Chapter Ten: Break the Link
We ran without speaking, our footsteps swallowed by the thick, damp air.
The tunnels here were different — narrow, uneven, walls cracked and sagging with age. Resin clung in brittle flakes instead of wet layers, and the scent was faint, almost gone.
"They don't use these anymore," the man said, keeping his voice low. "Too unstable. But that works in our favor."
My lungs burned. "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere she can't hear you. Then we talk."
The hum still pressed faintly against my thoughts, but it was weaker here, like trying to hear music through a wall. The Queen was losing her grip.
We crawled through a collapsed passage, debris crunching under our hands, until the tunnel opened into a chamber the size of a small room. The walls were etched with grooves — old scent trails that no longer carried their messages.
"This was a brood chamber," he said. "Before she abandoned it."
I leaned against the wall, catching my breath. "Tell me what you meant before. About breaking the link."
His gaze fixed on me, hard. "You've felt it. The pull. The hum in your blood. That's the link — the Queen's pheromone signature burned into your body. Break that, and you're free."
"And the cost?"
His jaw tightened. "You lose everything. Your strength. Your shift. Your sense of the Colony. The Hiveborn who survive it… are human in the worst way. We age. We break. We die alone."
I swallowed. "And you did it."
He nodded once. "I had to. She was going to use me to bring in a Queen-blood. I couldn't let that happen."
The air chilled around me. "You mean—"
"Yes. You. I've been waiting for you for years."
Before I could answer, the hum surged again — sharper this time, slicing into the chamber. Dust shook loose from the ceiling.
"They found us," he said. "And this time… they're bringing her."