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We stroll through the tranquil garden toward the exit, taking our time I’m in no hurry to become Dr Craven’s human pincushion On top of ht--I recently contracted the Wrath virus, after an infected Darkling boy bit me Since my arrival at the rebel base, the Sentry doctors have been trying to cure s Until I ca, but now that there’s hope I can get better, I’m terrified the treatment won’t work

Elijah thrusts his hands into his pockets as he walks beside me, the sleeves of his jumpsuit rolled up to reveal the leopardlike spots on his arli at them, you’d think they’re just pretty pieces of jewelry, but I knohat they really are: shackles They denote his status as a slave to the Bastet Consul, who also happened to be his father Elijah’s relationship with his father is complicated to say the least Or was complicated, I correct The Bastet Consul waswith Elijah’s half brother Donatien

"How are you coping?" I say gently

Elijah shrugs, knohat I’ about "Fine Terrible I aze "I can’t help but feel h" His topaz eyes flick up to ree with him The Bastet Consul used Elijah to lure me and Ash to Viridis, under the pretense that they wanted to join the rebellion However, it was just a ruse to get us to Viridis so they could hand us over to Purian Rose’s forces The plan backfired, as the Sentry double-crossed the Bastets, and his father was killed in the ensuing fight We only just escaped with our lives

I should be ry at hi his father’s orders Besides, when Garrick kidnappedafterforfor hiuest" here, forbidden to leave the compound in case he tells so the surface for a while, at least until I’ so ridiculous and let hio I think that’s why he volunteered to work in the UG It’s the next best thing to the outside world

We pass a bush of bright yellow Pollyanna lilies, and I brush e pollen bursts into the air

"My sister was named after this flower," I say

A sad so by uard and boyfriend, Sebastian Eden, on Purian Rose’s orders Elijah ith htens around le me

I slip ers into my pocket and find the blade concealed there I’d made a prohting until Centru rubble around Purian Rose’s feet And when thatto stride up to that son of a bitch and drive a dagger straight through his black heart We approach the toolshed and I walk past it, my hand still clutched around the knife

3

NATALIE

THE HOSPITAL IS A LEVEL UP from the UG, next to the main entrance, and by the tilass doors, steeling myself for what’s to come--an intravenous drip to help with the anes followed by several excruciatingly painful injections We’ve been following this procedure every day since I got here, and although I’lance up at Elijah His Adam’s apple nervously bobs up and down in his throat as he stares at the doors leading into the hospital I gently take his hand

"You don’t have to come in with me," I say "I know you hate these places"

My e in their laboratory in Black City and experimented on him It was his venom they used to create the Golden Haze, which killed several teenagers in Black City and resulted insent to prison, so obviously Elijah’s not a big fan of hospitals Or Dr Craven Oron to his "Anything for you"

Guilt coils up inside me, and I move my hand away Hurt flickers across his face Elijah confessed he had feelings forto Thrace, and we’ve both tried to pretend like he never said anything, but it’s always lurking in the corners of our friendship He holds the glass door open forinside the ward is clinical and white, apart froreen door at the end of the room, which leads into Dr Craven’s laboratory The ward is filled with all sorts of machines that whir and beep, and whose sole purpose, I’raine Rows ofby one of theuain, Jonathan," Mother says tersely She’s painfully thin, with sharp cheekbones, pale skin, and black hair that is neatly pinned up into a chignon

"She was -not-to-shout voice that he uses when he’s really mad "I raised her as if she were uard by the sight of ht he was dead, so it’s taking a little getting used to, having hi here now isn’t the one I remembered Father used to be classically handsome, like a movie star fro chin, mischievous blue eyes and an easy sh it’s probably not easy for him to do after the Wrath mauled his face

I ith him when he was attacked, and his wounds were so severe that it seemed impossible Dr Craven would be able to save him So when my mother told me Father died, I’d believed her I didn’t even question her when she refusedit would be too traumatic, or why she demanded a closed casket at his funeral I’d just assu at his mutilated face In reality, my father had been stabilized by Dr Craven, and then secretly transferred to this facility to be nursed back to health, while we buried an empty coffin

It hurts that my parents kept this enormous secret from me, but I understand why they did it My father was considered a traitor of the state, so it was safer for all of us if he just stayed "dead" whilefor Purian Rose as if her loyalties were still with hiation laws But my mother’s first loyalty is to this fao when she confessed she only agreed to Purian Rose’s plan to infect Darklings in Black City with the Wrath virus, because he threatened Polly and me She’d ally hoever is ht now, that’s the Sentry rebels

"Siobhan, we can’t keep putting this off She’s not co back," Father says

To ainst asps between sobs

Father wraps his arms around her I’m stunned at how broken my mother looks I’ve only ever seen her like this once before, on the day she was sent to prison She hasn’t spoken to me about what they did to her there, but I’ve heard the runed to break a prisoner’s spirit