The Short Version
Selene's chest hurt from the cold, the fear, and something else she couldn't put her finger on yet. She sat next to Dorian in the car, holding the vial between her fingers as if it were very heavy.
The rain had stopped, but the last hour of pounding had shaken her up and made her leak adrenaline.
He had gone down a narrow side street with empty factories and closed warehouses on either side. Shadows moved behind broken windows in these places.
The lights above flickered, making the darkness seem like dawn. She looked at him. Voice tight.
"Where are we going?" In the rearview mirror, their eyes met. Hard, focused.
"Somewhere safe to think without being seen." Selene's stomach turned. Is it safe? She had been betrayed the last time she thought she was safe.
Even though parts of her screamed not to, something about his tone made her want to believe him. He drove up to an old iron gate.
The paint is coming off. Vines that have grown too big are crawling over the metal like fingers. He turned off the engine. The car was engulfed in thick, long-lasting silence.
Dorian stayed still just breathing. She could hear hers, which was loud against her ribs. Finally, he spoke, but his voice was hoarse.
"You said Eliora is with someone. I followed a number, which was the last known ping in this area. The industrial grid isn't far from here. It could be a storage space or it might not be anything.
Selene's hands were shaking. "If she's here... if someone hurt her, " Dorian said softly, "She's still alive." "Because someone wants you to see her alive." Her heart sank.
Being alive didn't mean being safe, he took her hand. His grip was tight but careful around the vial.
"You have to believe me." She pulled her hand away. "Don't ask me that." Her voice broke.
"Not after all that." He looked, water from the rain shone on his collarbone. Darkness wrapped around his face, but she could see that his jaw was loose and that he was vulnerable for a moment.
"Then don't," he said. "Believe only what I do." She swallowed hard, wanting to believe him, but her bones ached with memories of Lucien's death, the silence, and the secret deals. She looked at the vial. The stuff inside sparkled a little, like a promise that would never come true.
Dorian unlocked the door. "Stay here " He stepped outside with a torch in one hand and squeaky boots in the other. He walked towards the gate. Selene saw him disappear into the dark, where the light bounced off of rust, shadows, and broken bricks.
Selene's skin felt tingly. She paid attention, the sound of traffic in the distance. Wind blowing through broken windows.
There was a soft scraping sound, like fabric on concrete, that dragged. She stood up, holding her coat tightly around her, and followed, sneaking out of the car.
The smell of wet metal, decay, and something wrong the smell that always came before danger whispered. She could see him ahead. Dorian, with a torch beam cutting through the dark, and looking through an open warehouse door.
There were dim lights inside piles of crates, pallets, changing shapes. She moved closer, being careful.
She thought Dorian could hear her heart beating so loudly. He walked into the warehouse, and the beam hit Eliora first.
She was tied to a chair in the middle of the room with her head down. Her hair was a mess. The sleeves of her clothes were ripped.
There was dried blood on her temple. Selene ran ahead.
"Eliora!" She didn't stop.
Dorian grabbed her arm and held her back. "Wait....look." His voice was low, like ice over fire.
Selene stopped moving, a shape moved in one corner of the warehouse, behind some crates. She narrowed her eyes. The man stepped into the light. Vale Lucien. Slim, with half of his face in shadow and sharp eyes. Alive.
More alive than she thought possible. But something wasn't right.
He didn't move because he was happy. He didn't hesitate when he saw her, he seemed... distant. Lucien held up a gloved hand and a picture.
There was a picture of Selene. She was laughing at a gala, and the picture she never thought would exist. The same picture she had told no one about, a private moment.
Selene's stomach turned. "Where did you...." Lucien didn't say anything. Just dropped the picture, it flew across the dusty floor and stopped at Selene's feet. She picked it up, her hands shaking.
The picture was new; it hadn't turned yellow and the edges were sharp. But the picture was old before Lucien died. Before any of this happened.
Dorian moved forward, gripping the torch tightly with white knuckles.
"You took advantage of me," he said. "Used me to get to her." Selene's heart raced.
"What do you mean?" From behind the crates, Lucien's voice came out of the dark. It was soft and steady. "Did you really believe I was dead?
Did you really think that hiding from the world, sealing off the lab, and burying the formula would kill the idea of me?
Selene looked back at him, but her eyes didn't say anything. He stepped into the light completely. His face was pale where the smoke had turned his cheeks grey. His eyes were cold and far away.
He looked like he had lost himself in memories that were bad for him. Dorian moved between them, breathing heavily.
"What do you want, Lucien?" Lucien's eyes moved to Selene. "Truth." Then to Dorian.
"And I want power." Selene's blood turned to ice. Truth? Strength? Mixing poison in one sentence.
She felt betrayed again, by him, by Dorian, and by things she couldn't see that she didn't understand. She opened her mouth to say no, but Lucien raised a gloved finger.
"You're never going to believe me, but one of you killed me." No sound, every breath they took was heavy. Selene's throat closed up and her eyes hurt.
Dorian's hand around his torch got tighter, and it shook. Lucien moved his head to the side.
"One of you, or both." Selene's head was spinning, she wanted to scream, deny, and cry, but instead she dropped the picture and let it fall to the ground.
She turned to Dorian. "Why are you standing there?" He didn't say anything. Lucien smiled, a small, sharp, and dangerous smile. "Because you still choose to protect her over the truth." Selene's whole world turned upside down. Keep the truth safe.
But what truth? Her own? Lucien's? Dorian's? She shook and stepped back. Dorian reached for her to hold her still or stop. She pulled away.
"Don't," she said softly. "Stay out." Her chest hurt, her hands were trembling. She could taste metal and fear. In the dark, Lucien's eyes shone.
"Time's up." He held up a small remote, which was a bomb.
Selene gasped "Don't" A huge explosion shook the warehouse.
There was a lot of smoke the crates broke. The force pushed her back.
Dorian grabbed her arm and pulled her down. There was a fire. Screams, heat, and dust. Selene closed her eyes and pressed her head against the cold concrete.
"You made me powerful," Lucien's voice echoed. But never completely. Then the dark took her.
The picture of Selene that Lucien kept secret shows that he has been watching and waiting, the explosion that leaves their lives in the balance makes you wonder:
Who betrayed whom? What happened in the quiet? Can Selene even trust herself?.