The world spun; her emotions churned. Protect Lincoln.
“Lexia,” Derrick gasped as she swayed; his hands held her steady, wrapping around her warm and strong. As Maura left, the darkness and power inside her faded. Crushed by the poison flowing through her blood, she sank into his arms and for just a spilt second, took comfort from his hold.
“Her eyes!” She heard someone gasp.
Blacking out, the poison worked its way quickly through her system, taking her energy, stripping away her defenses, against the guilt and pain she carried within her.
“Lexia! Lex!” Derrick shook her.
Lexia focused her eyes on Derrick’s concerned face. “Poison…Lucy…Antidote,” she spluttered.
“I’ll get it, Lex. Hang on,” he reassured her.
As she faded, the world spun, forcing one last command from her lips. Lexia grasped his arm, stopping him from leaving. “Derrick, no matter what, he must live…Lincoln must live.”
The world faded.
Chapter 4
Derrick stared at her clammy face and felt an emotion he’d not felt in a very long time surge up within him. For a second, the room was in utter silence, yet Derrick’s head was filled with noise; Lexia’s voice, her desperate pleading voice, begging him to make sure Lincoln survived.
Lincoln was everything to her and she’d just told him to protect him. The look in her eyes chilled Derrick’s dormant soul. Fear.
When had he last seen fear in Lexia’s eyes? Sorrow, unbearable pain, yes, but fear? He knew Lexia thought in that moment she was going to die, and she’d asked Derrick to protect Lincoln.
Fear.
Dread welled up inside him and threatened to consume him; he couldn’t take on that responsibility. He couldn’t lose Lexia. Derrick still didn’t understand his feelings toward Lexia or his compulsion to protect her. All he fully knew was her pain physically hurt him, and how just a second’s thought of never seeing her blue eyes alight with fire and life again made him utterly terrified.
“Derrick, what do we do?”
Derrick looked at Lexia one last time before facing Marcus. What do we do?
He ranked higher than both Marcus and Belinda. He was in charge; they looked to him for orders.
“Derrick!” Belinda snapped, shocking him into action.
“Antidote,” he answered, not having any other instruction.
“Where is it?”
“Lucy. Lucy will have the antidote.” Derrick, no matter what, he must live… Lincoln must live.
Derrick opened the door.
“Wait, Derrick, what shall we do?” Belinda asked.
Derrick turned, remembering they were in the room. Pull yourself together, Derrick.
“Marcus, come with me. Belinda, you need to bring her temperature down. Lock the door behind us and let no one in other than Marcus or me. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” she answered with a nod.
Derrick marched through the corridors toward the infirmary. The further away from Lexia’s room he travelled, the clearer his head became. He didn’t believe this was Lucy’s doing. She was evil, psychotic, but Lucy was also very smart, and everything she did had a reason. There was no reason for her to poison Lexia. Killing her had no gain, only loss. But the elite on the other hand had everything to gain, yet that would mean Lucy had lost control of her people, and he wasn’t sure which was worse.
“How are you going to get the antidote?” Marcus asked. “Are you even sure there is one?”
“Lucy will have it; she is the only one capable of making a poison to affect Lexia, and she would never make a means to kill her daughter without a cure. It makes no sense.”
“But you don’t think Lucy did this?”
“She’ll have made the poison, I’m sure. I just can’t see what she gains by using it now. It must be the elite,” Derrick explained.
“You have more faith in Lucy than I do.”
“I’ve watched Lucy for years as she watched her daughter grow from afar. Lexia is her greatest creation and if there is one thing I am certain of, it’s that Lexia is Lucy’s weakness.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean when it comes to Lexia, Lucy doesn’t think straight. She turns a blind eye when her best soldiers are killed one by one; she allows only her to break the rules. But this has only caused Lexia to become the elite’s prime target.”
“Lucy is hardly kind to her.”
“Lucy doesn’t understand what it means to be kind, but answer me this. Why did Lucy let Lexia grow up normally? Why didn’t she just take her and train her to be an obedient soldier?”
“Because she never showed any signs of being different until her powers were triggered.”
“Maybe, but then why did Lucy watch her personally?