Page 90 of Dose

“Group processing introduces interpretive noise.”

“So does terror.”

His mouth tightens.

“I’m not going to push,” I tell him. “I know what it is to have a fact inside you that is not ready to become language. If you want someone who understands being used as an experiment, I am available. I won’t turn it into a council item unless someone is in danger. No questions you don’t invite.”

He studies me for a long moment.

“Noted,” he says.

I start to rise.

“Isla.”

I stop.

“Thank you.”

Two small words. He makes them sound expensive.

Theon and I walk back to our quarters through corridors quiet with preparation.

“You noticed,” I say after the door closes.

“Everyone noticed.” He unlatches his boots and sets them side by side. “The difference is that we know what not to do now.”

“No compounds.”

“No pretending sleep is optional. No leaving him alone with the material.”

I sit on the edge of the bed. “Do you think the closed-loop system was used on him?”

“I think he said part of it because he isn’t ready to say more.” Theon looks at me. “We let Raphael and Nikolai handle the next conversation unless Ezra asks us in.”

I nod.

For once, caring about someone does not have to mean opening them to see what is wrong.

Theon crosses the room and kneels in front of me. His hands close around mine.

“Three days,” he says.

“Assuming Marcus and Dominic clear the site.”

“Three provisional days.”

“You hate the word provisional.”

“I hate every word that places you inside a hostile building.”

“Cascade may not be hostile.”

“It manufactures precursor chemicals for Project Architect under an agricultural cover.”

“Fair.”

His thumbs move over my knuckles. “Phoenix was one defined role. Texas is another. If the conditions change, we leave.”