Finally, the three of them reached the surface, panting and sweating with their muscles on fire. Or, Kiva and Olisha, at least. Naari was barely out of breath, the picture of physical fitness. If Kiva hadn’t been in such a rush to get back to the infirmary, she would have asked for more details about her prosthesis and how it worked so effortlessly, the guard having had no trouble gripping the ladder, nor anything else she set her hand to do.

Ignoring her body’s need for a moment of respite, Kiva strode out of the domed building with Naari at her side, Olisha breathlessly calling that she’d catch up.

Unsure what she would find, unsure what she wanted to find, Kiva’s mind was awhirl with thoughts, concerns, and questions by the time they arrived at the infirmary and stepped inside.

“Kiva! You’re b-back!” Tipp called, sitting beside Tilda’s bed, holding one of her hands.

Kiva’s heart gave a pang as the woman’s face turned, not quite in the right direction owing to her blindness, but close.

Swallowing, Kiva moved first to place her samples from the pumping station and aquifer on the workbench, finding Nergal on a stool there, right where she’d left him.

“You can go,” she said to him. “Tell Olisha, too—she’s on her way back from the tunnels.”

The man was up and out of the infirmary so fast that it was as if he feared she’d change her mind. But Kiva didn’t want him here for this. Nor Olisha. In an ideal world, Tipp and Naari wouldn’t even be in the room, allowing Kiva a private moment with her patient. But Tipp was already quietly talking to Tilda, and Naari was striding toward her bed, the guard’s features wary enough that Kiva assumed she was recalling the Rebel Queen’s unprovoked attack soon after her arrival. Tilda had been restrained ever since, but Naari was no doubt still on high alert.

Kiva’s heart was thundering in her ears as she walked on wooden legs over to Tilda’s bedside. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous. No, that wasn’t true—there were so many reasons, not the least of which was if Tilda remembered anything from before she’d arrived at Zalindov. Did she know about the note from Kiva’s sister? Did she know Zuleeka had sent it, that Kiva had risked everything, and was still risking everything, to keep her alive? And what about her followers outside the walls—did she know they’d tried to free her? That they’d failed? Did she know if they had a backup plan? Or was that just a fool’s hope on Kiva’s part?

So many questions, none of which she could ask while Tipp and Naari were present.