Page 92 of Rupture

“I’ll give you some privacy.” Dr. Nion gestured toward a card table at the far side of the tent. A chunky laptop was open on the table. “I have work to be getting on with. But I’m just there if you need me.” He excused himself with a flap of his short white jacket.

Finn grabbed a folded camp chair and opened it at Thea’s bedside.

Rose shot him a grateful smile. The chair creaked as she sat.

Thea’s eyes snapped open.

52

Finn stood behind Rose,his hands gripping the back of her chair. His knuckles brushed against her shirt collar, just below where Duke had stitched her head wound. His jaw clenched. Another scar Rose shouldn’t have to carry.

“Rose.” Thea ran her tongue along her cracked lips.

Rose lifted the water glass from the makeshift bedside table, angling the straw. Thea sipped, her gaze darting between them like a cornered animal. Something fevered, almost alien, burned in her eyes. She let her head fall back with a theatrical sigh.

“Thea—”

“You brought the heavies with you again, I see.” Her mouth twisted as she eyed Finn.

Finn folded his arms and held his tongue. This was Rose’s play to make, though every instinct in him screamed to step between them, to shield Rose from her sister’s fuckery.

“Thea. We were worried about you.”

Thea’s mouth flattened. “Don’t pretend like you care.”

“Of course I care.”

“You just feel guilty because mom and dad died.”

“That’s not true.”

“Spare me the platitudes. You’ve always had it so easy. You don’t understand how hard it is for me.”

Rose recoiled as if struck. Thea didn’t even notice, too caught up in her own performance.

“Doesn’t matter, anyway. You’re too late.” Thea lifted her head from the pillow, her eyes fever-bright and unfocused. “Too. Late.”

“Too late for what?”

Thea fell back, her eyes fluttering shut as if consciousness was slipping away. “I saved her. You’re too late.”

“Who did you save, Thea?” Finn’s fingers dug into the chair back, wood creaking beneath his grip. The urge to shake answers from her cramped his gut, but he forced himself still. Rose needed answers, not his rage.

Thea’s tongue darted out over her cracked lips. “Still thirsty.”

Rose offered another drink, her hand steady despite the tension lifting her shoulders.

Thea gulped the water greedily. When she finished, a smile cut across her face that made Finn’s skin crawl.

Rose set the glass back on the rickety table. “Thea, why are we too late?”

“The nanobots.”

Jesus Christ. His jaw wasburning. His gaze shot to Nion across the tent, but the doctor was hunched over his laptop, seemingly oblivious.

“They’re secured in the habitat, Thea.” Rose lowered her voice. “I can’t guarantee they won’t be destroyed, though. You pushed beyond the parameters of what is ethical, put people’s lives at risk?—”

“No, they’re not in the Io.” Thea’s eyes gleamed with an unsettling clarity.

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