Chapter Nineteen; The Pulse
Her hand was on my throat.
Not squeezing — listening.
I could feel the tips of her claws tapping to a rhythm inside me, like she was counting down.
"You don't know how to use it," Vire murmured. "But I do."
The man lunged. Vire moved her other hand and a resin spike shot from her palm, forcing him to dodge or lose an eye. The stranger grabbed my arm, trying to pull me free, but Vire's grip didn't break.
And then I heard it.
Not the Hive's hum.
Not the Queen's voice.
A single, heavy pulse inside my skull — and then another, faster, until it was racing. My vision blurred. The bioluminescent veins in the walls flared brighter, matching the rhythm.
Vire's eyes widened, but she didn't let go. "Yes… there it is."
The floor shuddered. Something hot surged through my veins, stinging like molten metal. My fingernails split, and beneath them, thin black ridges pushed through — not claws, not quite.
The stranger shouted something I couldn't hear over the pulse. The man swung again, this time slicing across Vire's ribs. She hissed, releasing me — but the moment her hand left my skin, the energy exploded outward.
The walls of the chamber rippled like water. A spray of fine dust fell from the ceiling, but the dust didn't land — it hovered, held in place by invisible threads that were radiating from me.
Vire staggered back, one hand pressed to her side, and for the first time, she looked uncertain.
"That… shouldn't be possible," she whispered.
The stranger stared at me, eyes wide. "You didn't just hear the old code. You broadcasted it."
My knees buckled. I barely caught myself on the wall, still shaking. "What does that mean?"
The stranger's voice dropped, as if the words themselves were dangerous.
"It means you can command a Hive."