Chapter 32 · She forced herself to keep talking. If she

She forced herself to keep talking. If she stopped, the panic would catch up. “The Hive doctors keep raising his treatment dose. He can barely stand. Yesterday he couldn’t feel two fingers. Today he forgot my name for almost a minute.”

Cain’s gaze sharpened. “He forgot you?”

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you already know how this ends.”

“I don’t.”

“Then say it.”

“Say what?”

“That we’re going to get the data. That we’re going to get back to the Hive. That you’re going to remember the doctor’s name and save my brother.”

Cain stepped closer. “I can’t promise all of that.”

“Try.”

“I can promise I’ll get you to the vault.”

“That’s not enough.”

“I can promise I won’t let the hunters take you.”

“That’s not enough!”

Her voice cracked across the dead corridor.

Lila spun away, pressing both hands to her face. The scanner slipped from her fingers and hit the floor with a dull click.

“Jace is seventeen,” she said. “He thinks I can fix everything. He thinks I’m tougher than I am. He keeps asking if you’re coming back because he thinks you’re the one who can save him.”

Cain didn’t speak.