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He chuckled, shaking his head dismissively. “You don’t scare me, Vaclan. The Sovann’ash have not forgotten what you took from us. Your sister, she was a prime candidate for our experiments. She was of perfect breeding stock. Our commander had practically hand selected her. You do not know how angry he was at losing her. We have waited a long time to settle this debt.”
As his hand closed over my throat, the shockwaves left me senseless, staring wide-eyed as he threw the necklace against the wall, letting Mia’s ashes fall to the ground along with the bits of glass. And then it all went dark again.
17
COSMA
I did not rest.I could not, no matter how many times Torgus grumbled at me. I would have preferred my space in which to toss and turn all night, but they could not afford me any such luxury. It was the infirmary or nothing, and I didn’t dare go out wandering the halls of the Vaclanheim alone. Torgus might not have been especially friendly, but he was far from the scariest person I might encounter in this place.
As morning approached, I gave up the fight and simply stared up at the ceiling, lost in my thoughts. Soon, I would be back where I belonged, among friends. I should have felt grateful for that, I supposed, but I lacked any sense of enthusiasm. It might have been different if Malik and I had parted on better terms. But this? This was a cruelty to us both.
Malik was out there somewhere, fighting his own battles. And I would go my own way, reconnect with Tayla, and continue fighting for the women who had not yet been saved. A tiny piece of me roused itself in spite, hoping that the day would come when Malik and I crossed paths once more. Only then, I hoped to have the upper hand, to show him he had been wrong all along. About me. About what was truly important in this universe. I allowed myself the satisfaction of imagining the smug remark I would make when that day came. But it was only a fantasy. Our wars would take us far away from one another, and that would be for the best.
“You didn’t sleep at all, did you?” Torgus asked from the other end of the infirmary.
When I glanced at him, he was watching me. I did not know how long he had been awake there.
“No,” I admitted with a haggard sigh.
“Well, maybe you’ll sleep on the way then. That should save us both some awkward conversation, shouldn’t it?”
He offered me a smile that was kinder than his words would have let on, and I chuckled lightly. He was right, of course. I doubted we had much to discuss at all.
“When do we leave?”
“Just as soon as I’ve spoken with Nivek. Stay here. Or… don’t. I’ll find you when it is time.”
I swallowed, watching him sit up painfully in his bed and brace himself before rising to his feet. His gait was uneven as he stretched himself, baring the deep scars that ran in crisscrosses across his back and sides. I averted my eyes, biting my lip to hold back the gasp of shock at the sight of his injuries. Were those from the Sovann’ash? It didn’t matter. It was none of my business.
As soon as he was gone, I tossed the thin bedsheets aside and hurried out of the room. I needed to get back to the radio room. I needed to reach the man I’d spoken to the night before. If he was close, I needed to tell him I was coming to meet him. I needed to know if he’d spoken with Tayla already, if she’d answered his call.
I dropped into the chair, pulling the headset on and flipping the transmitter’s switches on. This time, I knew exactly what to do, but I could not make myself say the words. For fear? For what? Some part of me was truly afraid that there would be no answer. That the man was not out there to return my call, or worse, that Tayla would not come for me. But it was more than that.
Beneath that fear, there was another layer of trepidation. A secret worry that Tayla was already on her way. That she would be here before I was ready. Ready for what? I should not have any hesitations about leaving this place. And yet… there it was. Festering like an old wound, I knew what I was afraid of. I was afraid that I would never see Malik again. That he would go on without giving me another thought, that I would never get the chance to tell him what I saw in him.
Maybe he didn’t want to hear it, anyway.
Shaking off my hesitation, I pressed the transmit button and made my first call.
“Hello? Anybody out there?”
My voice was shaky. I had to clear my throat several times before I could muster the strength to articulate, and even then I thought it obvious that I was anxious.
“Cosma?” The voice that came back to me was scratchy and difficult to understand, but it was there.
“Yes. Hello?”
“Cosma. This is Herod. I have news for you.”
My stomach clenched uncomfortably at his words. This could not be good. Nobody announced good news this way. Whatever his news, I knew it would mean I was stuck here.
“Is Tayla okay?” I asked, my mind leaping to the worst of possibilities first.
“What? Yes. Tayla and her crew are fine. They’re on their way. But I’m afraid there will be some delay in getting to you. There’s a Patrol ship parked right in our path. I can’t even get any closer to send this transmission at the moment. The drones are everywhere. There must have been some kind of cosmic event to draw them out like this. I’ve only seen this much activity from the bastards one other time, and it wasn’t pretty. We don’t want to go giving away our locations. You’ll have to wait until the way is clear.”
“I don’t understand,” I cut in. “What kind of hubbub would draw the whole Sovann’ash armada out?”
“Judging by the spray of debris I’m picking up on my radars, I’d say it was some kind of ship that exploded.”
