CHAPTER 14
ARIANA POV
The sound was a faint snick of the electronic lock engaging, followed by the whisper of the door pivoting on its silent hinges but I was awake before the door had even cleared the frame.
There was no grogginess, no slow climb out of the fog of sleep. One second I was drifting in my calculated 'active rest' of the program, and the next, I was a coiled spring
My hand, already wrapped around the hilt of my dagger, tightened with the familiar, lethal certainty.
I didn't move a muscle, didn't even draw a breath, as I watched the sliver of light from the hallway widen across the dark carpet.
A figure stepped into the room. From my vantage point behind the marble pillar, tucked into the charcoal velvet of the couch, I was invisible.
I watched with sharp eyes as the intruder moved deeper into the suite.
It was a girl.
