“What?”
“He wouldn’t tell me. But whatever it was, it greatly changed his view of Istvan. He was petrified of what he would do to us. He wanted us to sneak away over the wall and disappear that night. I said no because of Hanna. At dawn, we were taken from our beds.”
“It must have been terrifying.” I glanced at her. “You don’t know anything else about what Albert knew? Or maybe something you saw?”
Her lips pinched together.
“What?” I asked as we continued to work, talking out of the sides of our mouths.
“I saw a layout of the underground Istvan had built under the factory. At the time, I brushed it off.” She paused as a guard broke from the group. The anticipation waiting for him to pass us knotted up my muscles, the soles of his shoes clipping up the back of my spine as he went by.
Once he was out of earshot, Nora spoke again. “There are three levels under the factory.”
Three? I saw maybe two.
“Not only do they all join each other, but from the top level, the tunnel leads straight to the Ferencvárosi railway station.”
My shoulders tensed at her news. Ferencvárosi was the largest train station in Hungary and was now only used to distribute cargo, heading to all major ports in Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Serbia, Czech, and beyond. How easy it would be to get the pills to the train station, load them, and send them out to your allies without being noticed at all. How far out had they reached by now? How many leaders were in possession of them?
How fucked were we?
“We were taken not just because of Rebeka’s disappearance, but because Albert knew too much. Istvan made sure he was silenced. I’m afraid I am next.” A noise came up her throat. “Please protect my baby girl. She shouldn’t suffer because of our selfishness.”
Hanna could undoubtedly take care of herself, but I nodded in agreement.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her what horrible things Istvan was doing in that factory. The very thing they ignored in favor of protecting their family, for money, was already in their daughter’s system. It could be too late for Hanna as well.
Nora’s information shoved my need to escape this place into overdrive. Every moment, more and more shipments of the pills were being sent out. He wasn’t doing it out of the kindness of his heart; it came with the agreement he now commanded your country if he said the word. How long until Istvan had control of the entire East? If he ever found the nectar or discovered it in me, we were screwed. Bringing that girl back today, it was clear my powers were not only coming back with gusto, but no fae spells could block them.
If he somehow procured them from me, he would have the power to take the Unified Nations as well.
We were running out of time.
Boyd and Joska always seemed to rile the soldiers up, get them in a primal state, their anger and hate rubbing off on the rest. The atmosphere was slightly less strained at dinner with Joska, Boyd, and a few others still absent. Even so, no one was suddenly skipping to other tables to say hi or doing anything out of line.
Rosie, Tracker, Hanna, Nora, Petra, and I sat together, our heads low, muttering between bites.
“We have to speed up our timeline. Listen and observe everything: schedules, habits, conversations, and get them talking if you can. Look out for hidden exits and anything else you think might help,” I whispered to the group. “We also need to learn who is on our side. Be very careful who you trust. We can’t have anyone turning us over before we even get a chance to overthrow them.”
They all nodded their heads, someone constantly glancing around, making sure we weren’t being overheard or catching the guards’ attention.
“Wouldn’t he know how to get out of here?” Rosie’s nose wrinkled, flicking her chin to the man sitting by himself. Killian’s regal demeanor still did not bend under the weight he carried on his shoulders, even with his energy being drained from the iron around his neck. He was breathtaking, even drained, but thinner and in soiled, ill-fitting clothes. “I mean, he built it.” She glanced away from him with irritation.
“Because of our escape from Halálház, he told me he made sure this place had no weaknesses.”
“Thanks for that.” Hanna frowned, her body constantly moving, not able to sit still. Sweaty. As if she was coming down from a high.
“I will still try to get to him. See if I can get anything more out of him, which might be helpful.”
“How do we talk to people if we can’t really talk?” Tracker whispered, glancing over his shoulder.
“In the lavatory, in line getting food or water, in the factory, or the person next to your cell. Any chance you can get. We need to be spies and recruiters in one,” I muttered. “There are more of us than them. If we can get a mutiny going, find a way out of here, we have a chance to escape.”
“But they have power, right? Not the fae down here.” Tracker leaned his arms farther on the table, curling his hands into fists, his movements smooth and graceful. Why did the guards and Hanna act like they were coming down from a heroin high while Tracker seemed different? He said he was in one of those tanks I had seen at the lab. What was Istvan doing with them?
“I need to learn more from the both of you. What you saw and experienced out there. What Istva—”
Out of nowhere, pain exploded through my body. My nerves burned with electricity, taking me down to the hole.
Warwick was now chained against the wall as Boyd electrocuted him. Other guards were clubbing him with their spiked batons. His agony crashed down on me, ripping the air from my lungs.
He felt me there, his head twisting. Our eyes met, and emotion choked me. I couldn’t even get out his name before he slammed his lids shut, slicing the link between us.
No! I clawed to get back, but he locked me out tight, not wanting me to be there. To see his pain or to feel it—to take it on. Stubborn asshole.
“Luv?” Rosie held my arm, keeping me upright. Her voice snapped me back to my surroundings, sweat trickling down my temple, my limbs quaking. “You okay?”
The imprint of his distress still thrummed through me, but I nodded, swallowing back the sour taste on my tongue. Now I knew why Boyd wasn’t here. He was too busy torturing Warwick.
“I still don’t see how this information is going to get us out of here.” Tracker, oblivious to my episode, scooped slop into his mouth, his nose wrinkling with disgust. “How can we overtake them if they have all the power?”
Taking a few more gulps, revenge and fury churned in my gut, forging more of my broken pieces together.
I turned to Tracker, my voice full of conviction and promise.
“A swarm of bees can take down a herd if they are fighting for their lives.”
Chapter 6
“Hope you’re not jerking off to thoughts of me.” I leaned up against the cell wall, my real body back in my own cell. I grinned down at the occupant on the ground. “That would just be awkward.”
“Holy shit.” Scorpion jolted at my voice, scrambling to sit up, yanking his hand out of his pants and pulling them all the way up. His eyes met mine, and he huffed out a long breath. “Fuck, you scared the shit out of me.”
“Yeah, I could see you were… occupied.” I smirked, glancing down at his hand, then over his shirtless frame. The man was sensual—the kind of hot that unsettled you.