"Then why shouldn't I have been put on a team? Why do they think I'll leave?"
Daniel searched Hamal's face, weighing how much trouble he would get in if he gave it straight. It was obvious that a conversation Hamal shouldn't have heard, hadn’t been properly censored.
"Look, man, I can't tell you."
When Hamal's mouth opened to hurl what would assuredly have been heated threats, Daniel cut him off. "Relax!" His voice dropped to a hushed whisper. "I really would tell you if I could. Ask Kanchi. He might be authorized to talk to you."
Others finally noticed the tension radiating off their table. Daniel didn't need rumors to get out that Hamal was asking questions.
Raising his voice so the cafeteria could hear, Daniel said, "Look, man. I kicked your ass in training fair and square. Don't like it, you'll get another shot after breakfast."
There was a scattering of muffled chuckles and more stares before the atmosphere lightened and heads turned back to their own teams. In the interim, Daniel forced himself to chew and swallow bite after bite until attention on them waned.
Daniel had asked to be put on a team with the new Soldier. Somehow, he'd convinced himself that the one who'd made first contact with the anomaly might have contact again. Being in the same unit was his best chance of crossing paths with her.
It was a decision he questioned every day. He knew better than to fall for a girl, especially a girl like that, and especially a girl like that who had a guy like this with eyes for her. Hamal's memories would come back, even if it took two-hundred years. Daniel had not put himself in a very understanding position for when that time came.
Memory conjured her face, swollen and bleeding after getting bashed into the metal bars of the cage she'd gotten too close to. It was then that he'd realized there was something inside him he'd thought long dead. Seeing her hurt had sparked a frenzy in his core that left him breathless and uncomfortable. Banned from the trip to the Twins' had seen that spark blaze, the ache in his chest too embarrassing to admit, even to himself. But when he’d heard of Hamal’s decision, he’d decided not to step out of the picture.
Afraid his thoughts of her might ignite memory in Hamal, Daniel shut them off to focus on the problem at hand.
Hamal sat relaxed, hands now in his lap. He'd understood the problem Daniel solved with his obnoxious posturing, but his changed demeanor didn't fool Daniel. He knew this wasn't the end of Hamal trying to wring answers from his teammates.
"We're supposed to send you to Kanchi if you start asking questions."
Daniel humphed around another bite of food at Lēza's whispered contribution to the conversation. He'd just said that.
Hamal's eyes tracked to hers. "How many of you know about me?"
Lēza shrugged, shoulders rounding around herself as she realized she should have kept silent.
Nathan's huff of laughter turned Hamal's weighted stare to him.
Nathan was genuinely apologetic. "Look, man, I'm sorry. We really can't say anything."
Hamal pulled his gaze from his teammates to scan the crowded room where the majority of the Soldiers who lived in that compound ate their morning meal. After cycling over the cafeteria a couple of times, his gaze returned to his team.
"So, everyone, then?"
6
Dee was working on listening to the Earth. Pollux said it could be done, he just never bothered to explain how. She was determined to figure it out.
The latest argument between the Twins had left the grounds more quiet than usual. Castor had gone again, leaving Pollux in an even worse mood than last time.
So, she'd been left to herself. Except for her meditation sessions with Asellus, she barely saw anyone else, which was fine with her. She didn't want anything to do with Pollux's war agenda, and Castor's interaction with her had always seemed to have more to do with Pollux's interest than his own.
To pass the time, she attempted to figure out the nuances of the impossible on her own.
Don't try so hard.
The voice in her head seemed so natural she heeded its advice rather than worry at its source. She’d blown out a breath to recenter herself before acknowledging the voice was not her own. Spinning in a slow circle, sword raised in each hand, she tapped her surroundings.
The birds, even the wind, seemed to quiet. While her eyes saw nothing out of place and her ears picked up nothing strange, the sense of something off remained.
To her left was the dark rock of the mountain rising overhead, shielding the field from the sun passing into night. Ahead of her, the flat, sparse grass-field stretched until it hit a one-story structure where smoke billowed from the chimney to send wafts of cooking smells over her. To her right, she looked over the red roofs of Asellus' compound, and to her back was a deep, narrow fissure that descended sharply into the more massive valley perpendicular to it.
There weren't many places for anyone to hide.
As if stepping from some slip in reality, a large, bald male appeared next to a small clump of conifers grasping at life in the high altitude terrain.
Dee stilled, holding his appearance in her periphery where he hadn't been just a moment before. Then, as if he released some hold on his energy, his power crept into her senses. Both familiar and strange, she wasn't afraid of the simmering potential of this new presence, though it dwarfed all she'd felt before.
Whoever this was, without a doubt, he was a Rishi.
Coinciding with his first step, the sound of the world returned so the wind caressing the plain met Dee's ears, as well as the calls of the hornbills that echoed across the valley.
His eyes bore into hers, assessing gaze both questioning and telling, as if he'd known her before and was seeing what differences there were since last they'd met. If they had met, Dee had no recollection of it.
She remained still, tense, swords pointed at forty-five-degree angles from her sides while he continued to glide forward, graceful gait at odds with his commanding frame. Not fat, but thick, no one would mistake him for anything other than powerful. Long, flowing clothes drifted around him, bell sleeves and legs rustling like leaves as the wind pushed against him.
"You." Pollux's voice dripped with malice.
So intent on the newcomer, Dee hadn't noticed the Twin's arrival on the plateau. She didn't turn to him but watched how the stranger reciprocated Pollux's greeting.
The newcomer raised empty hands, palms upwards in a gesture of peace. “Asellus allows me to visit. She remembers that even the black sheep cannot stop being family."
His voice was deep, cultured. Dee found it difficult to pull her eyes from him, and only with effort did she glance back to judge Pollux's reaction to his words.
Through her memory of the Twins' story, she should have recognized that this was Sabik Han. The Ophiuchus.
She wasn't scared or put off by the knowledge, though a part of her wondered if she should be. Even when the Ophiuchus continued closer and Pollux strode forward with quick steps as if to protect her, the twinge of terror made no appearance.
The Ophiuchus stopped to assess Pollux, his arms folded with hands hidden inside the sleeves of his shirt. "Conversation. That is all I seek." His eyes came back to rest on Dee. "I am not the monster they make me out to be."
Dee swallowed hard. As if catching up to the last few seconds, her heart raced and her stomach roiled while her hands gripped her weapons so that her fingers ached.
Pollux's words pushed through gritted teeth before she had a chance to decide for herself. "I can not say what, or who, Asellus allows on her grounds, but I've brought Dee here under the premise of safety. She will not be forced anywhere or with anyone.”
Dee felt the displacement of air, maybe even heard the tiniest sound that suggested movement, but her eyes registered nothing until The Ophiuchus appeared nose to nose with Pollux. As if teleported, the suddenness of it shocked her to stillness.
It took another second for her to interpret what else there was to see: A sword pushed through Pollux's torso,
triangular blade tip a hair’s breadth to the left of the Rishi's spine. She didn't know much about anatomy, but she knew this was the truest of heart blows.
With only a step, she could have reached out and touched the tip of that sword.
She felt a sort of spinning, her throat working convulsively as she fought to swallow. Wanting to step forward, her feet were rooted to the ground.
Time stopped. The only thing allowed its place was the wail in her head that continued on and on, unheeded.
The Ophiuchus' off-hand held Pollux's body upright, but Dee barely noticed that detail as her sight tunneled to the tip of the sword pressing through the cloth of the Twin's shirt.
Slowly, in a feat of strength Dee couldn't recognize at the moment, Han pulled his sword free of the slighter body in a drawn-out motion, all while holding Pollux on his feet. The Ophiuchus' smile was wistful when he locked eyes on the wild, wide-eyed stare of his victim.
Pollux's face was angled so Dee could see the expression forever burned into her memory: Tortured astonishment filled features locked in place.
Dee willed herself to run forward, to help in some way, but all the motion she could manage were the tears cascading down her cheeks.
Sword clear of the body, Pollux dropped unceremoniously to the ground. The Rishi's blood, thick on the metal of the blade, dripped to color the faded green of the grass with its darkening pigment. Dee's eyes stared too long at the growing pool, body continuing to defy her need to respond.
Han let go of his weapon, discarding it haphazardly to kneel next to Pollux’s body, both hands pressed against the wound he'd caused.
Dee could do nothing but watch as blood gushed through the bigger man's bronze fingers, tears falling faster down her face. A sob built in her throat, its release a short sound of anguish that dislodged her feet, so she was able to take a step towards the pair, stopped when the thicker man stood, bringing Pollux with him, so he was again holding the Twin upright.
Dee stared, wide-eyed as Han took a long, shuddering breath, then held it, and held it longer, eyes locked on the dead Rishi's.
With a burst, The Ophiuchus released the air he'd been holding. At the same instance, he shoved the Twin away, pushing Pollux off his feet to fly by Dee in a rush that gusted her clothes. Pollux landed hard when gravity pulled him to the Earth ten meters from his start.
Dee was at his side, forgetting to watch if the Ophiuchus had nefarious plans for her, her fingers checking Pollux for a pulse.
She had just touched his skin when he was on his feet, his fury pushing her back as much as his unexpected movement. Shocked, she watched him stalk back towards the one who'd spared him, outrage mottling his face in an ugly mask.
She might have noticed The Ophiuchus' amused expression, but she was too focused on the spontaneous resurrection.
These Rishis really were immortal. Hearing a thing and knowing a thing and experiencing a thing were all different things. This thing had her mouth hanging open, her mind shut down like some idiot mute.
Her terror escalated to DEFCON scariest.
The Ophiuchus put a hand up, a gesture that stopped the Twin in his tracks. "Just a little reminder."
Dee watched, unable to shake her stunned demeanor. She didn’t think she could get more shocked until Pollux obeyed Han’s command to stand down. Rather than attack, Pollux turned his head and spat.
The Ophiuchus chuckled. "I thought you'd be appreciative that I didn't make you writhe in the agony of your own healing."
Pollux spat again.
Asellus' presence in the yard interrupted. "Sabik, I am patient about a great many things, but let's not test that boundary."
The Ophiuchus bowed low, hands out, palms up. "Your will, Miya."
Dee was still on her knees in the grass, mind not comprehending all that had happened, unsure whether she should get up, or stay quiet to not garner their attention.
Asellus solved her dilemma when she moved to Dee's side and offered a hand. Dee accepted it absently, eyes pinned to the bald male whose presence continued to push against her. Their gaze locked, and that same feeling of familiarity fell around her. That, and a sense she should be with him, rather than these others who seemed more keen on playing their games than considering what might be best for her.
-Careful now. This one won't be any better. Don't let his Jedi mind tricks fool you.-
Dee allowed Asellus to lead her inside. "That's The Ophiuchus, isn't it? What is he doing here?"
Sabik Han is a healer. He is also the greatest of us, and Pollux needed reminding of both.
Dee's sarcasm flowed smoothly through the silent communication. Or he was showing off.
A nod conceded the point.
Dee wasn't sure what to make of the fact that Asellus agreed with Hans' display of power. She most definitely didn't know what to think about the idea that the matron invited him here. That he showed up coincidentally at the same time she was there seemed too—
-Coincidental?-
7
Dee sat, spine rigid, concentrating on the smell of the wood burning in the stove rather than the new Rishi whose proximity threatened to steal her attention.
The Ophiuchus' presence was how Dee imagined a black hole might be. From afar, you could gaze in wonder at the majesty and destructive nature of the thing, but up close, the event horizon would override any control, sucking you to your doom.
Curious awe fast faded to annoyance. She didn't like his effect on her. She had enough trouble maintaining a modicum of control over her life, she didn't need this new twist to muck things up even more.
From some magnetic pull she couldn't break, her gaze met his, and she found herself pinned motionless.
Her dread over this reaction to him spiked, adrenaline surging in an electric wave even as that unknown perception of familiarity weakened her resolve on the matter. A piece of her screamed to pull her eyes away even as curiosity had her maintain eye-contact.
Pollux's hand on her shoulder assisted in drawing her back, her face turning with a jolt when she felt his touch.
A grateful smile graced her lips. It's not just me?
He's a force. Even I wouldn't suggest otherwise.
The tension that thickened the air went unheeded by Asellus. Folded in the chair between Pollux and Han, her demeanor was that of a mother happy the family was back together after years apart.
Pollux wouldn't ignore the elephant in the room, even if his hostess seemed to want to. "Why is he here? Where's Castor?"
Flashes of Pollux standing with a sword through his heart, followed by the projected images of Castor's death at The Ophiuchus' hand spilled a fresh dose of adrenaline through Dee. The lilt in Pollux's voice suggested he’d been reminded of the same thing.
The tension from Pollux, juxtaposed with the cool pull of Han, sizzled over Dee. Her leg bounced with nervous energy. Pushing her attention into keeping still only distracted her.
She realized everyone's attention was on her.
-You're not going to sit here like that scared little girl you were a few weeks ago, are you? Show them you have the right to your own life.-
Unable to hold her fidgeting energy, incited by her inner-voice, she stepped away from the chairs towards the window, three pairs of eyes pegged to her back. Staring into the darkening landscape, she tried to bring her thoughts to a cohesive point.
As curious as she was to why The Ophiuchus was here, she wasn't sure she wanted to hear the reason just yet. Whatever he had to say was sure to rile up Pollux, and she couldn't handle another incident between the two. More and more, her presence brought up old feuds between the Master’s and she didn’t want anything to do with that. She just wanted them to let her go back to her life. Couldn’t they see she was no threat to them?
She turned to the trio. "I think I need to talk to Zosma."
The silence turned vacuum. She'd expected alarmed outrage. Their paranormal stillness was worse. She shuffled her feet, backing up until the coolness of
the window pressed against her.
It was the Twin who broke the silence, his reserved tone not masking his annoyance. Once Zosma has you, he won't let you out of his grasp. I know you want answers, but it can't be like this.
Then how can it be? She surprised herself with her quick response, glad she hadn't overthought asking the question. She'd grown fearful of Pollux over the past weeks, but she couldn't heed that now. Her fear would only tangle her further. She needed to act beyond it.
We'll figure something out. We'll find a way to get answers without risking you to him.
If she wasn't used to his quick jumps in personality, she might have given in to the look in his eye that suggested some feeling for her. But it was too similar to what she'd seen from him at their first meeting when they'd danced at the restaurant in São Paulo. It was only curiosity over the new toy. A manipulation technique to keep her pliable. Flattery at its worst. She’d fallen for it once. She wouldn’t now.
If we could do that, why haven't we done that?
The Ophiuchus maintained a neutral expression of study while Pollux worked on an argument to convince Dee to change her mind.
"Why not call on Zibanitu to ask for a Tribunal?" Asellus interrupted.
This broke The Ophiuchus from his relaxed posture, his eyes moving off of Dee for the first time since entering the room. "That might be a spectacular idea if I wouldn't be excluded from such a thing."
Asellus patted his hand. "Maybe if you made an effort."
The bigger man stood in a rush of discontent that was gone as fast as it manifested. Dee wondered at his reaction that Asellus’ comment would override his stoic mask.
She shook the thought away. It didn't matter. She didn't care. She only needed what would extricate her from this strange world.
Han regained control of himself. “We are not here to discuss old grievances. I am here to speak to the one who has caused such a stir."
Han hadn't moved. He wasn't even facing her, but still, Dee felt him press against her, breathing down her neck in a caress that excited her in a way she couldn't explain. Not sexual. More a kind of eagerness one might get for a new adventure, or when an unexpected gift arrived.
We Are Forever (Rishi's Wish Book 2) Page 5