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“I already had a good doctor. I want him back. Like I told Avrell, I’m not going to follow any of your directions. I’ll fight you every step of the way, unless you let me see Calix.”
Breccan, who’d been uncharacteristically silent, lifts a hand when Avrell and Aria open their mouths to argue. “Listen, little one, I understand you want to see your mate, but Calix has broken the rules.”
My mate?
The thought isn’t a horrible one, but I pack that thought away for another time.
“It’s not safe for any mort to follow their whims as they see fit,” he explains. “Doing so could put our entire population at risk if something were to go amiss. Including yourself and the other aliens.”
I’d barely given any thought to the other women on board, or the other morts for that matter. “Calix only wanted to help me and he has. He’s been trying hard to figure out what’s wrong with me. If you truly value my life, you’ll bring him back.”
The three of them share a look and Breccan says, “We can’t let his transgression go unpunished.”
“So you’re punishing me, too?” I hiss.
“Of course not,” Aria interjects. “You’re free here, you’re safe with us.”
“If I haven’t done anything wrong then there’s no reason for you to keep me locked up here like an animal in a zoo. I’m feeling much better now and we’ll all figure out what’s wrong with me much faster if you take me to Calix, otherwise we can keep going round and round and nothing is going to get accomplished.”
Aria puts a hand on Breccan’s arm and he says, “I do not like being backed into a corner.” His black eyes pin me to the spot, then he says, “But I can’t help but respect you for fighting hard for your mate. I too, have experienced this. I will take you to Calix, but he is not to be released until the following solar, is that understood?”
The bands in my chest loosen, but I keep my spine stiff. I don’t want Breccan to see me as weak. I don’t want any of them to. “Then take me to him.”
6
Calix
Cold.
Every part of me is numb.
Am I in The Eternals?
A thundering inside my nog reminds me I am not dead. That I am as alive as the solar I was born. But I have lost my senses and they are slowly returning back. My heart is erratically beating inside my chest cavity, as though it is trying to escape.
Why would my heart want to escape?
Blue eyes. Yellow hair. Pale and soft and dying.
“Emery,” I croak, blinking my eyes open against the darkness.
A bulb flickers and hums from the hallway. It takes a moment to realize I am lying on a cot inside a reform cell. Cold and alone.
Rekk.
Whatever Avrell injected me with slows me down. My mind begs for me to rise to my feet and rage. To tear the metal bars from the walls and make my escape. But I am weak and weary. Frustration seeps inside my bones.
I need to get to her.
Before it is too late.
“She’s not there,” Sayer’s voice rumbles from a speaker nearby.
“This really is punishment,” I complain. “Having you follow me everywhere I go, echoing all my thoughts.”
“Just thought you might need a little company,” he says in his jovial way that normally does not bother me, but gets under my skin this solar.
“Silent mode. Ever heard that command?”
He laughs and then it goes silent again.
Thank the rekking orbs. I need to think, and I cannot do that with Sayer invading my mind.
Sitting up, I study the small cell. A urinal sits in the corner beside a sink. The cell is empty. Not often do we have to bring anyone down here. Last mort down here was Draven. When he had been lost to The Rades’ madness. I had watched him from the feed as Breccan cared for him. We were all sure he would have died. Somehow, despite how the disease ravaged him, he lived.
She will live too.
Our people are stubborn and will fight for the ones we care about, even when they are too weak to fight for themselves.
Something clanks nearby and then I hear footsteps. Then, Emery comes into view, wearing a loose-fitting minnasuit and boots. I am so surprised to see her, I almost wonder if I am imagining it. I find a way to get my legs to work and shakily make my way over to the door. She rushes over to me, her chest rattling loudly.
“Calix,” she says, choking on a sob as she reaches through the bars to get to me.
I walk into her embrace and hug her back. My nose finds her hair and I inhale her sweet scent. Now that she is back in my arms, I do not want to let her go.
