Page 151 of Interion

“Zion is delicious!” I shouted, before he could squeeze any tighter.

I got up, tucking the loose strands of my braid back into place, and looked at the jerk. He was smiling.

“You’re loving this,” I said as he positioned himself in the arena.

“First rule of fighting: don’t get distracted. The enemy will do and say things to throw you off, so you have to learn to ignore everything and focus only on the fight.”

I dragged myself into a fighting stance, narrowing my eyes at him.

“That was a dirty move, General.”

My mouth was dry and tasted like dust.

“I didn’t say I’d play fair.” He attacked again.

Δ

We fought for the rest of the night, and what was supposed to end at 10 p.m. stretched to 11, then midnight. We only stopped when Kiara, exhausted from flying and running through the fields to escape the dreaded butterflies, came to tell us she wanted to go back. So Zion sent us home. He was spotless, not a single drop of sweat on him, while I was disheveled, dirty, and sticky—but other than that, the training had been good. By the end, I could block all his strikes.

Zion had been holding back, and he promised that the next day we’d train a little faster until we reached normal combat level. Months ago, I would have been terrified. I would have made excuses not to train and slacked off, but now the feeling was the opposite. I wanted to fight. I wanted Zion to teach me everything he knew. I wanted to keep up in battle and be someone he could call an equal. I longed to become a worthy warrior and impress not only Zion, but Serguei too. To be free to venture beyond the walls without fear of attack, to defend the people I cared about, and more than anything, to be worthy of Zion—not a weak point in his armor. I wanted to be part of his strength.

As I showered and scrubbed my sore muscles, I realized that for the first time in my life, I actually enjoyed training—fighting, attacking, striking back.

When I closed my eyes to sleep, I was already thinking about the next training session.

Chapter 39

On Saturday, I woke up at 8 a.m. to a call from Ambrose telling me there was an emergency at the hospital. An epidemic had hit the human population, and they needed help. I sniffed around for Zion and listened for any sounds, but the place was silent. He and Kiara weren’t home, so I figured they’d gone out for a morning run. I grabbed breakfast and rushed out.

When I arrived, I noticed two things: first, the place was packed with human patients—some kind of leak in the sewage system had infected the water supply, contaminating the population. Second, the staff was practically nonexistent, since most of them were human too. There were no secretaries, nurses, or cleaning crew… and the place was a mess.

While I changed, Ambrose explained the situation. The contamination had caused a widespread outbreak of vibrio, a bacterium that, once it took hold in the stomach and intestines, caused vomiting and severe diarrhea, killing patients through dehydration in just two days. Centuries ago, when the disease was first recorded, it wiped out nearly half the human population before we found the cure. Now, we just had to act fast and follow protocol to keep casualties low.

Given the urgency of the disease, patients had overwhelmed the hospitals in the human and faerie districts, and now they were flooding into the central one. At least faeries and gorgons weren’t affected thanks to their high immunity. Otherwise, the situation could have been much worse. Ambrose, Lorenzo, Adele, Liríope, and Selene worked without rest.

I put on my lab coat and pitched in wherever I could. Adele and I were responsible for getting IV fluids and medications from the infirmary and bringing them to the elmedics. We were also tasked with collecting patients’ waste and taking it to the incineration room. During an outbreak like this, we couldn’t let the bacteria reach the sewage system—that could trigger another contamination. Our gifts were useless against vibrio, so we’d be working alongside the faerie nurses at the hospital while the three senior elmedics led the treatment.

Throughout the day, I avoided being near Adele. I still remembered the way she’d smiled when she told Breno about the partnership. The day after the party, I thought I’d go for her throat at the first opportunity, but the week we’d spent apart had brought my hatred down to manageable levels. At least she stayed out of my way. Still, in the rare moments when our eyes met, the daggers we threw were unmistakable.

“Get out of my way,” the girl said while I waited for the elevator to the pharmacy.

“In what sense? Out of the way of the elevator, or out of the running for the hospital doctor position?”

She shot me an angry look.

“And since when have you been ahead of anyone? In case you haven’t noticed, you have the face of the enemy, dear. Do you really think this nation will accept you in any position of power? It’s almost laughable that you’d have any hope.”

I rolled my eyes and tried to control my expression of disgust, failing miserably.

“And you’d be the better option?” I pointed at her and started laughing.

“And your friend? Has he finished picking up the pieces of the heart you shattered?” Adele spat venom. “At least I’m honest with people—I don’t go around leading anyone on. Now get your wild ass away from this door.”

“If you’re bothered, the stairs are right there.” I pointed to the door beside her.

The infirmary was in the basement, which was why we’d been using the elevator all day to transport medications back and forth. Adele looked at the red door, then turned her gaze back to me.

“Let me help you out, sweetheart, because it’s obvious you don’t know your place. You’re the shit stuck to Interion’s shoe, and I’m the one this nation thanks the gods for having within these walls. Who do you think should take the stairs? The shit or the gods’ blessing?”