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There, I said it. I enacted the warning, and I was going to follow through no matter what. I was done being Amada’s door mat.
Amada burst into hysterical laugher. The shrill tone in her voice was maniacal. I turned around to look at her with a mixture of pity and loathing.
Amada continued shrieking with laughter until her eyes turned red again and fat tears began rolling down her cheeks. The hysteria continued, but her features became tortured. The laughter became pained, almost forced until it cracked into full-blown sobs.
I slowly turned around and began walking from the room, wincing cautiously along the way, halfway expecting her to reach out and start clawing at my skin in fury and revenge.
The entire encounter left me feeling unnerved about an unsettled future. My engineer was crumbling, and so was the very foundation of everything I had worked tirelessly to achieve.
ChapterSeventeen
CARMELA
Alarge hand lightly touched me on the back, right below my shoulder blade.
I was in the line at the cafeteria, standing there with my tray, waiting to be served dinner from the kitchen staff.
I’d already picked out my drink and dessert, and now I was just waiting patiently for the main course as the assembly line slowly shuffled forward.
I warily turned around to see who was touching me, but relaxed when I saw Cyburn standing there behind me. He was dressed in his warrior battle uniform, wearing all the gear aside from his protective helmet.
His white-blond hair looked glossy under the sharp, silver light of the dining area. His almond-shaped black eyes were wider than usual, his pupils barely visible because of how dark his eyes were, but I could tell that they were dilated.
“Hi,” I said cheerily, giving him the most charismatic smile I had to offer.
Unfortunately, Cyburn didn’t share my enthusiasm. Nor did he return my smile. He had a somber expression on his face, and his eyes were both concentrated and distant when he stared at me.
“I need to talk to you,” he said gravely.
My heart dropped into my stomach.
“Is everything alright?” I asked, my hands now shaking. I coiled my fingers tighter around the rim of the tray to hold it steady.
Cyburn glanced down at my tray. He gently touched my shoulder. “The food can wait. We need to talk in private, now.”
“Alright…” I trailed off as an entire family of butterflies pattered around in my stomach.
Cyburn took my tray from me and set it down on an empty table. He tugged me along with some urgency, discarding the tray and abandoning the dining hall completely.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as soon as we were out of earshot from anyone ese and had vacated the cafeteria.
Cyburn tossed a paranoid glance over his shoulder and didn’t respond. He kept pulling me forward. I started to resist him, which made him yank at me even more compellingly.
“Cyburn,” I said a little more forcefully to get my voice heard. “Where are you taking me? You’re hurting my wrist.”
I tried to wiggle free from his grasp to get some control over the situation.
The fog over Cyburn’s face lifted as if he were suddenly released from a spell, or some kind of binding hypnosis had suddenly stopped it’s hold over him.
Cyburn blinked at me, his lips slightly parted, an alarmed expression worn into the groves of his face.
“I’m… sorry. I am just under a lot of pressure this evening.” His shoulders hung loosely as if he felt ashamed of himself for his behavior.
“Tell me what’s wrong so I can help you,” I offered as gently as I could, but his behavior was still unsettling me.
Cyburn continued glancing around the ship’s corridors with increasing paranoia and shook his head. “I wanted to bring you to my private office chambers so we could talk alone.”
“Alright,” I said cautiously. “You didn’t have to yank me so hard, though. I will always be willing to go with you.”
