Page 66 of Dark Reign

For some inexplicable reason, the idea of her slipping away horrified me. There was a sense of there being a greater loss than I could ever even imagine if that were to happen, an idea that an incredible light would cease to exist if I didn’t do something.

“Elle, I need you,” I said in a rush.

“I’m on my way,” she replied. Right away, the GPS locator on my watch flashed blue when she synced with it. In a minute or less, she’d arrive.

I slipped a hand beneath Corina’s neck and secured my other arm behind her knees, lifting her from the ground. In a perfect world, there would have been a medical house nearby, but all were far-removed from the Capitol, including Dr. Driskel’s practice—focused toward the treatment of Dolls. As I calculated the driving distance, and assessed Corina’s condition, I wasn’t sure we had that kind of time.

Still, we had to try.

I hurried to the end of the alley, holding her against my chest, feeling her warmth seeping through the soaked material of my shirt. My gaze drifted down to her face again, at first only intending to check that she was breathing, but then I saw more. I saw delicate features—long lashes that fluttered as droplets of water settled onto them, skin like porcelain and nearly flawless if I overlooked the small scar beneath her chin. Her mouth—a perfect cupid’s bow that quivered as she began to stammer. At first, I thought she might have caught a chill from the rain, but then she uttered a sound.

I leaned closer, until the softness of her lips grazed my ear. Her whisper was so quiet that I closed my eyes to give my full attention. It was one simple word that, in most situations wouldn’t have mattered, but underthesecircumstances … it did.

“… Mom.”

My lids opened as adrenaline rushed straight to my head.

Mom.

She said mom.

How could she, a human, possibly know her mother? They weren’t raised in traditional families like we were. Because their lives began in harvesting camps, they were raised in orphanages. Not by … mothers.

As if Corina wasn’t already an enigma, she’d just become evenmorecomplex.

Tires screeched, followed by the body of a large, dark vehicle barreling toward us. Elle had likely sensed the urgency in my voice when I called for her, so I knew she wouldn’t waste time getting here. The back door sprang open and I carried Corina inside, keeping her close as I held her tight.

“The guards are waiting just on the other side of the alley. Colin has his lights and siren on to get us through the early-morning rush much quicker, and safer,” Elle informed in a panic-ridden tone. ”Is she okay?”

I glanced down at Corina in my arms, and wished I knew the answer to that.

Every so often, she peered up and her gaze landed on me, but I wasn’t even sure shesawme, wasn’t sure she knew where she was. Each time she tried to focus, her dark irises danced in wobbly circles and then her lids would close again.

Damp strands of hair clung to her cheeks and forehead and, without thinking, I pushed them away, feeling what was left of her warmth pulse through my fingertips. I hadn’t forgotten what she mumbled in the alley, the implications of it, but right now I wanted to keep my thoughts in the present. Corina might not have neededme,but she certainly neededsomeone,and right now I was all she had.

My hand fell away from her cheek, and the second it did, dainty fingers laced with mine, squeezing lightly because she had lost so much strength.

I was torn. Part of me was positive she had no clue I was the one who held her and she’d only clung to my hand out of fear, disorientation. However, another side wanted to believe the strange state she was in only released her inhibitions, tore down the façade of social norms and left us both raw at that moment, more our true selves than we were allowed to be under other circumstances.

But that was just a guess. Knowing I’d never get a straight answer out of her, I just did what felt natural—I held the hand of the gorgeous stranger I couldn’t seem to turn my back on even if I should.

“If you place her down on the seat, I’ll be able to get a quick read-out of her vitals,” Elle suggested, when I didn’t respond to her question.

Corina seemed so fragile I hesitated for a moment, but then thought better of making guesses as to how well she was or wasn’t doing, and carefully placed her on the seat. I knelt there and eased my suit jacket beneath her head, to avoid aggravating her injury further. It wasn’t until now that I realized my hunger had almost completely subsided. My focus was only on getting her the help she needed.

There was a moment of silence while Elle conducted her scan. Those thirty seconds felt more like hours. However, when her voice came again, I couldn’t help but to wish I had declined the offer. Because, if I had, it wouldn’t have been revealed that Corina’s condition was worse than I thought.

Nor would I have known that, as she lay before me … she was dying.

Shock filled my expression with Elle’s analysis. “She’ll make it. We’ll get her to a medical house and one of the physicians will fix this,” I insisted, ignoring the cut and dry facts because denial was much easier.

I didn’t miss the undertone of worry in my voice, and was certain Elle hadn’t either.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness, but … I believe we’ve run out of time.” With her words, the hope I had grasped slipped right through my fingers.

Elle’s deduction narrowed our options down to two, and these choices were so drastically different they existed on opposite ends of the spectrum.

The easiest choice would have been to let nature run its course. Corina was dying. Elle had said so herself. With that being the case, I could have capitalized on this situation, adding whatever twists I needed to make sure I walked away from it free and clear.

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