Rowan’s jaw tightened. “They keep those doors unlocked as an illusion of freedom and choice. They know you’ll freeze to death—but only if you’re unprepared. We made it here alive, and I plan on leaving alive.Allof us.”
Rowan crossed the room in a few long strides and knelt beside my bed. He took my hand, and for a second, everything else fell away.
“I won’t let you die here.”
“You should’ve told me,” I whispered.
He gave a strained smile. “It’s not that I didn’t trust you. I just didn’t want to fail you. If I had given you hope, only to strip it from you later, I couldn’t have lived with myself.”
I didn’t argue. I couldn’t. Not when it felt like hope was the only thing holding me upright now.
The halls were a labyrinth of shadow and silence.
Fluorescent lights flickered above, casting thin blades of white across the floor. Each step sent a jolt through my spine. I clung to Rowan, my legs barely obeying me. He didn’t rush me—he bore my weight as if it cost him nothing.
We stopped at a door just down the corridor. I didn’t recognize it.
“Whose room is this?” I asked, already dreading the answer.
Rowan didn’t answer.
The door opened without a knock. The light inside was warm, deceptively so. Dr. Sinters looked up from a datapad in surprise—and then alarm.
She didn’t have time to scream.
In a fraction of a second, Sam had a blade to her throat, his other hand fisting her hair and jerking her head back.
“Don’t scream,” he said coolly. “Not unless you want to drown in your own blood.”
Her eyes went wide, and her mouth froze in a silent “o.”
Rowan stepped forward. “Sit,” he said to her.
She didn’t move fast enough. Sam shoved her into the chair.
“We’re not here to play games, Doctor. We need answers.”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stammered.
Sam pressed the blade tighter. She whimpered.
“Mavis’ scans,” Rowan said. “What was on them?”
“They were normal—just signs of fatigue, maybe dehydration—”
Sam didn’t wait for the signal. He grabbed her hand and snapped one of her fingers backward with a sickening crack.
She shrieked, muffled by his palm.
Rowan’s voice didn’t rise. It didn’t need to. “Try again.”
Her chest heaved, face having gone pale, and panic surged in her eyes.
“She has tumors,” she whispered, tears brimming in her eyes.
Rowan gave Sam another glance.
Crack. Another broken finger and another muffled scream.
