I approached the unfamiliar guards. They stood at attention, fully outfitted with ballistic helmets, tactical vests, and rifles that reminded me of scorpions—black and sharp and deadly.
They looked like the kind of soldiers who had opinions—unfriendly ones—like they didn’t just expect to kill, but wanted to. Something in their eyes recalled unwanted memories of Jack Miller.
“I’m trying to see Harrison,” I said, wishing my voice was stronger.
“No one in or out,” a soldier said. “Prime Delegate’s orders.”
I looked past them to the abandoned hallway, wondering what was happening to Lucas beyond Theo’s closed door.
Adam took my arm. “Come on, Sophia.”
Despite the guards’ menacing presence, I refused to go far. I strode to the opposite hall and paced, shooting far too many glances toward Theo’s door.
“You’re giving me a headache,” Adam said after ten minutes.
“What do you think they’re talking about?”
“The weather.”
I glared at him.
He threw his hands up. “How am I supposed to know?”
“You know everything.”
He sighed and lowered his voice. “I think Williams will want to bleed him dry of information. If he’s smart, he’ll bargain his life for anything he has.”
Alarmed, I shot my gaze to Theo’s door again. Lucas wouldn’t bargain for his life, but hewouldbargain for mine. He’d give them everything if he could guarantee my safety, including a glamorized execution for the Defiance.
He’d waste his only shot protecting me.
As I fought the powerful urge to charge through the wall of soldiers to reach him, Theo’s door cracked. My heart stuttered, and I craned my neck to see. It looked as if someone was speaking to the guard just outside. Then it closed again, and my spirits sank.
The guard marched down the hall. The line of soldiers parted to let him through, and he stopped not five feet from where I stood. He met my gaze, face expressionless. “Reeves. General wants to see you.”
I snuck a glance at Adam. His mouth had turned down into a rare, worried frown, but he tried to screw it into a smile for me. “See? Your patience paid off. I’ll wait right here, okay?”
Swallowing against a desert-dry throat, I followed the guard to Theo’s office. I’d been there dozens of times, but this was the first time I’d faced such existential dread.
What would I find on the other side of that door?
The guard let me in, then shut the door behind me. Three pairs of eyes landed on me. The only ones I cared about looked away just as quickly. Lucas sat in the chair before Theo’s desk, his hands cuffed behind his back. The bruise beneath his eye had faded to a morbid rainbow of pink and green.
It was the first time I’d really seen him in more than a week, and my heart went haywire. I tripped toward him, pulled by his magnet, and set gentle hands against his jaw so he’d be forced to look at me.
“I’m so mad at you,” I said.
His ocean eyes darted back and forth between my own. “You’re just mad I’m the first person who has battled your stubbornness and won.”
“Miss Reeves,” came a smooth feminine voice. “Please have a seat.”
I obeyed at once, meeting Nia Williams’ dark gaze with what I hoped was at least a measure of deference. Sitting at Theo’s desk, she looked from me to Lucas and back. Seated behind her was Theo, his gaze downcast.
“This is interesting,” she said.
Lucas’s voice took a sharp edge. “Is it?”
Williams flashed her dazzling white teeth. “I thought the rumors would be exaggerated. Seems I was wrong.”
