Page 101 of Silver Elite

“It was Roe. And Anson,” I manage to whisper.

He frowns.

I nod to the door. “They’re still up there. With her body. Betima’s.”

He blinks. Then he issues a command. “Go back to the bunks. Stay there until someone comes.”

For once I don’t feel rampant hatred for Hadley. I’m too busy thinking about Betima’s blood pouring out of her skull.

He shot her.

He fuckingshother.

“Wren! What happened?”

The moment I stumble into the barracks, people are coming at me from all directions. My stomach starts churning, so I race into the lavatory, where I collapse onto my knees and throw up in the toilet.

I hear Lyddie’s voice outside the stall. “Are you all right?”

After I’ve emptied my stomach, I rise to my feet and force myself to step out. I draw a breath, my gaze shifting toward the wall of mirrors, landing on my reflection. I look ashen. My eyes look dead. Dead like Betima.

A few other women stream in. Ivy. Bryce. Kess. Their expressions range from fear to confusion. Or in Kess’s case, that smirk.

“What’s going on?” Bryce asks.

I ignore her, focusing on Kess instead. It takes all my willpower not to lunge at her again. Beat that smirk right off her face.

“Did you know he was going to kill her?” I snarl.

“What the hell are you on about?”

“Betima. Roe.” My hands start shaking, so I press them to my sides. “He killed her.”

“Oh my gosh,” Lyddie whispers. “Why? Why would he do that?”

“He accused her of being Aberrant and then put a bullet in her head.”

“Betima was Aberrant?” Lyddie gasps. “No. I don’t believe that.”

“Roe’s a smart guy,” Kess says, the smirk resurfacing. “If he says it, then it’s true.”

I push past her, unable to stomach her horrible face a second longer. I stumble back toward the bunks. Each step feels like I’m moving through quicksand, my legs heavy with the weight of what I just witnessed. The memory plays over and over in my mind, a horrific loop of shock and finality. I can still hear the gunshot, the thud ofBetima’s body, and the sickening silence that followed. Betima. Dead. Gone in an instant.

My fellows cast wary glances at me as I pass the rows of beds toward my own. Kaine’s bunk is empty. I wonder where he went, but I’m too numb to ask anyone.

I sit on the mattress, my back slumped against the cold, concrete wall, and pull my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. It takes everything inside me not to break out in sobs.

“Hey.”

Lyddie’s soft voice breaks through my haze of grief. I look up to see her standing a few feet away, her eyes filled with concern.

“Hey,” I echo. Numb.

“Can I sit?”

“Sure.”

She settles beside me but doesn’t speak. She doesn’t need to. Her presence alone is a comfort, a reminder that I’m not completely alone in this place.

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