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“Yes.” I nodded eagerly. “Otherwise, you might have to tell Zoey I chucked her pet hamster overboard.”

“Hamster?” Sprig yelped. “I’ll have you know, bootleg-humper—”

“Hey, Sprig, I think Annabeth is down in the galley making tea withhoney.” Cooper motioned at the door.

“What?” He stopped midsentence, his eyes growing wide. “Honey?”

“And some sugar cubes.”

“Gotta go, ass-bandit!” Sprig flew off the table, his cape of underwear flapping behind him, Pam in his arms, as he scrambled off the table. “Honeyhoneyhoneyhoneyhoney!” He chanted all the way out of my door, and Cooper closed it behind him, smirking back at me.

“He’ll be passed out in five minutes.”

“I give it three.”

Cooper stepped farther into the room. “Have another one of those?” He nodded at the drink in my hand.

“Like that should even be a question.” I got up, yanking out a large bottle of Scottish whiskey Scot got from his homeland. Pouring Cooper a drink, I handed it to him, gesturing to a chair on the other side of the table I used for a desk. “Everything okay?”

Cooper sat down, his gaze not meeting mine, his hand brushing his hair back. Something in his expression sent a warning down my limbs, my chest tightening.

“She doesn’t know I’m here.” He gulped the entire glass, setting it back down on the table, and poured himself another.

“Who doesn’t?” Trepidation slid down my gullet.

“Annabeth.” He took a moment to look at the whiskey before taking another huge gulp, only adding to my nerves. “She’d kill me.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Anything having to do with AB had my complete and full attention. There were only a handful I would kill and die for, and she was one of them.

“She doesn’t want you to know.” He frowned. “Anyone to know.”

“Cooper.” My spine straightened. “If you don’t fucking tell me what’s going on. Right now…”

“She’s sick.”

“What?” I froze.

He shifted in his seat, visibly agitated and upset.

“Cooper—” It rattled in my throat, almost a threat.

“We found out a few months ago.” He swallowed. “She has cancer.”

My blood stopped in my veins, dread submerging me with so much fear I couldn’t move or speak.

“We’re pretty sure it’s from the experiments, what Rapava did and gave to her down in the labs.” His eyes filled with liquid.

Emotion filled me like a volcano. I popped out of my seat, moving around the room, ready to explode. My brain could not wrap around the fact that she had cancer. It wasn’t fair. She had been through so much cruelty, horror, and loss, yet she radiated goodness and light. It was just like her to not want anyone to know. She wouldn’t want anyone to fuss over her, only over the kids at the orphanage.

I opened my mouth to ask something, but Cooper seemed to know, answering my next question.

“It’s incurable.”

“FUCK!” Fury bubbled under my skin as I erupted. I picked up a chair, chucking it across the room, roaring with anger as it crashed into my shelves, dumping books and trinkets onto the ground. I wanted to destroy everything in this room, tear the world apart with my hands if I had to. Plead with the universe to save her.

Not her… anyone but her.

Cooper didn’t move from his chair, not reacting at all to my outburst, taking another drink as I stared at him, wondering how he was so calm.