The footsteps are getting louder now. Any moment, the guards will be close enough to hear us.
Ryker looks between us, his face twisted with anguish. His hands pause on my mother’s chains. “Violet—”
“Take her.” My voice breaks. “Please. I’m begging you.”
My mother makes a despairing sound. “I can’t leave you. I can’t.”
“You have to.” I meet her eyes, willing her to understand. “You have to survive. For both of us.”
“Violet—”
But Ryker has already made his decision. He strikes my mother on the side of the head. The sound cracks through the cell.
“No!” I lunge forward, but the chains snap me back.
My mother slumps sideways, unconscious. Ryker catches her before she hits the ground.
“Why did you—”
“She wouldn’t have come willingly.” He works frantically at her lock. “And we’re out of time.”
The chains fall away from my mother’s wrists. Ryker lifts her easily, cradling her against his chest. He looks at me over her limp form, his eyes filled with regret.
“Protect her,” I tell him fiercely. “Get her as far away from here as possible.”
“I will.” He reaches the doorway and pauses. The voices are very close now. His eyes meet mine one last time. “I would have protected you, Violet. Loved you. You would have been safe with me.”
My throat tightens. “I know.”
He studies my face for as long as he can, like he’s trying to memorize it. Then, he turns and disappears into the shadows of the corridor, my mother in his arms.
I stare after him, at the wide-open cell door that may as well be locked shut, because I’m still chained to the wall.
Three guards burst in, armed and furious. Their shouts echo off the stone.
“The cell is open!”
“One of the hybrid women is gone!”
The first man reaches me in two strides and backhands me across the face.
My head snaps to the side. Pain explodes across my cheekbone, sharp and hot. Blood fills my mouth.
“Where did she go?” He grabs my hair, yanking my head back. “Who helped you?”
I don’t answer. Can’t answer. The words are somewhere far away, buried under the weight of everything crashing down on me.
A kick lands on my ribs. The impact steals my breath. I gasp, trying to pull air into my lungs, but my body won’t cooperate.
“Answer me!” The guard shakes me hard enough that my teeth clack together.
Someone stomps on my shin. The bone splits with a sickening sound. This time I do scream, the sound tearing from my throat before I can stop it.
“That’s more like it.” The guard grabs my face, forcing me to look at him. “Now, tell us who helped the other hybrid escape.”
The scream was involuntary, ripped from me by pure agony. But I have nothing to say. No answers to give.
“Where is she?” He shakes me. “Who was it? Answer me!”
