Page 22 of The Hive

I watched Saphyra while my co-conspirators pored over the folded paper she must have stolen. My brief glance at the sheet showed it contained detailed information about departure bays, destinations, and schedules. Exactly what we needed.

But our princess was being far too quiet, more quiet than usual. What was she hiding?

She shifted uncomfortably under my scrutiny, face pale and lips pressed into a tight line. Her shoulders scrunched up near her ears, and her arms wrapped protectively around herself. It seemed that something had upset her. She was suddenly acting like a timid mouse, but she thought no one noticed.

I noticed whether she wanted me to or not.

Ax asked me a question, but I had stopped paying attention a while ago and didn’t know the answer he was looking for. My distraction caught their attention, and they finally noticed the cowering omega huddled in the corner.

Ever the savior, Ax moved to her side and crouched down in front of her, taking her small shaking hands in his. “What’s wrong, princess?”

He coddled her too much, and I gritted my teeth watching them. Under his gaze, she didn’t flinch. She didn’t pull away from him like she did with me, but he was making her soft. She needed a spine to lead her people and restore her dying planet. If he continued to prop her up, she’d never grow one.

She blinked back the moisture pooling behind her flaxen lashes. “It’s all true. Lyrah was sent to an aurinium mine on Pyxis, and the omegas are being sold to flesh markets on Altaira.” She turned an accusing stare on her handler as a tear slid down her cheek. “Did you know the headmaster is assaulting the omega prospects?”

Greylan looked ashamed and wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Yes, I’m aware of his actions. A number of the keepers and handlers are guilty as well. The Imperatrix doesn’t care as long as it doesn’t affect the omega’s fertility. People who try to interfere are removed from their posts. Iris kept you from them, and I have done the same, but that’s as much as I have been able to do.”

Revulsion and disgust colored her expression, and I hated to see it mar her features. But this was the shit she needed to know—to understand that monsters surrounded her. They built this place to house omegas and keep them compliant. This was no school. It was cotton wool wrapped around her eyes.

She needed to admit to herself what she had known all along.

A furrow formed between her brows as if she was cataloging the realities of her prison. The reality that the Hive residents were only here to make her feel comfortable. This engineered sham to cultivate new generations of soldiers and the omegas who were viewed as alpha factories, not people. I saw the moment that she settled into and accepted that realization. Her breathing picked up and what little color was left in her face drained away.

Ax’s voice cut through the rasp of her labored breath. “Princess, we would never let anything happen to you. We’re with you now, and we won’t leave without you. You gotta relax your breathing for me, though.”

He was too indulgent. He needed to shake her out of the bubble of ignorance she’d been wrapped in and make her see the massive fucking problem right in front of her.

I clenched my jaw and continued to hold my tongue. I was bad at empathy. Ax was much better at getting through to people. My blunt tone and accusations would only make this shit worse. It was irritating but necessary trying to be patient when the key to our escape was laying forgotten on the examination table while we dealt with a sniveling little girl.

I had come here to rescue my queen, only to find a child in her place.

Greylan and Ax had infinite patience with her, but mine was running thin, and every day we were stuck here it grew thinner. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against the wall. The princess I remembered had bitten guards and screamed for her freedom, but the woman sitting before us was a meek little rabbit. Where had my queen gone?

The cogs behind those golden eyes turned as Ax spoke soft words to her, but I doubted she was listening. Her gaze caught mine across the room, and held it. She hated me, I think. But she saw me watching her, waiting to see what she’d do. I didn’t need to open my mouth for her understanding to surface. I was waiting for her to disappoint me.

She squared her shoulders and rubbed the back of her hand across her nose, sniffling back the tears. She steeled herself right before my eyes, meeting each of our gazes and asked, “What do I need to do?”

I let out a breath. Maybe she finally decided to bare those teeth I remembered from so long ago. The resolved look in her eye offered a glimmer of hope. Maybe I hadn’t risked everything for nothing and underneath it all, she might actually be the queen I’d come to find.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Saphyra

Horrified and disgusted by the day’s revelations, I desperately wanted to get away from this reality, but there was nowhere to go. The cameras were always watching. Keepers and handlers roamed the halls unchecked. I’d never felt trapped or unsafe on the Hive, but I think that was the point. There was an illusion of safety and normality, a veneer that kept the students complacent.

I didn’t want to remain calm. I didn’t want to be rational. But I had no choice. I had to keep myself together, or I wouldn’t be any help to anyone. It was hard to watch these things happen, have knowledge of it, and be powerless to do anything about it.

I was not okay—I might never be okay again—but for now, I would follow the plan. That was the only option. We would fight, and we would win.

With that in mind, I crawled back into the vents one more time. I wasn’t cut out for this sneaking and spying stuff, and I’d be glad when it was finally over. If all went well, that would be soon.

The sticky airlock hadn’t been fixed, but with my newfound dedication, I got it opened and made my way toward decoy cluster three. After seeing the records, I wondered what had become of Drax and Revayah after I’d left. The keepers had made their decision about the omega’s fate, but maybe they were kind enough to leave her with her drone.

Before I really considered what I was doing, I found myself creeping into the cell where I witnessed Drax purring for the omega while they waited for his knot to soften. The moment the airlock slid open, I knew I had made a mistake. Echoing off the walls was the most soul-crushing scream I had ever heard. It sounded as if a large animal was bellowing. A thick copper stench scalded my nose as I peered through the ventilation grate.

The massive alpha was pounding on the far wall where the nest had been the last time I had spied on him. His fingertips were raw pulp, like ground meat, from clawing at the seams where the metal hatch closed. The longer I watched, the more horrified I became. He threw himself against that bloody surface over and over, only hurting himself. His bellows went on for as long as I could bear to watch it. His agony was obvious, and I wondered if it was because he knew he would never see Revayah again.

There was nothing I could do to console him. My presence would have likely made his grief worse. So with a heavy heart, I crawled out of his airlock and continued on to find Lex.

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