“I don’t care.”

He knows who she is, and she wants to tell him everything, tell him about the code and the letter and ask him what he thinks she should do.

Maybe she should just give Eric the letter and be done with it. But if she gives it to him, she’ll die. She’s positive his offer, if it ever was legit, no longer stands. She’s proven her disloyalty to him and is now a threat as the only legitimate heir.

That’s when it hits her and she gasps.

“What?” Daniel asks, jumping as she sits up. She turns to him, eyes wide. “What is it?” he says, looking back to the front door.

Lynell shakes her head. “Anna . . .”

He frowns and relaxes, turning back to her. “Lynell, you don’t need to—”

“No. It’s not that.” Lynell drops her face into her hands, her teeth gritting and eyes burning. Finally, she looks up at Daniel again. “Danny, they want to kill me not just because I’m another Elysian, but because I’m the legitimate heir to the Registration. They think I’m the only one.” Confusion plays on Daniel’s face.

“Danny, if Eric finds out Anna exists. That you and I were married when she was born. That she’s a legitimate heir—”

“He’ll go after her, too.” Daniel finishes her sentence.

Lynell nods.

DAY 10

Daniel sends the same message to Zach every half hour. Lynell stays up with him, staring at the face of his watch for any sign that Zach is there, alive, and listening. She leans against him, paces the room, rests her head in his lap, curls into a ball on the floor. Daniel rubs her back when he can and his eyes flick from the watch to Lynell. At two a.m., she lets out a loud, wide yawn.

“Go to sleep,” Daniel says. Lynell starts to shake her head, pacing from one end of the room to the other. Daniel stands and grazes his fingers across her shoulder blades. “Lynell, you need some rest. You’re running on adrenaline and your body needs time to heal.”

“How am I supposed to sleep when at any moment Eric could find out about Anna?” She sighs when his hand retreats and his eyebrows furrow. “I’m sorry. I’m just . . . angry with myself. For not considering this sooner. For getting you into this. For . . .” she trails off, all that she’s angry about swimming in her mind.

“How many people know you gave birth to her?” Daniel asks.

Lynell considers the question. She hadn’t told anyone she was pregnant, apart from Daniel. “Uhm, a bunch of nuns. I went to the Registration office that day but when I got to the front of the line, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go home either, because you and I, we . . .” She glances at Daniel, who nods, “. . . so I went to a church. I figured it was the best place to figure out what to do.”