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.“I’d say he just asks.Someone will point him in the right direction.” He lifted his flask and took a drink.Seeing the glint of Sevrin’s white teeth in the sunlight, she had to ask, “Does your brother have fangs?”He gave her a strange, perplexed look.Oddly, his long silence didn’t rattle her.Paranoia worked in a bizarre fashion.It made her distrust when she shouldn’t and trust when she should.“No,” he finally answered, an amused grin appearing along with a twinkle in his eyes.“He’s like me, right down to not mentioning he’s part lamian.”“It is part of our nature.”“Anything else you need to know?” he asked.It occurred to her he might think she was scoping out what she was up against.“It wasn’t something I needed to know.I was just curious.” She decided against asking if his brother was also as handsome as he was.“Levor had to know where he was going to drive my steam-trekker right into the city.” Sevrin rubbed his hand against the side of his face, scratching at his whiskers as he stood in thought.“Come on, sunshine.We’ll follow the tracks.”Rye watched him start walking away.The endearment caught her by surprise.She didn’t even think he realized what he said with his attention so focused on following the tracks.Her trust in him swelled.“Do you think they kill their captives?” she asked, walking quickly to catch up to him.“The Wickstrom Group,” she clarified.“I don’t know.Anything’s possible.We’re still not sure that the Wickstrom Group is corrupt.”“What other scientists would there be around here? It has to be the Wickstrom Group.But whether they are the ones or not, wouldn’t you think live specimens would be needed for testing whatever it is they’re trying to develop?”“I’m sure the dead would also be useful for dissection and examination.”Rye put a hand over her mouth to hold back her gasp.Even though she had slip-ups, for months she had worked hard at not thinking of what Shay might be going through.“Sorry.I didn’t mean to suggest your sister was…is…Tell me about her.How did she get mixed up with Hamner or a man like him?”“Six months ago we were scrounging around an abandoned shelter.Tired from our walk, we decided to take a nap in one of the mineshafts under a shack.A sound woke me and there he was.Hamner had my sister.Semi-unconscious, she didn’t fight back.I knew he had sedated her with something, but I didn’t know with what until he held me captive.He used allium on us.”“How is it he kept you from stopping him?”A pang of guilt churned in her stomach.Sevrin’s innocent question didn’t hint at the blame she felt.Since then, not a day had gone by without Rye thinking it had been all her fault.“He was already up the ladder.By the time I got to the trapdoor leading to the shack above, he had it bolted.It took me forever to break the hinges.I tried to find his trail, except there was nothing in the dust to indicate which way he had taken Shay.For weeks, I looked in nearby shelters and still came up with no clues.Then I decided I’d go back to the shelter and wait.I figured he’d hunt the same grounds.I was about ready to give up when he showed.I had no other choice but to let him abduct me.”“Did he tell you anything about your sister, any clues at all?”“I never got a chance to ask.I was unconscious most of the time.And when I wasn’t, I was too busy fighting the pain.That’s why it was so important to keep him alive at Toddas’ camp.”“I’m sorry about that, Rye.”“It’s not your fault.Besides, he didn’t tell me the truth about the allium field, so there’s no reason for me to think he would have been truthful with any information.For all I know, he’s kidnapped so many lamians, he didn’t even know which one was my sister.”“So he may not have brought her here either.She could be…”“Dead,” she finished.“I’ve thought of that.”“I was going to say she might have been taken somewhere else.The marauders aren’t particular about who they make slaves.”“Hamner had to keep me drugged to prevent me from biting him.I don’t see why anyone, even a member of the marauders gang, would chance having a lamian around [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]