“A safe place,” he said flatly. “Stop talking.”
She laughed once, humorless. “You’re taking us to see Ryker. Aren’t you? Did we just jump galaxies for this?”
“Galaxies?” He almost laughed. “Not even close.” He shifted close, breath hot against her ear. “But yes, you know exactly where I’m taking you. He’s difficult to drag out of hiding. I’m hoping he’ll make an exception for a living Simas—even the wrong one.”
“I’ve seen him,” Audrey said, lifting her chin. “He doesn’t scare me.”
Lie.But she held eye contact anyway.
Mihail’s eyes narrowed, black irises devouring the light. “I said stop talking.” His hand slid up around her throat again—firm and not quite choking. A promise held in check. “We have a long trip ahead, and you need your medicine.”
A man in a white coat stepped in, carrying a small case. He popped it open on a nearby counter. Needles gleamed inside with vials lined up in neat rows. More sedatives.
Audrey wanted to recoil. Instead, she locked her face down, letting it go blank. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing her flinch.
Emerson made a low sound next to her. The rough, furious noise of a man forced to watch and do nothing.
“Hold still,” the tech said.
Audrey didn’t.
Nikos caught the back of her neck and forced her head to the side. The white-coated man stepped in, fingers cool and practiced.
“Drugs first, but not too much,” Mihail said. “I need her walking in a few hours.”
A second vial clicked into place.
“Welcome to the route off Earth,” Mihail said, patting her cheek. “Try not to die before Nepra.”
And whatever waited on the other side belonged to Ryker.
19
Audrey woke to the thrum of engines in her bones. The same vibration she’d felt inside the Silo now ran through the walls.
She was in a transport, taking her somewhere she did not want to go—again.
Footsteps retreated, and a door slammed. It smelled like metal, antiseptic, and something faintly burned.
She twitched her fingers. Then her toes. Small movements, but they were hers.
Her head reeled as she forced her eyelids open and looked around, trying to determine where they’d put her—and whether escape from Voírían hands was even possible.
Low light glowed overhead.
Blinking through her hazy vision, Audrey tried—and failed—to make sense of the technology barring her from leaving. Some kind of energy barrier. A holding cell by another name.
She pushed upright too fast. The space tilted. As it steadied, acid rose in her throat. She let out a low sound before swallowing it. The cot was narrow, bolted to the wall, the mattress barely thicker than a blanket. There was no pillow, and no window.
Oh, God.
She looked down at her hands. They were free—technically. The black bands still circled her wrists, snug and seamless, pulsing lightly with the engine hum. When she flexed against them, that now-familiar pain radiated through her arms.
The same restraints that suppressed her abilities were still tight against her skin.
Audrey hissed through her teeth and took in the rest of the space.
The walls were matte steel. Only a shallow sink and a toilet stood behind a partition. A blue-white barrier sealed the cell—translucent enough to see the corridor beyond.
