Chapter Eighteen
Christian sat in the quiet, staring at the wall across from his bed as if it held answers.
Every muscle in his body was tight with the kind of ache that lived deep within the bones.
Gemma’s voice still echoed in his ears. The way it cracked.
The way she’d whispered “I love you” like she was clinging to it.
Like it was the last tether to the person she used to be.
That familiar weight was there again: guilt, helplessness, fury. The woman he loved was unraveling, thread by thread, and all he could do was talk to her through a fucking comm.
He dragged a ragged breath into his lungs and pressed his fists to his eyes. Stars, she had sounded so scared.
A sharp exhale escaped his throat, and before he could stop himself, he grabbed the nearest object and hurled it across the room. It slammed into the far wall with a hollow clang before dropping to the floor.
He bent over, elbows on his knees, and cradled his head in his hands.
His forearms trembled, though he wasn’t sure if it was from exhaustion or rage.
Not at her—never at her. But at the Systems, at the bastards who would see something radiant and call it dangerous.
Who would look at her as a monster and forget her heart.
His throat burned. His eyes stung. His chest twisted tight, like his ribcage couldn’t contain the grief trying to claw its way out.
He wanted her back. Not just her voice through a call, but her. In his arms. Breathing. Alive.
Whole.
Dragging a shaky breath through his nose, he dug his fingers into his hair. No matter what happened in that temple, she was still his. If they locked her up and called it protocol, so be it.
He would burn down the whole fucking cage.
A knock broke the silence. The door creaked open, and Hawk’s silhouette filled the frame, backlit by the dim corridor.
“Time to head down,” Hawk said. “Ahna’s . . .”
Christian nodded, lifting his head and wiping his palms down his face. He moved to stand when Hawk stepped inside.
“Blast,” Hawk said, shutting the door behind him. “What happened?”
Christian stood to grab his things, turning his back to his friend. He couldn’t let Hawk—or anyone, for that matter—see him fall apart. “Just not a good day for Gemma.”
An uncomfortable quiet filled the air as Christian knelt to lace his boots.
“This is what I mean, man, about not telling me stuff. If there’s something going on, I wanna know about it. You’re probably not used to it, but you don’t have to shut people out. Especially your friends.”
Christian’s head dropped. He was right. Being vulnerable was not his forte. Only Gemma seemed to make it easy. But he’d screwed up big time when he hadn’t shared about his past with the Falaichte. And Gemma was Hawk’s friend too. He deserved to know what was going on.
“She’s not coming back from this. Not all the way,” Christian answered at last.
Hawk let loose a long breath. “Fuck, man. Did Doctor Manae say if they’ve found a cure yet?”
“No cure. It’s not even a maybe anymore.”
Silence stretched. Christian stood and paced the other side of the room, fingers running through his hair. “I thought we had more time. I thought we could fix this. But now, it’s too late. And I can’t even get to her.”
Hawk stayed quiet while Christian continued to work a hole into the floor.
“She told me she doesn’t know if she’ll still be herself the next time I see her.” Christian faced his friend, his voice raw.
“You told her she would be?”
“I told her I’d love her either way.”
Hawk’s eyes softened. “Because you will.”
Christian looked away, blinking hard. “Fuck, Hawk, I can’t lose her. Not like this. Not after everything she’s survived. I want to go to that temple and rip the whole science team apart and drag her out of that place myself. The only reason I haven’t is because I know that’d make it worse.”
Hawk crossed the room and set a hand on his shoulder. “You’re doing exactly what she needs. You’re finding her sister. You told her she’s not alone.”
Christian scoffed. “That’s not enough.”
“It’s everything.”
They stood in silence for a beat longer as Christian’s breathing evened.
Hawk gave his shoulder a small shake. “Now, come on. Ahna said Cho left a message in Imara’s stash locker, and a meet’s been set. Let’s get one step closer to finding Nadine so you can get back to your girl.”
Christian nodded, slow and tight, before grabbing his gear and following Hawk from the room.
The six of them moved quickly through Perileos, avoiding the main streets to keep their presence as much of a secret as possible. Almost an hour later, they reached the threshold of the Underground, heading to meet the Falaichte’s fixer.
The descent into the hidden district beneath the city was nerve-racking.
Every junction smelled like rust and blood, and with only the ultralights on their vests to illuminate the way, the darkness was overwhelming.
Christian should’ve been used to moving through this part of Perileos—in a strange, messed up sort of way, the Underground did feel like home—but the ghosts of his past stirred at the corners of his mind with every step they took.
Finally, Ahna signaled a halt. The path veered into a forgotten alcove, barely wide enough for three to stand side-by-side, when a battery lamp slowly came alive.
A voice came from the alcove. “To bleed is to belong.”
“Only the proven are remembered,” Ahna answered.
Christian flinched, a biting chill running down his spine. It was the motto of the Falaichte.
A man stepped out of the alcove to within the light of the ultralights on their vests—
Christian’s legs almost buckled. It was Vex, the orchestrator of all the matches in the fighting ring.
Vex’s gaze lingered on Christian a moment before he turned to Ahna. “You came,” he said, voice hoarse. “Didn’t think you would.”
“We don’t have time for banter,” Ahna snapped. “You have information. Talk.”
Vex slipped his hands into his pockets and relaxed into the stance of a man used to getting whatever he asked for. Christian subtly slipped on his grav knuckles.
“What do I get in return for my information?” Vex asked.
“What do you want?”
“Freedom from Reva. Clean papers. Citizenship, Systems-issued. I’m done scraping by in the shadows.”
Ahna didn’t flinch. “Wait here.” She pushed between the members of her team, keying her comm.
Claude and Yosef kept their scrutinizing stares on Vex without falter, their years of military service shining in their stances. Christian’s hands shook at his sides, desperate for vengeance against the man who’d manipulated and used him for years in the ring.
Christian turned his attention to Ahna’s call to distract himself.
“It’s possible, sir, but I think we should play it safe. This is our only lead.” A pause. “Affirmative.”
Ahna returned. “Your request is approved,” she said to Vex, and Christian couldn’t help but notice the subtle flinch of pain on Hawk’s face. The governor would provide papers for a criminal, but not his own family.
“But if you flake,” Ahna continued to Vex, “if you try to warn this contact of yours and they disappear, you’ll wish you never crawled out of your hole.”
Vex stared at her, his expression impassive and unreadable as always, and Christian lifted onto the balls of his feet, ready to pounce at the first sign they’d been betrayed.
But Vex spoke at last. “The Dissent’s been moving gear through the old shafts. One that most folk think collapsed decades ago. But there’s a way through off the main lines, east side of the mining sector. It’s narrow, but it works. Only a few of us even remember it’s there.”
Ahna looked to Christian. “You know where he’s talking about?”
“I have an idea.” It wasn’t the same tunnel where he, Imara, and Hawk had found the previous cache—the Underground’s tunnel system was vast. But it wouldn’t take him long to figure out exactly which specific one once they were close.
“Who’s been running trade on their side?” Ahna asked Vex.
The man lit a cig before answering. “Woman. Tattoo across her throat. Doesn’t talk much. I think her name’s Mira.”
“Got it,” Claude said, pulling up a holoscreen from his forearm band to document the info.
“I’ll set up a trade,” Vex continued. “Make it sound like I got something good. She comes in, you give her the stuff. Follow her, you find the Dissent.”
“How do I know this isn’t a trap?” Ahna asked.
“We have a code, lingo. She won’t suspect anything if I say the right words.”
Ahna paused for a moment to think. “When?”
“Tomorrow. Twenty-one-hundred hours. That spot I told you about off the main line. I’ll send the message tonight. She’ll be there.”
“Very well. You follow through, you get your papers.”
With a dip of his head, Vex turned and vanished into the tunnels without another word. The light of his battery lantern faded with him.
Silence stretched between the six of them, though the air surrounding them buzzed in anticipation. They were so close now.
“Let’s head back,” Ahna said. “We’ve got just a little over twenty-four hours to prep.”
By the time they left Gallowood House for the meet with Mira, all six of them were rested and had a solid plan in place. Both Hawk and Imara were excited to finally test out the tech Claude had made special for them in a real scenario.
Imara’s drone and tactical interface, small enough to be worn around her wrist, had been created by Claude, and he had developed a special earpiece to alert Hawk whenever an attacker approached behind him or on his blind side.
Hawk had been offered a bionic eye when he’d first lost it, but it had given him migraines so horrible that he’d asked for the patch instead.
The man was a wizard with technology.