pregnancy test.
My legs turned to jelly, and I sank to the bed. Why hadn’t it occurred to me that this could happen? That there might be consequences?
The bag dropped to the ground, and I pitched forward, burying my face into my knees. The scent of Lucas filtered into my lungs—peppermint and incense.
Breathe.
In and out.
Zara kept quiet until the moment passed and I straightened. She retrieved the bag and handed it to me. “Would you like me to inject you?”
I nodded, standing so she could do just that. The medicine ached as it entered my muscle, and flashes of Jack Miller’s hands around my throat were chased by the feel of his skin ripping open under my knife.
I hated him. Regret simmered that I hadn’t done more to prolong his suffering.
With jerky movements, I accepted the water Zara offered and swallowed the pills.
Last, the pregnancy test. I held it between two fingers. “It wouldn’t be positive this soon.”
“When’s your cycle due?”
Closing my eyes, I counted back. “A week or two? I’m not very regular.”
She took the packet from my hand. “You can take it then, alright?”
“What if it’s positive?”
There used to be medicines that could protect me. There used to be ways to keep me from bearing this burden. One by one, the NAO had destroyed them all…
Yet another thing they had taken.
Her hand landed on my shoulder, a gentle squeeze. “Don’t think on that yet. Why don’t you try to get some rest? It’s late.”
I slipped into bed, but my eyes wouldn’t close. Behind each blink came memories I’d have rather purged from my mind.
My hands, cuffed to a bed.
Jack Miller’s breath, hot on my skin.
Dozens of innocents, standing in a jail cell.
Lucas at a card table, gambling for my life.
With each one, my throat ached more, my heart beat harder, and I craved the embrace of the one person I couldn’t have. I wanted Lucas the same way I wanted oxygen in my lungs. Only he could make this excruciating loneliness disappear. Only he could drive away the images stuck in my head.
But somehow, in some way, I fell asleep.
I woke with a jolt the next morning when Zara set a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Sophia, you need to wake up.”
Blinking away the dark dream that submerged me, I sat up. “What’s wrong?”
Her dark eyes skipped over my face, then dropped away. “Word has gotten out.”
My movement slowed to a stop. “What do you mean?”
“There’s a rumor we’ve captured one of the Blood Colonels,” she said. “There’s a lot of commotion, and they’re saying you were seen…with him.”
She asked no questions, but a tinge of dismay darkened her features.
“What do you mean by commotion?”
“They’re… Well, they’re calling for an execution.”
I was calm—completely calm—but then terror attacked from all angles. It stole my breath, sharpened the pain in my back and deep in my soul.
I leapt out of bed and bolted for the stockade. Outside the hospital wing, the hallways were busier and louder than normal. Angry eyes followed my sprint down the corridor. My reckless hurry made the wounds spark to life as I charged down the stairs, pushing people out of the way.
“There she is!” voices shouted.
I ignored them.
The underground offices of the museum had been converted to holding cells for prisoners, all guarded by a single door now barricaded by five officers. To my surprise, I recognized one of them.
“Adam!” I shouted, and his gaze shot to mine.
I elbowed my way toward him, and the crowd’s roar grew tenser by the second. I caught comments like Let me have him and String him up, and my heart thudded like it was pumping tar through my veins instead of blood.
Adam seized my arms as I tripped to the front of the crowd. “Jesus, Soph. Is what they’re saying true? A Blood Colonel?”
“You have to let me see him,” I said, breathless.
His eyes widened, and the surrounding officers glared at me like I was some sort of disgusting swamp creature.
Adam dragged me to the side and lowered his voice to a whisper. “What the fuck were you thinking, bringing Lucas Scott here?”
Once again, tears burned my eyes. “We had nowhere else to go.”
He looked like he had a thousand questions, but his attention darted around the escalating mayhem. “They’re going to crucify you for this.”
“If they just knew—”
“I heard she’s fucking him!” someone shouted, and the voices rocketed to full-on screams.
“Hunter whore!”
“Tie her up next to him!”
“Someone grab her!”
Hands clamped around my arms, pulling me away from Adam, and he morphed into the officer I rarely saw. In a deft maneuver, he flung himself between me and my attacker, and the soldier who’d grabbed me was immobilized with his hand wrenched behind his back.
“No one touches her!” he snapped. “She is one of us!”
“Not if she’s fucking a Hunter, she’s not,” someone from the back bellowed.
Agreements tore through the small room.
“That is enough!” roared a voice from behind it all.
The horde went silent and leapt to attention, saluting their general as he made his presence known. Theo moved, and the crowd parted to allow him a path to the front. The officers guarding the stockade saluted him as he approached, including Adam, who blocked my view.
At the front of the crowd, Theo spun, his stiff arms behind his back as he addressed them in his military bark. “Everyone to the assembly room. Now!”
The soldiers fell back at once, all of them crowding the single staircase that led to the main level.
Once the room was empty, Theo turned to his officers. “You will not leave your station at this door. No one gets through. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir!” they shouted as one.
Theo turned to look at me, still standing behind Adam.
“Lieutenant,” Theo said. “Move aside.”
After a beat, Adam dropped his guard. I met Theo’s stern expression with a hard one of my own. “Let me see him.”
Theo’s jaw worked. “What were your orders, officers?”
“No one gets through!” they said as one.
“That includes you, Reeves,” Theo said. “Get upstairs.”