Page 39 of Last of Her Name

If I say it, I have to believe it.

I bend over the lav again. “Can you, you know, gravity-magic us out of here?”

“No. They …”

I catch a strain in his voice. “Riyan?”

He takes a moment before replying. “They dosed me with a lethal metal compound. I’m using all my strength to tessellate it in the lower half of my body, but if it reaches my heart, I will die.”

He says it so matter-of-factly, as if informing me he has a headache.

Fury rolls through me, scalding my mind. “How long can you hold on, Riyan?”

“I don’t know. Can’t keep talking. Have to focus.”

“Riyan?”

I push my face into the lav, ears straining to hear him.

“Riyan! Riyan, are you—”

Sensing movement to my left, I turn just as my cell door opens and white-clad soldiers pour in. I scramble to my feet, back to the far wall. Six of them crowd my little space, all shoulders and stony eyes.

But one is dressed differently, in plainer clothes, no armor. His skin is warm brown and his hair is white, neatly combed into a thick wave that falls to his shoulders. He peers at me over his large, hooked nose with something almost like sympathy. He extends a hand, which I don’t take.

“Princess, I am Dr. Faran Luka. Things got out of control in the hangar, but I promise, we will take the best care of you from here on out.”

Before I can reply, he jams something into my arm. I shriek, leaping back, but he’s already finished, and now peers at the little device that punctured me.

“Don’t worry. Just making sure your system has stabilized.” A note of anger creeps into his voice. “That was quite a strong dose of sedative they gave you.”

He steps closer, and I flinch, but he only briefly clasps my wrist and whispers, “You have friends here, Anya Leonova. Let me help you.”

I spit in his face.

He blinks, then backs off, wiping his face with his sleeve and regarding me with a sigh. He nods at the guards, leaving them to close in on me.

“Come with us, Princess,” one says.

“Why? Are you going to shoot me too?”

Instead of responding, they just grab me and march me out. I dig my heels in front of Riyan’s cell. “Wait! Stars curse you,waita moment!”

Dr. Luka nods to the guards. “Let her go.”

I wrench free and press my hands to the glass of Riyan’s door. He’s sitting cross-legged, eyes shut and fingers steepled in front of his chest, like he’s meditating. If he hears me, he doesn’t show it. Sweat beads his brow and neck. His feet are bare, the tendons of his ankles standing out in evidence of his concentration.

If he lets up for even a moment, will the poison destroy him?

“You have to stop this!” I grab Dr. Luka by his coat. “He’ll die!”

The doctor coughs and lowers his gaze, his brow furrowed. “The commander has her reasons, Princess.”

With a snarl, I shove him away and turn back to the door.

I barely know the tensor. Just yesterday he was trying to abduct me and hand me over to my enemies, but right now I feel like he’s the only ally I have left in the universe. Clearly these Loyalists are not trustworthy. Maybe Riyan isn’t, either, but I am not going to let him die here.

I’m not going to lose anyone else.