Page 96 of The Prison Healer

Kiva sucked in a breath as understanding hit her.

Her brother was telling her where he was. Where her family was.

Where she could find them, if she survived the Ordeals, if she earned her freedom.

It filled her with hope, with warmth, that he believed she could triumph where so many others had failed.

And yet ... that hope dissolved as devastation overcame her. Her third Trial was today, and they still weren’t there to save her. She’d told them that she needed a rescue, and this was their only reply.

We are coming.

Lies.

All lies.

Because theyweren’tcoming.

She drew in a deep breath, seeking to control the tears that wanted to spring to her eyes.

She couldn’t blame them. No one had ever broken into Zalindov. No one had ever escaped. She knew it had been an impossible task, an impossibleask. But she’d hoped ... with the help of the rebels, she’dhoped...

It didn’t matter.

It was up to Kiva now. If she wanted to see her family again, she would have to make her own way to them. Her brother’s note told her two things:

They were waiting for her. And they wanted her to join them.

Two more weeks.

Two more Ordeals.

Then she could be free.

Then shewouldbe free.

“Oh, sweets, you’re still here.”

Kiva scrunched up the note and kicked it under the bench before spinning around to find Olisha walking through the infirmary doorway.

“What are you doing here?” Kiva asked, her voice hoarse with all that she was feeling.

Olisha patted the rucksack she held, the tinkling sound indicating shifting glass, and answered, “Just came to top up the supplies.”

Kiva blinked. “Supplies?”

Olisha headed over to the worktable and knelt before it, opening a panel at the front. Kiva gaped, having never realized there was a cupboard built into the wood.

“Supplies,” Olisha repeated, reaching into her bag and pulling out a vial of clear liquid, waving it at Kiva. “You know, the immunity booster.”

A cold feeling gripped Kiva as she walked on numb legs toward the other woman. “Immunity booster?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Olisha said, her voice muffled from her head being half in the cupboard as she cleared a space around the other identical vials that were already in there. “I wish I wasn’t allergic to goldenroot. Nergal, too. Otherwise we’d be downing these by the bucketful.”

“Can I—” Kiva cleared her throat. “Can I see one of those, please?”

Olisha was just about to place a new vial in the cupboard, but she instead handed it up to Kiva and reached for another one, continuing to fill the space.

With a shaking hand, Kiva unstoppered the lid, raising the vial to her nose. One whiff was all it took for panic to seize her, but she forced her voice to remain steady as she asked, “Where did you get these, Olisha?”

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