Page 31 of Enslak

I squeezed Enslak's hand harder, felt the warmth of his skin and the faint pulse at his wrist.

This wasn't the same.

But the blood looked the same. The smell was the same. And the cold, creeping terror that wrapped around my lungs and squeezed was exactly the same.

"You're going to be okay," I told him, even though I wasn't sure I believed it, even though the sheer amount of blood was terrifying. "You're going to be okay because I won't let you die. You hear me? I won't let you die. You're going to be okay. You're going to see your family again."

His hand tightened slightly around mine, just a fraction, just enough to let me know he heard me, just enough to let me know he was still fighting.

I squeezed back, wanting him to know I was still here.

Chapter 8

Enslak

Darkness.

Not the cell. Not the pits where I'd killed things with names I couldn't remember.

This darkness was different.

Softer. Warmer.

It pulled at me like water, like I was sinking into something deep and endless.

Part of me wanted to let it take me. Wanted to stop fighting and just drift away.

But I couldn't.

Something held me back. Something kept pulling me toward the surface.

Her.

I couldn't see her. Couldn't open my eyes.

But I knew she was there.

I could feel her presence like warmth against my skin, like light cutting through the darkness.

The female who'd pretended to be Zarlak. The female who smelled like flowers.

My body felt strange. Wrong.

Like it was changing in ways I didn't understand.

Things shifted beneath my skin. Bones realigning. Tissue knitting together.

Augmentations that had been part of me for so long were beginning to dissolve, to transform into something else entirely.

I didn't understand it.

Couldn't make sense of the sensations rippling through me.

Sometimes there was pain, sharp and bright, flashes that shoved back the darkness for a moment.

Other times there was nothing. Just numbness.

Just the sense of my body doing things without my permission.