The door locked with a metal cough, and the footsteps of the guards and the scientists retreated down the hall until even the echo bled out.
Sera's spine loosened first. It was a small motion, a subtle shift, like the tight coil inside her had simply decided to stop wasting energy. The blank expression she'd worn through Phase One, Two, and now Three faded like a mask slipping off the wall.
"I'd like to pretend I didn't see that coming," she murmured, her voice dry as bone dust, "but… I did. I just thought they'd take my eggs instead of expecting you to fuck me."
Zubair didn't move.
The words fell between them and lay there, heavy and inevitable, like everything else in this place.
"They want me to break." Her shoulders rolled back as if she was finally remembering the feeling of safety. "I like to be accommodating."
For the first time since they locked him in here with her, his head lifted.
