“I’m not asking,” I said. “I’ll go alone if I need to.”
“You’ve already done quite enough,” a man said, raising grumbles from the others.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“You fed the monster. She attacked two guards, almost escaped because of you.”
“You think I did that on purpose? She could have killed me.”
“Yes, she should have,” Jacob said. “Yet, here you are. Why were you really in there?”
“I just told you,” I said. “I needed information, and I got it. Plus, I wanted to check on her, make sure she’s okay.”
“Yeah well, the problem is, now she can talk. We had to gag her, she’s always pleading, it’s freaking out the guards. Nobody wants to be around her, they’re afraid she can compulse them. She was better off as a wild animal.”
“So you’re more afraid of women who can talk? Got it. You’re a bunch of spineless fucktards. I’ll talk to her myself.”
“I’m afraid more visits to the prisoner are off limits,” Steve said, grabbing my wrist. “We’re interrogating her. A happy side effect, she’s been able to give us significant information about the other compounds she’s visited.”
A chill ran down my spine. I’d woken her up, and now they were interrogating her.
“In the meantime,” Jacob said, “I’ll have to insist you leave the planning to us.”
“And I suggest you learn to behave,” Steve added, “or we may have to lock you up as well.”
I yanked my arm away, pushing him away. I glared at Trevor. He shrugged apologetically, but made no move to stand up for me. Asshole.
11
I stormed upstairs, furious. I still felt shaky and a little light-headed, but I wasn’t about to let them lock me away in an infirmary while they plotted genocide. I should’ve known better. The terrorists were exactly as bad as we always thought they were. They wanted to bring down the whole system, and make everyone as miserable as they were.
King Richard was cruel, and unjust, of course – it terrified me that he had Jamie and Loralie in his control. I needed to rescue them as soon as possible. But that meant finding a way to weaken his control or will, not antagonize the compounds needlessly or attack innocents.
In the back of my mind, I’d been expecting a peaceful transition of power. Take out the king, and Damien could rule. With me at his side, maybe – a human to temper his worst impulses. He’d already said I made him better. The system wasn’t irrevocably flawed, it just needed better leadership. We’d be able to rein in Nigel and the other bad actors. With Tobias, Penelope, a council maybe, made up of humans and elite.
But Jacob was right, it would take too long, and it all depended on finding a way to remove the king. The antidote was our best hope. I had to find an answer, and soon. Before the terrorists did something stupid, and made everything worse for everyone. It was up to me. But Jacob wouldn’t let me leave, as if I were the enemy!
And Trevor had sold me out, trading Damien’s blueprints for a seat at the table. I kicked his tent as I passed, bending the metal pole until it leaned crookedly.
I was still wearing pajamas, and a long leather jacket Jazmine had left for me. I was weak after my blood letting, and felt slow and foggy. Between escaping the citadel and getting attacked by Penelope, my body needed more elixir to heal.
I stopped in my tent, planning to change clothes and take a quick shower to calm my nerves. I frowned at the pile of clothes on the floor. Trevor must have given up the laundry attempt after discovering the blueprint for the purification engines. It’s not like I was keeping it a secret from anybody, I’d just forgotten about it.
My eyes landed on the shirt I’d been wearing in the citadel and I stiffened as I caught the slight scent of something sweet. I grabbed the shirt and rushed to the bathroom, examining the fabric under the light. It was still covered in dried blood, from when I’d stabbed Mary. When she’d been high on elixir.
I grabbed a small bucket and carefully washed the fabric, squeezing the cloudy water into the plastic vessel. Then I held the container up to my lips and drank as much as I could.
The water was sour, but I thought I could taste just a tiny bit of elixir in the liquid. I put the edge of the