Beth nearly gagged, her stomach threatening to send back up what little breakfast she’d managed to eat before she left Santiago’s house, whether that was because of nerves or the smell she’d just walked into, she wasn’t sure.
It was probably the nerves, she reasoned, and swallowed hard to fight the urge. It couldn’t be the hospital because the place smelled the way hospitals always did. Antiseptic, recycled air, and underneath both, something older and more human that no amount of clinical product could quite cover. Beth had always found the smell clarifying in the particular way unpleasant things sometimes were. It left no room for pretending.
Beth kept moving, Abaden beside her like a shadow. The man hadn’t spoken during the drive, keeping true to his character since their last interac
