Perchance to Dream

by Lyssa Chiavari

  “Cronius March gave you this bracelet?” he asked, needing confirmation.

  It made no sense. Why would his lieutenant have his wife’s bracelet? Had he been right to suspect him based on Isaias’ information? It seemed like evidence, yet he couldn’t fathom how it had come to be.

  “He left it in the bathroom for me,” she confirmed. “He’d already left when I finished getting dressed and came out to thank him. We made dinner plans, and I was going to thank him for it then.” She made another sound of disgust. “I’ll thank him with my foot up his—”

  “Leave,” Onyx choked out, no longer able to endure her presence.

  She frowned. “I’m sorry?”

  “You’re dismissed. Don’t tell anyone we had this conversation. Especially not the lieutenant. I’ll deal with him.”

  “You’re welcome to him,” she muttered, standing and making a quick getaway.

  Onyx slammed the bracelet down onto the table once she’d gone. His entire body trembled, and he clenched his hands into fists in an attempt to keep from breaking something. A long silence stretched on, during which he felt the sympathetic eyes of his ensign on him.

  After a while, Isaias spoke. “Sir...”

  “Don’t,” Onyx snapped, shaking his head. “You’ve done enough.”

  “Me, sir?”

  “You planted doubts in my mind about Dia,” he murmured. “You opened my eyes to… hell, I don’t know what. I think a man whose wife cheats on him is happier not knowing.”

  “You don’t mean that,” Isaias countered, taking the seat beside him. “A man who walks around blind is weak. Knowing makes you strong. It strengthens you to deal with betrayal.”

  “You don’t understand,” he whispered, lowering his head. “I am an outcast here. No one understands me. I’m not one of you and I never will be. But Dia…”

  “She loved you anyway.”

  “A lie, apparently.”

  “Maybe not, sir,” Isaias offered. “It all seems like a big misunderstanding to me. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of it. Just talk to her. Everyone knows she loves you.”

  Onyx wanted to believe that. Up until now he had.

  “After the Earth Army took out what remained of my people and captured me, I was imprisoned and studied. The government wanted to know everything they could about me and my kind. Once they determined a lone Ethelene wasn’t a danger to them, I was let go. I was twelve. Do you know what I wanted?”

  “No, sir,” Isaias replied.

  “To belong,” he said. “I wanted it so badly that I did everything I could to be like the other boys. And for a while I thought it was working. A group of kids in the orphanage I lived in seemed to take me under their wing, inviting me places with them and letting me join their games.”

  “That’s good, isn’t it? It worked.”

  Onyx laughed, shaking his head. “That’s what I thought, before they led me down a dark alley and beat me until I was blue as well as black.” He laughed again, bitterly. “They reminded me that I wasn’t one of them, and had no chance of becoming like them. From then on I was shunned.”

  “But things have changed now. You’re one of the most powerful men in the army. You’ve come a long way.”

  “Do you think for a moment that my position is secure? As secure as, say, Lieutenant March’s? After what he did, he should be discharged, but because of me he is going to keep his rank and stay in the army. Do you think if I behaved in the same way I would be given the same mercy by my C.O.s?”

  Silence was his answer.

  “Exactly,” he continued. “It’s why I’ve always striven for excellence. If I couldn’t be like everyone, then I would be better. I have to prove myself to everyone just to cling to the edge of their good graces.”

  Isaias nodded in understanding. “You didn’t have to do that with Dia.”

  He stood, pocketing the bracelet. “I thought I didn’t.”

  “Do you think she’s playing with you, like those boys did all those years ago? She doesn’t seem like the type.”

  Onyx paused on his way to the door and glanced at Isaias over his shoulder. He shrugged. “Neither did those boys, until the very end.”

  With that, he turned and left, his mind in turmoil over the evidence seeming to burn a hole in his pocket.

  ❦

  Chapter 9

  When Dia returned from across the hall visiting Ellena, Onyx was waiting for her. He startled her, his voice reaching out from the dark bedroom where he sat in a chair in the corner, face shadowed. She faltered on the threshold, uncertainty causing her stomach to flip. He’d been acting so unusual lately, she hardly knew how to approach him.

  “Hey,” she said, reaching to turn on the light. “How was your meeting? Why are you sitting in the dark?”

  He glanced up at her, jaw clenched, eyes wide. None of the familiar warmth and kindness was on his face, and she felt as if she was looking at a stranger.

  “I have a headache,” he replied, shrugging like it was no big deal. “Where have you been?”

  “Oh,” she replied, crossing the room and flopping down on the bed. “Across the hall with Ellena.”

  Instead of pacifying him, her answer seemed to irritate him. She knew Ellena could be annoying, but she hadn’t realized how much Onyx disliked her.

  “Across the hall,” he murmured, not exactly addressing her. He stared off into space as if thinking that over—as if her words presented some mystery that needed solving.

  She folded her hands in her lap and sighed. “Is something wrong? Did you have another bad day?”

  No response. Staring at his profile, Dia fumbled for the right words to say to help him snap out of this funk. Usually, she could make things better for him, soothe him when the outside world treated him badly. Lately, it seemed she’d lost her touch.

  “Onyx,” she ventured. “What’s going on? I wish you’d talk to me. I don’t like to see you like this.”

  He emitted a short, dry bark of laughter, his eyes snapping up to meet hers. “Is that so?”

  She wrinkled her brow. “Of course not. Please talk to me.”

  His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath and released it on a sigh. “I have a question.”

  “Okay,” she said, hoping they were now getting somewhere.

  “Did you bring your bracelet? The one I gave you… my mother’s bracelet?”

  She nodded. “Of course. I always have it with me.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “I haven’t seen you wearing it.”

  She stood, crossing the room to the small chest holding their meager belongings. “That’s because I only wear it for special occasions—you know that. It’s right…”

  She gasped, trailing off as she opened the little box she kept her bracelet in to find it empty. Her heart began to pound, and she rifled through her clothes, searching for even the slightest flash of silver.

  “It’s gone!” she whispered, her voice strangled. “But I always keep it in this box!”

  Onyx stood, crossing the room. Looming over her, he gazed down, his face hard and brutal. “Did you lose it? Misplace it somewhere, maybe?”

  Her heart pounded in her chest as she continued searching, panic bringing tears to her eyes. She’d always loved that bracelet. Onyx had given it to her before telling her he loved her—a night she always thought of as the greatest in her life. It had belonged to his mother once, so she knew it was special to him. She’d been honored that he wanted her to have it.

  “I don’t know how that could have happened,” she insisted. “I wore it the night of the banquet and then… I swear, I put it back in here.”

  One of his hands tensed into a fist at his side. “Are you sure you didn’t wear it again after that? Maybe it fell off.”

  She stood, running a shaky hand through her hair. “I must have without realizing it. I’m so sorry, honey. I’ll… I’ll find it. I will search this entire station if I have to.”

  His upper
lip curled as he stepped closer, reaching into his uniform’s breast pocket. “There’s no need. It found its way to me.”

  Confusion and hurt tore through her, and her eyes widened when she recognized the piece of gleaming silver in his hand. Why would he torture her like that? She lifted her hands and shoved hard against his chest, anger brimming over and spilling out of her in a rush.

  “Damn it, Onyx! Why would you screw with me like that? It’s not like I lost it on purpose.”

  “Of course not,” he countered. “I’m sure you would have expected your boyfriend to return it to you the next time you visited him, right?”

  “My… my what?”

  “Don’t play stupid, Dia. This was found in Lieutenant March’s quarters… in his bathroom. So, what happened? Did you leave it in there while showering after screwing him?”

  Before she could stop it, her hand shot out toward his face. His head whipped to the side when her palm made contact, cracking across his cheek with a loud and resounding smack. She trembled from head to toe as the tears she’d been holding back finally began to fall.

  “Have you lost your mind?” she asked, her voice rising a few octaves. “How could you accuse me of cheating on you?”

  His jaw hardened, and it seemed the slap had hardly fazed him. “Then explain how your bracelet got in his chambers. Explain why I saw you on Isaias and Ellena’s balcony the other day, holding his hands.”

  Her throat constricted and went dry. “It’s not what you think. I only went over there because he asked for my help. He didn’t want to lose his commission—”

  “And screwing the major’s wife ensures he gets whatever he wants, right?”

  “No!” she cried. “It wasn’t like that!”

  He threw the bracelet across the room and reached for her, his fingers biting into her shoulders. She cried out in pain, but he only held her tighter.

  “Don’t tell me how things are,” he whispered, his voice far more ominous in its quiet. She would have preferred it if he’d screamed at her. “I know how the world is. People smile to my face, and scorn me behind my back. I never thought you’d be one of them.”

  She shook her head, choking back sobs. “You’re wrong,” she murmured. “I love you. I would never—”

  “Stop lying to me! Let’s just be honest with each other for once, Dia. It was fun while it lasted, but maybe you realized marrying me was a mistake. And who can blame you? I’m not even human.”

  “How can you say that? Don’t you know me at all?”

  He shook his head, letting her go. “I thought I did. But now I’m starting to realize that you’re just like the rest of them. I don’t know you.”

  She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and backed away from him. “I don’t know how Lieutenant March got my bracelet, but I swear nothing happened. Please, you have to believe me.”

  “I want to,” he said, turning his back on her. “But you’ve been sneaking around behind my back doing God knows what and I… I can’t.”

  Shaking her head, she turned to leave the room. “Then you can sleep alone tonight. I’m not going to stand here and let you accuse me of something I didn’t do. I love you, but if you can’t trust me, then…”

  She trailed off, leaving it at that. What else was there to say?

  Grabbing a sweater and throwing it on over her pajamas, she stormed from the apartment, forgetting shoes. But she couldn’t turn back. Going back inside to face him now would be too hard. She paused just outside Isaias and Ellena’s chambers, fist poised to knock. At the last second she decided against it.

  Unsure of where she was going, she took off down the hall, blinking back blinding tears.

  Everything was so messed up, but somehow she had to fix it. She’d defied her father to marry Onyx, because she’d known their love was real. It was worth fighting for. Maybe the lieutenant could help her talk some sense into her husband. But first, he had some explaining to do about her bracelet.

  Starting off toward his quarters across the main hub, she hardly noticed the dark shadow trailing her until it was too late. It followed her to the end of the hall and the high glass walkway leading from one side of the hub to the other. Caught off guard, she gasped when a pair of hands reached out at her from the dark and spun her around to face their owner.

  Her jaw dropped when she found herself face to face with her ex-boyfriend.

  “Reid?”

  “Dia,” he slurred. The smell of alcohol was so powerful on his breath, it caused her to gag. Despite his drunkenness, he was strong, clinging to her and trying to wrap his arms around her. “Baby, we need to talk.”

  “Don’t call me that. Let go!”

  She pushed against his chest, writhing in his arms. Their breakup hadn’t been mutual, but she’d thought he’d gotten over it. It had been two years.

  “Please, just hear me out. I know your feelings for me can’t be completely gone. We had something special.”

  She shook her head. “We dated for, like, three months, and it wasn’t even that serious. I’m happily married now, Reid. You need to let the past go.”

  “‘Happily’? You don’t look so happy to me. You’ve been crying.”

  “That’s none of your business. Now let go of me!”

  “I can make you happy,” he mumbled as if he hadn’t heard her. He held her closer, pressing her up against the railing lining the side of the catwalk. “Just give me another chance.”

  Trapped and helpless against him, she couldn’t do much to stop him when he lowered his head and kissed her. She squirmed against him even more, kicking and flailing, but he only pressed her harder against the rail, choking her with his writhing tongue and putrid breath.

  Then, just as suddenly as he’d kissed her, he was gone, his body weight removed from her as if it had been snatched away. Falling to her knees and fighting for breath, she glanced up to realize that he actually had been snatched away—by her husband, who grabbed him by the collar and planted his fist in the middle of Reid’s face, resulting in a gory spray of blood.

  ❦

  Chapter 10

  Isaias dashed across the glass catwalk toward the scene rapidly developing—the moment he’d finally get to watch unfold just as he’d planned. It took everything within him not to laugh hysterically at the sight of Major Onyx pummeling Reid, who was helpless to defend himself in his drunken state.

  “Isaias!” Dia cried, running at him with wide, tear-filled eyes. “Please, help me stop him! He’s going to kill him!”

  Sure enough, the major seemed oblivious to his own actions, let alone the fact that two people witnessed his brutal assault. His dark fist was coated in blood as he drew it back and slammed it into Reid’s face over and over. Blood stained the glass beneath them, and the front of Reid’s shirt.

  “Major!” Isaias cried, running forward and grasping Onyx’s flying fist. “Sir, you have to stop!”

  “Get off of me!” Onyx bellowed, his strength beyond anything Isaias had ever encountered as he threw him off. He grasped Reid by the collar and lifted him to his feet. “Which of you had her first, hm? You or Cronius?”

  Reid couldn’t have answered if he’d tried. He swayed on his feet, his face a bloody, unrecognizable mess.

  “Onyx, stop it!” Dia screamed, throwing herself at him and attempting to pry him off of Reid. “It isn’t what you think! None of this is what you think!”

  He threw her off, sending her reeling into the silver railing.

  “Don’t touch me,” he growled, narrowing his eyes at her. “One man, I might have forgiven you for. But two? You’re a slut, Dia. You’re a dirty little whore, and I wish I’d never met you.”

  Isaias watched as her chin trembled and her chest heaved as sobs welled in her throat. Fixing his face into that practiced look of concern, he stepped forward.

  “Sir, maybe you should go back to your quarters. This has gotten out of hand. We can work this out after a good night’s sleep. No one has to know what happen
ed here.”

  “Mind your business,” Onyx snapped, turning his attention back to Reid. “If you want to help someone, get Cronius as far away from me as possible, because he’s next.”

  “No!” Dia cried, standing up and approaching him again. She reached out to grab his wrist just before he could deliver another blow to Reid.

  “I said, don’t touch me!” he bellowed, pushing her away again, harder this time.

  Dia cried out as she lost her footing, careening back against the rail, arms flailing wildly. This time, her momentum took her up and over the silver beam, and with an inhuman scream of terror, she fell out of sight. A moment later came the sound of breaking glass, another mewl of agony, and then the sickening thud and crunch of impact.

  Onyx’s answering cry was even louder, even more inhuman… even more terrifying as he dropped Reid to the ground and ran to the rail. Leaning over it, he reached down as if to catch her—far too late.

  His voice echoed, its agony like music to Isaias’ ears as he screamed out, “Dia!”

  Isaias stepped over Reid’s prone body and glanced over the railing, his eyes locking on the broken, limp form of Dia Tian below. If at all possible, things had worked out even better than he could have ever planned. What could a man do that was worse than taking a man’s life?

  Taking the one thing he loved most in the world.

  Eyes wide, he turned to meet the major’s gaze. Summoning his most accusatory tone, he narrowed his gaze and shook his head.

  “You killed her.”

  ❦

  She wasn’t dead yet.

  As Onyx knelt beside Dia’s mangled body, he detected the rise and fall of her chest and heavy, wheezing breathing. Sobs tore through him so powerful he could hardly breathe, and tears robbed him of his vision as he gingerly slid one hand beneath her head and lifted it. Blood soaked her hair, wetting his fingers. It trickled from her ears and the corners of her mouth. Her limbs were twisted like a rag doll’s, and her breathing told him she’d probably broken several ribs. She wasn’t dead, but there was no way she’d survive.