Page 88 of Tempting Fate

“I know, kitten.”

She’d taken to calling me that more; I liked to think it was a good thing. Though I still craved more from her, the turn things had taken, the way she spoke to me, it fulfilled a different need, gifting me another form of satisfaction.

Just as well. The days wore on with an oppressive melancholy. Since we’d found the listening device four days ago, I’d gotten used to seeing more shaa’ith in armour, weapons on display, but it didn’t stop the old feelings they dredged up. Back on Orith, I’d only known confinement. But now, having had a taste of freedom, being restricted to the village wore at my bones. “I want to go out. I want to see that lake you go to.”

Imani laid a comforting hand on my arm. “We can’t. You know we can’t.”

There’d been no other signs of trouble, but the village was taking no risks, running sweeps three times daily and monitoring information in the town. Yet an idea had been brewing ever since I’d last spoken to Shohari. “Come with me. Please?”

The central courtyard was not yet busy with people arriving for lunch. Those in charge would likely be around the armoury, or someone there would know where to find them.

Tokki emerged from the large, modern building as we approached.

“I wish to go out for a few hours,” I said, ignoring the creak of shifting armour as the nearby guards stood straighter.

Tokki didn’t even stop walking. “Do not be ridiculous.”

I caught his arm. “I have a plan. Someone can be my decoy. Make it look like I have not left.” Simple. Effective.

“I am not sure if—”

“If you will not let me leave, I will find a way to go anyway. I cannot be a captive any more.” I gritted my teeth, wrestling my headspines under control. “It’s only for a few hours.”

“Namd’al ki’tsi,” Tokki muttered under his breath and raised a brow at Imani. “Fine. We’ll set it up.”

Three hours later, the blue cords around the gates shimmered and winked out of existence.

Imani flew us out of the entrance and followed a wooded path in the opposite direction to town. As the trees rushed past, my heart rate spiked. Freedom.

The glistening waters of a lake peeked through the trees, but Imani took us onwards.

She pulled the speeder to a halt at the edge of the treeline, where mossy ground gave way to something entirely new.

So much sky—and more water in one place than I could imagine. Lush, varied foliage surrounded us, and hazy mountains rose in the background.

I made an inelegant dismount from the speeder, my knees collapsed, and my hands hit a strange substance, sinking in. “What is this?”

“Sand. It’s like tiny chips of stone and shell and substrate. Like soil but different.”

I strode over this sand, feeling it shift and slip under my feet. Like soil, it appeared darker when wet, or I assumed that was the difference nearer the water, so took another few steps then sat. I took deep lungfuls of the lakeside air, so different to Orith, so different to the village, my eyes pricked with tears.

Imani settled next to me. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

I put an arm around her narrow little shoulders and pulled her closer to my side. “It is. Thank you.”

“Any time.”

I stared out over the lake. “I have been doing a lot of thinking. I am trying to come to terms with all the differences out here. The culture is so very different.” That was very much an understatement.

“And how’s it going?”

I shrugged. “It’s… going.” I had so much to learn—so much to unlearn. I still caught myself thinking the Orithian way of doing things was superior, yet was it really? No, truth was, there was merit in so much out here.

“It must be hard, leaving your old culture.”

“Was it ever mine?”

Her voice sharpened. “It was. Just because you’re here now doesn’t mean you aren’t entitled to the culture you grew up in.”