They reposition smoothly around me, anticipating resistance. They drag me toward the van. My shoes scrape against the asphalt. The night air tears into my lungs in ragged pulls. I get one last glimpse of Karp slamming one of the men to the ground, driving him into the pavement violently.
Leo collapses against the hood of the SUV, still trying to aim. He’s alive. Karp is still fighting.
Relief flashes through me even as I’m hauled toward the van. Then I’m thrown inside, my shoulder striking the cold metal as the doors slam shut behind me. Before I can orient myself, Lila is shoved in after me. Her body collides with mine, her shoulder striking my side hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. The impact forces me forward onto my hands again.
The van doors slam shut with a heavy clang that reverberates through the enclosed space. The engine roars. We lurch forward instantly, momentum throwing me sideways as the vehicle accelerates into traffic.
I scramble upright despite the hands already reaching for me. My wrists are seized and yanked behind my back with bruisingforce. My knees slide against the metal floor as I twist to look at Lila.
“Are you hurt?” I demand, my voice tight.
Lila shakes her head rapidly, tears streaking down her cheeks in uneven tracks. Her breathing comes in broken gasps, her shoulders trembling as she tries to sit upright while someone restrains her arms.
“I’m okay,” she chokes out, though the fear in her eyes is unmistakable.
That’s when the fear really hits. Not the sharp kind I felt in the SUV. Something deeper. But not for me. For the small, fragile truth I’ve barely said out loud. For the life inside me that Kiren doesn’t even know about yet.
If this ends here and I disappear into whatever plan has been set in motion, he’ll never know that there was more. He’ll tear the city apart looking for me. I have no doubt about that. But he won’t know what he’s really fighting for.
A hand clamps around my jaw before I can fully process it. A cloth presses against my mouth and nose. The smell is acrid and chemical, burning the inside of my nostrils. I jerk my head away, twisting my neck with enough force to strain the muscles. My teeth snap down reflexively, but I catch only fabric.
“Hold her,” a voice mutters near my ear, low and irritated.
Fingers dig into my cheeks, forcing my face upward. A suddensting bites into the side of my neck. It’s quick. Cold spreads outward from the puncture, radiating in widening pulses.
I thrash against the arms holding me, driving my shoulder backward and attempting to kick with what leverage I have. My muscles respond at first, tightening, fighting the intrusion with instinctive resistance.
The van swerves, the tires skidding briefly over the thin layer of snow as we take the turn too fast.
Lila is crying. I know she is. I can hear it, thin and shaking, but it already sounds far away. The cold is worse now. It creeps through my coat and into my bones. My hands feel numb, and my feet feel distant.
The van jolts again, and my vision blurs at the edges. The overhead light smears when I try to focus on it.
Stay awake.
I force my eyes wider, searching for something solid to lock onto. The seam in the metal wall. The hinge on the rear doors. Anything that doesn’t move. But my head feels heavy.
Kiren’s face rises in my mind easily. Not the controlled version he shows the world. The way he looks at me when he forgets to guard it.
He doesn’t know.
It’s the only thing that feels clear.
He doesn’t know.
My fingers won’t move the way I tell them to. My body feels too heavy, like it’s sinking into the floor beneath me. Lila says my name, but it stretches and warps, like it’s being pulled underwater.
The hum of the engine grows louder. Or maybe everything else is fading. I try to hold onto one clear thing.
He doesn’t know.
Darkness rushes in before I can stop it. And then the world goes silent.
