Chapter Nine: The Voice in the Dark
The air down here was different.
Colder. Stale, like it hadn't been touched by the Queen's breath in years.
I stayed still, every muscle tight, listening. The hum above was fading, but I knew better — it never truly stopped. They were waiting for me to climb back up.
Then, in the blackness to my left, came the voice.
Not in my head this time.
Real. Low. Human.
"You're bleeding," he said.
I twisted, claws half-formed, eyes adjusting to the faintest ripple of movement.
A man stepped forward from the shadows.
His plates were dull, chipped, almost faded into the skin. Hiveborn — but wrong. His mark was old, pale around the edges, like a scar that had stopped healing.
"You—" My throat caught. "You're the voice."
"Guilty," he said, without smiling. "I've been trying to keep you alive."
I stared. "Hiveborn don't betray the Queen."
He glanced upward, toward the faint glow of the soldiers waiting above. "Most don't. I broke the link years ago."
"That's not possible."
"It is. Costs more than you want to pay, but it is." He stepped closer, his voice dropping to a whisper. "And now the Queen's got her eyes on you, which means you're out of time. She wants you in the Nest. Permanently."
Something in his tone made my skin tighten. "Why?"
"Because you're not just Hiveborn." His gaze locked on mine. "You're a Queen-blood."
The words slammed into me like a physical blow. My chest tightened, my mark burning so hot I had to clench my fists to keep from screaming.
"That's why you can hear me," he said. "Why her hum doesn't work the way it should. There's only ever one Queen-blood at a time — and if she can't make you serve her, she'll destroy you."
Above us, the hum sharpened.
They'd found another way in.
The man's hand shot out, gripping my arm. "We have to move. Now."
And for the first time, I wasn't sure if running would take me away from the Hive…
or straight into its heart.