Page 60 of Mindeater

If I plan to escape, I need to heal. Whatever Ryx did to me is clearly preventing that from happening. I may be stubborn, but I’m not stupid.

“Fine,” I say with a sigh.

She steps closer to my cage and unlocks it. Either she believes I’m not a threat or is blinded by foolish bravery. “Come here.”

I shimmy closer, a small whimper slipping free. When I’m within arm’s reach, she looks me in the eyes. Her silver-grey eyes are nearly identical to Ryx’s. But there is a distinct difference. No veins color her cheeks or hands. Her skin is flawless, except for mildly chapped lips.

“You’re not the same as him, are you?” I dare to ask.

“Observant,” she murmurs, pressing her palm to my burn. I brace for more pain, for agony to twist and steal the air from my lungs. It doesn’t come. Warmth washes over the injury, so blissfully pleasant that my eyes flutter shut. “This will take a while.”

“Why are you different?”

She’s quiet for so long I don’t think she’ll answer. Finally, Nina says, “I’m not infected.”

“Infected?” My eyes shoot open.

“You’re different too,” she says softly, her hand pressing harder. “What is wrong with your womb?”

Tears immediately swell. How does she know that? How could she possibly know that? When her eyes flick to mine, I whimper again.

Something inside me cracks open, spilling my guts and passing out onto the floor. “It was removed when I was twelve,” I tell her, keeping my voice low.

A flash of confusion and sympathy passes over her face before vanishing. “I’ll try to keep him away for as long as I can,” she tells me.

“Ryx?”

“He’s going to kill you.”

I swallow hard. “Not if I do it first.” It’s a weak threat with no heat or intent behind it. Or maybe I’m just subdued by her touch.

“Listen to me,” she says, suddenly serious. Glancing over her shoulder, she takes a breath and then inches closer to me. “He can’t go to New Grove.”

“I wasn’t planning on—”

“Quiet,” she hisses. “He can not go to New Grove. No matter what he does, you can’t tell him where the secret entrance is.”

“Why?” The cuts along my body are starting to heal, the tissue stitching itself back together. “I swear I don’t know where it is. That was kept hidden from me.”

Studying me for long seconds, she leans even closer, our breaths mingling. This woman isn’t afraid of me at all. “He thinks his bonded is there, but it’s impossible. He wouldn’t be infected if that was true. The pulse distorts memories, makes new ones, and sometimes erases them. Aryx is operating with fragments, convinced he has the full picture. The same thing happened to my father.”

“Aryx…,” I whisper. “That’s his full name?”

“Out of everything I just told you, that is what you’re focusing on?”

“Sorry,” I grumble. “How come you are letting him do this then? Torture me? Interrogate me?”

She looks downright guilty. “I can’t tell you any more.”

I’m about to insist that she do just that when the flap to the tent opens. Danny walks in and growls. “Nina! Get the fuck away from it!”

His anger is thick in the air, pricking at my senses. Whatever she’s done to me has taken away the drug effects as well. It’d be easy to escape, but something urges me to keep this a secret.

“Relax, Danny,” she says with a sigh and pulls her hand away. I glance between them, noting an unmistakable possessiveness from Danny. “I’m fine, see?” She shoots me a glance and locks my cage.

I stay still, observing their exchange.

She stands and cups his cheek. His features soften immediately, his eyes pooling with love. “Salem wants to see you,” he whispers.