Thorne was beginning to lose patience. For goodness’ sake, didn’t the man realize it was the middle of the day? Honestly, it had been over two decades since he’d first installed the isotope clouds in the atmosphere, making daylight poisonous and effectively turning the human population nocturnal. Why wasn’t Three with the program yet? “You have five seconds to explain why you’ve disturbed me at such a late hour, and your explanation better be satisfactory. Speak.”

There was a pause in which Thorne imagined Three’s eyes rolling this way and that in his head, trying to decide which way to focus. Then he spoke.

“Lumina Bohn. She’s been captured, sir. The Peace Guard have brought her into the facility. She’s here!”

Though Thorne hardly believed it, Three’s explanation was, indeed, satisfactory.

A slow, delighted smile spread over Thorne’s face. “I’ll be right in.”

When she awoke, Lumina was nude, blindfolded, and strapped down to a hard metal surface that had been tilted at a forty-five degree angle, so she was neither upright nor lying down.

The better to see you with, my dear, she thought groggily, understanding immediately that she was on display.

The room she was in was pleasantly warm, so though naked, she wasn’t chilled. The restraints on her wrists and ankles, however, were too tight, and chafed. Thick and unyielding, they might have been steel, or something even harder, because they gave not an inch when she tried her strength against them.

Her head throbbed. Weak and disoriented, she simply breathed for a moment, trying to center herself, and think.

She assumed it would be torture first. They’d want to know what she knew, if she had information about the whereabouts of other Aberrants, and who had helped her escape the city the day she’d burned down the Hospice. They’d undoubtedly want to know other things, too, would undoubtedly have extremely unpleasant ways of making her talk.

Magnus wouldn’t talk, she thought, her heart wrenching. Magnus would—

LUMINA!

He burst into her mind with a roar that made her entire body jerk. She inhaled a sharp breath, then relaxed, trying to appear calm; she didn’t know who was watching, but surely someone was. Probably many someones.

I’m here. It took so much effort to concentrate. To speak without speaking.

Where are you? You sound strange! What’s happened?

He was panicked, frantic. She felt the enormity of his worry and his love, and behind her closed lids, her eyes filled with tears.

I don’t know where I am . . . they took me . . . the Peace Guard . . . Gregor set us up.

Another roar of pure rage, unearthly loud inside her skull. She squeezed her eyes tighter shut.

Wait. Let me . . .

Lumina concentrated, recalling with as much detail as she could the images she’d seen when she’d briefly awoken earlier. The cross and checkered floor, the paintings of gilt, the sculptures. That’s all I saw, on the way here. Wherever here is.

I know where it is, he answered in a snarl. His voice was a terrible, dark presence inside her head. Lu had never imagined a man could sound so . . . unhinged.

I’m coming! I’ll find you! Just stay alive!

Lu stiffened against the restraints. Her breath hitched. No! Magnus, don’t come! I know what Demetrius saw in his Dream—don’t come!

There was an awful silence. Then his voice, still so dark, still so mad with rage. You’re my destiny, Lumina. I. AM. COMING!

He was abruptly gone.

She moaned, and a voice spoke.

“Subject, are you unwell?”

It was a male voice, perversely solicitous, emanating from directly overhead. Through a speaker, she assumed.

“Subject? Please respond to the question: Are you unwell?”

Lu ascertained several things quickly. One: This speaker was concerned with her health. Which meant he wanted her alive and probably comfortable, at least for the time being. Two: He had little, if any, idea what her current state of health actually was. Which meant that either he wasn’t entirely certain of the efficacy or power of the drug that had been used to take her down, or what its effect on her might be. And three: He was being polite, which hinted that she had value. Like the owners of expensive pets, the owners of valuable property tended to treat their possessions well.

And expend a great deal of effort making sure those costly possessions stayed in good repair.

Lu moistened her lips, trying to look as weak and pathetic as possible. In her best frightened school girl’s voice, she said, “I’m very thirsty, and disoriented. My head really hurts. Sir.”

She threw in the “sir” at the end on a whim, and was rewarded by the unmistakable sound of a man grunting in satisfaction. There was a prolonged silence, then the man spoke again.

“Subject, we are sending in water. Any attempt to harm the associate who brings it to you will not be tolerated. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. I understand, sir. Thank you, sir.”

The air vibrated with that satisfaction again. Lu remembered how Lars, the Hospice head cook, used to preen when she called him herrchen. She’d just learned a valuable lesson about insecure men.

A door, hissing open then closed on a gust of pressurized air. Footsteps, drawing near. The feeling of a presence beside her, then a voice, so familiar she froze in disbelieving astonishment.

“I’m going to bring the cup to your mouth,” said Dieter Gerhardt, leutnant of the Peace Guard, the man who’d warned her about the Grand Minister the day she burned down the Hospice.

Thank you, God.

Lu knew they were being watched, knew their every word was being listened to, and recorded. Though her heart thrummed like a hummingbird inside her chest, she merely nodded, and parted her lips.

He lifted the cup to her mouth. She drank deeply. It was clean, pure water, some of the best she’d ever tasted in her life. When she was finished, she turned her head and Dieter took the cup away. She whispered, “Thank you.”

Dieter—listen to me.

Beside her, he jumped as if electrocuted. The voice, now fraught, shouted over the speakers.

“Lieutenant! Report!”

“Excuse me, sir, it’s nothing,” lied Dieter smoothly, controlling his voice. “I just wasn’t expecting it to speak.”

It? Thanks a lot.

You scared the scheisse out of me, Lumina! How is this even possible?

Lumina ignored that, cutting to the chase. Are we at IF headquarters? What floor am I on? Picture it in your head. I need to get to the control center, the computers! I need access to the—

Dieter cut in, frantic. Listen—Thorne is on his way. We’ve never been able to get close to him, he only allows Enforcement near, but if you can distract him long enough to—

“Lieutenant, please remove Subject’s blindfold.” The voice over the speakers was mild, satisfied with Dieter’s explanation, but Lumina wasn’t listening, because everything inside her had ground to a halt.

Thorne is coming.

Thorne is coming.

Lu fell motionless on the table. Everything became perfectly clear.

She felt Dieter’s fingers, fumbling with the knot on the blindfold near the back of her head. She felt the fabric slide away. She opened her eyes and saw Dieter standing there above her, looking down, his own eyes widening as he looked into hers. He wore the white bio suit, but the shield on his helmet was flipped up, his face exposed.