I rolled onto my belly and buried my head under my pillow. I had so much work to do, retracing what was possible. Plus I had to weed through all the Tair-centered fluff, tooth brushing and all.

But it had to be done.

If I wanted to pass him information for this act of ours, I had to figure out what was safe to tell. I refused to be responsible for the fall of Eva’s whole organization, let alone any other deaths.

So I’d dig, as much as I didn’t want to.

Because it was going to be one massive headache. Or so I told myself.

Mostly I was terrified.

The deeper I peered into Tair’s life, the harder it was going to be to push him away.

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

ALTAIR

Our research team sat assembled for the weekly briefing. Myself, Akua, and Marco sat around the table in a sterile conference room while Darren replayed key snippets of Quanta’s footage on the digital wall.

Doctor Nagi sat at the head of the table.

Akua fidgeted and Marco’s right hand shook to the point that he grabbed his wrist, trying to steady himself. Akua’s nerves came from Doctor Nagi’s presence, but Marco was definitely reacting to Quanta.

How far he’d fallen. I sat straight and motionless, projecting calm and confidence, though I had the most to lose.

After more than a week with the team, I’d picked up most of my coworkers’ histories and the rest had been easy enough to infer. Akua had earned her Blue Helix the hard way, growing up outside the Citadel and winning a spot at a Seligo Academy after going through the Trials. She’d gotten this far without connections because of her brilliant mind. She was supposed to be a psychology specialist, but going by the video records, Quanta had slowly turned her into an errand girl.

Marco looked like me on paper. His father was a senator and one of Doctor Nagi’s oldest cronies. He had all the right genes to be successful, but everyone who grew up in the Citadel knew the truth: the genetics didn’t always play out as planned.

Quanta had crushed him to powder. He’d been demoted to research assistant and would’ve been booted from the program entirely if not for his father’s influence. Now even her image made him tremble.

Darren’s research was still my stumbling block. It wasn’t on today’s itinerary.

Not that I’d expected it to be. Even so, determination burned inside me.

I’d barely begun to understand the wide range of Quanta’s expressions, but when she mentioned Darren’s workroom, she’d shown fear. Wide-eyed, gut-clenching terror.

Getting into Darren’s data had already been part of my plan, but now the need was urgent. Anything that terrified Quanta so deeply would be a catastrophe for Lady Eva and the Ravens.