“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered before he could stop himself.
Her voice turned silky. “Oh, I think I do.”
His heart thundered.
“See, I did some digging after Colton told me about what happened, and it turns out, therewasa race that lived on Reva a thousand years ago. Which got me thinking, what if Gemma awoke something in that temple? What if itpossessed her?” Nadine’s eyes narrowed. “You think the Systems are going to let that slide?”
His breath caught.
“They’re probably studying her right now,” Nadine added, her voice like poison. “Locked away, sedated. Watching her mutate from behind a one-way screen.”
“Shut up,” he snapped.
Nadine grinned like she’d just drawn blood. “It burns, doesn’t it? Knowing you can’t get to her? Knowing that even if you did, you might be too late?”
He jumped off the chair.
“You think they’re gonna let her walk around like that, with that kind of power?” Nadine’s smile sharpened. “Come on, Holm. You’ve seen what they do to anything they don’t understand.”
Christian pointed his finger at her. “Stop talking. Right now. Or so help me—”
“What? You’re going to attack a helpless prisoner?” She leaned back, her eyes blazing with spite.
“Don’t put it past me.”
“I dare you, then. Come on, Christian. Get revenge for your girl since you know she’ll never breathe free air again.”
Any control he had over his anger snapped.
Christian’s chair screeched against the floor as he flung it across the room. It slammed into the far wall with a crack loud enough to make Nadine flinch.
But then—stars help him—she laughed.
“Touch a nerve?” she called after him as he stormed out of the holding cell. The reinforced door hissed shut behind him with a sharp clang.
Back in front of the electroglass screen, his breaths came too fast. He planted his hands on his head, fingers splayed wide, and forced himself to inhale through his nose and count to four. But he could still hear Nadine’s laughter through the wall. High-pitched. Mocking.
He fumbled for his comm.
“Call Gemma Proctor,” he ordered.
Three soft chimes, then silence.
He tried again. And again. And a fourth time.
Each unanswered call frayed something deeper in him, until finally, he slammed the heel of his palm against the wall.
“She’s fine,” he told himself aloud. “She’s fine.”
But the words didn’t hold.
His eyes locked on Nadine through the glass. She’d stopped laughing now. She just sat there, smiling, like she knew.
He sent Gemma a message, and for a second, relief washed over him when he received a reply. But then he projected the response over his eyepiece.
USER UNAVAILABLE. SIGNAL CANNOT BE ESTABLISHED. TRY AGAIN LATER.
The world fell out from under him.
