The next coherent moment she had, Zosma was at her side, helping her back to her feet from where she’d staggered to her knees.
“Steve is alive? And Ray?”
Her questions were breathless, words directed at no one and everyone.
In a more observant portion of her mind, Dee noticed her Shadows had taken a step closer, Fera and Subra close enough they would have helped her if Zosma hadn’t taken the initiative himself.
“They were the last time we checked in on them.” There was something in Regina’s tone Dee couldn’t interpret.
Dee used Zosma as a support to get to her feet, but her attention was all on Regina. “When was that?”
Regina’s eyes flickered to Zosma’s before returning to Dee’s face. “It has been some time.”
“You know where they are, though? I could see them?”
Zosma walked Dee to her chair. “It might not be a good idea just yet.”
Dee’s eyes bore into his, a look of such disappointment on her face he could do nothing less than placate her.
He sighed. “I suppose we could arrange—” he trailed off as he locked gazes with Regina.
They shared a nod before Regina turned her attention to Dee. “Yes, just let us figure out the details. You’ll be able to see your friends again.”
15
Hamal wasn’t embarrassed to admit his excitement.
They’d been called out for a real mission. It wasn’t often that Soldiers, whose Masters maintained a tenuous truce, received an assignment that wasn’t just some elaborate exercise. That Hamal was on the team called was doubly exciting. He was so new, he shouldn’t have been assigned to a mission for decades.
“Wow, man, you really are, like, the golden child.”
Hamal wasn’t sure what Daniel’s comment meant but was in too good a mood to let it bring him down.
Now on the ground, two layovers from their original destination, their exhaustion from travel was held at bay by their excitement. The details of their mission would be explained in short order. That they’d arrived at Zibanitu’s primary residence made it more exciting. According to Daniel, most Soldiers never saw this place.
Hamal wanted to ask if he’d known this place before he’d lost his memories, but with Kanchi close enough to overhear, he decided against it. Lēza might know, but she wouldn’t talk. Daniel was too good at hiding what he thought for Hamal to think he’d get answers from that one. Nathan was his best bet, but whether any of them might finally let slip information about his past, it wouldn’t be until much later.
Hamal was amped enough not even this could ruin his mood. He bounced on the balls of his feet, itching to see who, or where, they would watch and guard. It was the only assignment that made any sense, given their location, so he’d all but convinced himself that’s what it would be.
Guard duty.
He didn’t mind the lackluster assignment. Any assignment was better than more of the same nothingness. He didn’t mind all the training, but a real task made all that time worth it.
Kanchi ordered them into the tunnel with a sharp glare. Lead into the concrete tube, they followed the narrow corridor under the property and to the Soldier barracks buried out of sight. No glance or scan would determine how many might be there at any given time.
“Alright, let’s get freshened up. We have a meeting with the Rishi at 1910.”
Every eye turned to Kanchi, including the second, larger team who’d been stowing their gear when Hamal’s team arrived.
Hamal whispered to Daniel, “That’s not normal, is it?”
“That is very not normal.”
Kanchi’s disapproving look silenced any more chatter. “I expect silence and crispness and no. Fucking. Talking. You do not get to ask questions, even questions that might further your understanding of the mission. You do not get to sneeze, cough, or make any sound.”
Nathan raised his hand, talking before he’d been acknowledged to speak, “What is the mission, Sir?”
Kanchi’s weighted gaze pushed Nathan’s head back into his shoulders. The answer was clear: They’d find out as soon as they found out.
Hamal wasn’t sure what he’d expected the Rishi to look like. Whatever it was, the lanky, marble-skinned man who strode in from a side door, wasn’t it. But as soon as Zibanitu turned his gaze to him, he knew what power felt like. All he wondered after taking that gaze was: Why did someone like him need Soldiers at his command? He’d be able to take over the world on his own. Of that, Hamal had no doubt.
“It is not often that something dear to me is threatened. It is not often I call in reinforcements to protect what is mine. That I am now should expound on how serious I take this. It should go without saying that this is an assignment worth your life.”
The Rishi paused for dramatic effect, and it worked. Every Soldier sat straighter, empowered their existence would play an essential role in what would come. With bated breath, they waited to hear the specifics of their task.
“There is a possibility, while slight, that my brethren will attempt to beat down the doors and take my guest. A few have even manipulated this guest into thinking it would be in their best interest to not be here. Under no circumstances are any of you to let this happen. You train hard. You train strong. You train smart. For that, you are the best of the best. For that, I expect my guest to be entirely secure at all times.”
He scanned the room to meet each eye in turn—did he hold Hamal’s just a little longer than the rest?—before nodding to Kanchi. The room stared after him, a moment of silence marking his passing before all eyes returned to their chief.
“Twenty-four seven surveillance over the person of interest. Teams of three will be in the suite at all times, including those times when said person isn’t present. Seven will be posted in staggered rotating shifts outside the room. The Rishi has tasked other teams to tighten security on the entirety of the premises.”
Kanchi scanned the room. Hamal and his team knew the Chief well enough to understand this was his way of asking if there were any questions.
“Who is this person-of-interest, sir?”
Hamal was glad it was someone from the other team who’d asked. They were all thinking it, but if any of Kanchi’s group had voiced the question, they would have received a scathing look as their only answer.
If I didn’t tell you, I don’t know or don’t want you to know. Hamal heard the words echo in his head as he watched them flash across the chief’s face. Whether because it was a new team he headed or some other parameter he’d been given, Kanchi bit back his typical remark.
“That is the question of the hour, isn’t it? I was told the specifics of said person are irrelevant, so I will say the same to you. We’ll all find out together when they arrive.”
16
You’ll be able to see your friends again.
The thought both terrified and excited her. One minute, elation that her friends were alive had her soaring, the next, homicidal visions sent enraged energy burning through her.
Her initial excitement that she hadn’t watched herself kill her friends cooled over the course of her walk back to her room. The audacity of her hosts took front seat in her thoughts, so the rage she’d thought buried stoked higher.
It was Zosma’s fault, his interference that forced her friends to do the unthinkable. She shouldn’t have to be thankful that she hadn’t killed her friends. She should never have been there. They should never have been there.
But, Steve was alive!
As unjust as it all might be, this was cause for celebration. Over a year, plus whatever time lost to memory, she’d thought him dead, thought them all dead. Even her rage couldn’t stop this good news from encapsulating her in warm thoughts.
That Steve and Ray were responsible for her involvement in the experiment, she refused to believe. Coercion explained their role. The look on Steve’s face as he’d stared over her unconscious form was burned into her brain. It wasn’t a face that had wante
d this to happen to her.
She needed to watch the video with audio. She wanted to know what Steve and Ray talked about over the weeks and months she’d been unconscious.
Back in her room, she tried the closest source of information. “DOT? Do you know if Kim—I mean, the other subject who was with me in the lab, survived?”
“Access to those records is currently closed to you, Desiree. My apologies. I will inform the Rishi that you desire access.”
“No, no. It’s okay. I only wanted to know that one thing. I’ll ask the Rishi later. Thanks, though.”
“Of course, Desiree. Would you like me to start your playlist?”
“Um, sure. But please keep the volume low.”
“Of course, Desiree. Would you like me to run a bath for you?”
“Not just now, thanks.”
Finding out, in gruesome detail, what happened to her hadn’t eased her anxiety. She’d thought that every answered question would be a rung on the ladder that lead her out of this mess. That wasn’t how things were working out.
Goosebumps rose across her skin when she thought of that thing that had ravaged the lab. It had torn one Soldier’s head from his shoulders, killed so many others. And it was a thing. It wasn’t her, couldn’t be her. How could she have that thing buried inside her?
Yet, the evidence couldn’t be denied.
Slowing her breaths, she reached inside herself with that power Pollux called tapping, poking timidly to see if she might find the rabid creature lying dormant inside her. Before she could probe too deep, DOT announced that Zosma and Regina were waiting for her.
Subra and Fera escorted Dee to a large conference room, complete with long, black lacquered table, comfortable executive chairs, and wall of television screens. One of those screens projected the image of someone Dee had never met, his marbled skin distracting from the stern look on his face.
“If what you say is true, you have nothing to fear.”
Dee walked into a conversation well underway, the stranger’s parting remark all she heard before the connection terminated.
Regina put a reassuring hand on Zosma’s arm before she turned to Dee.
The tension in the air was thick, brokering more nervous tension in Dee’s posture.
Zosma’s lips pressed in a tight line, but his face softened when he met Dee’s eye, a brief reprieve before a fresh wave of rage filled his face.
He turned away to pace around the table. “He’s loving every second of this. He thought he was clever, sending Hamal in to undermine me. Now, this.”
Dee’s heart stuttered at the mention of Hamal, her eyes following the Rishi, forcing patience that he would explain some new development.
DOT’s voice interrupted. “Rishi, he is allowed to do this based on the parameters given by the collective.”
Zosma’s steps halted, and he looked to the ceiling, mouth open for what would assuredly be a scathing comeback. Regina stepped towards him, voice gentle but commanding. “Now, Love, let’s think of how to deal with this. We can rant and rave later.”
His eyes narrowed. He turned his attention to his partner, lips pressed together against the rebuke of Regina’s sense. He took a breath through his nose before turning back to Dee, who continued to wait for an explanation. The line of his lips morphed to a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Yes, let’s not forgot all that we’ve gained.
“I would have liked for things to be told organically. For you to assimilate with us and find for yourself that you want the life we offer. Our last wish is to force things on you you’re not ready for. Unfortunately, not all is under our control.”
He came around the table, pulled a chair for her, then took the seat next to her, so they faced each other. “We know you’re angry. It was insensitive of us to think you wouldn’t be. For that, we apologize, but we want to stress how important you are. To us. That you are something we’ve hoped and wished and planned for for centuries. Your life, the one you lost when we brought you to us—”
His words broke off. He looked up to Regina. Dee followed his gaze to find tears in his partner’s eyes.
He turned back to Dee. “Desiree, it was not with malicious intent that we stole you. Yes, horrible things were done, but it was only out of ignorant blindness for our cause.”
Dee didn’t know what to say. Was he really suggesting their behavior, and the behavior they forced in others, all the lives they’d destroyed, was acceptable in the face of their need?
Even as her mind seethed this point, Asellus’ voice echoed in her head of anger’s futility. Dee had accepted what she’d become. She’d admitted that she liked it. This anomaly, the term Daniel and she had laughed over, wasn’t something she would give up. Did this point take away her right to be mad at what had brought her here?
She closed her eyes, Asellus’ voice in her head telling her to detach from the emotional to judge what was real. Amalthea’s way of needing to see, rather than hear, forcing her to filter her experiences rather than depend on the rumor and conjecture she’d heard at every turn since Hamal had blasted a Revenant’s head off in the forest of her tiny hometown.
With forced calm wrapping tenuous tendrils around her, she opened her eyes. “What you’ve done, the people you’ve destroyed, that can never be okay.”
Zosma’s eyes filled with worry, but he remained still, patience allowing her to finish her thought.
“What that means for the present—” Dee shrugged. “It seems there’s nothing to be done except move forward. I can rage and pout about the injustice of it all. I can tell you both to go to hell, but where would that leave any of us?”
-Are you crazy?!-
She went still, surprised by the force of this inner-ego who didn’t agree with letting go of her vengeance. But she wanted a life. She wanted to live. She wasn’t willing to destroy herself in her quest to crush those who’d made her this way. Not when she wouldn’t give it back.
She relaxed back in her chair. “I would very much like to stay here, but it sounds like there are others who have something to say about that.”
Zosma’s worried expression morphed to joy, and Regina hugged Dee from behind.
Dee closed her eyes, allowing the lie that everything would be okay to chase all others away.
17
Zosma’s anger filled the space with crackling energy. Dee resisted the urge to wipe her palms against her pants, not wanting to draw attention to herself. Regina’s hand lay on Zosma’s arm, her stance just in front of him, hips turned towards him even as she spoke to the delegation they were forced to receive. Dee wondered if Regina’s hand on the Rishi’s arm was all that stood between the inception of war.
“She came here of her own volition. You can’t expect us to allow you to take our guest.” How Regina managed to maintain an even tone, Dee didn’t know.
-We could help push this to violence.-
As much as she might love to start a fight with the arrogant female who’d shown up to take Dee away, it wasn’t her place to decide. Instead, she held back, mimicking the neutral stance of her Shadows, whose looming presence flanked her.
After twenty minutes of scathing back-and-forth banter, Dee still had not been formally introduced. In that time, Dee knew she wouldn’t like the Rishi who’d come to collect her for Zibanitu. Porrima’s self-righteousness battled Zosma’s anger for control of the room. The squat woman maintained a position surrounded by the, now weaponless, retinue she’d entered with. Her fear of those she challenged was evident in this posturing, even as her tone pretended otherwise.
Dee couldn’t help but grin at the observation.
Porrima’s return statement dripped derision. “Zibanitu will sort that out. There are too many crying foul for us to ignore the situation.”
The pressure in the room increased.
Dee tensed.
Her Shadows stood taut.
Regina repositioned herself directly in front of Zosma easing enough of the strain
they all breathed easier.
From her position behind and to the side of Zosma, Dee could see the thin line of his lips pressed together, so only a streak of white marred his face. If he’d had the gift of killing with a look, there would be only bodies left in front of him.
Regina’s diplomatic tone, neither angry nor placating, said, “Zibanitu has no jurisdiction over the girl.”
Porrima smiled, a curling of lips that projected her disdain for both the words and bearer of them. “I think it was Zosma’s own admission that allowed Zibanitu his jurisdiction. Did you not claim to be her creator? This admits tampering to an extent we swore against. You’re lucky he hasn’t taken control of this whole place, of your entire House.”
Zosma’s queen took a step forward before reining herself under control. A wave of fidgeting moved over the room as everyone shifted, responding to the threat in the air. Dee forced a breath through her nose, filling her lungs to prepare for a possible fight. She felt Subra and Fera do the same.
“Am I up on charges of some kind?”
Porrima tilted her head downward, eyes flashing over Regina’s shoulder to the patriarch with savage glee. “Your judicature will come, but that is not why I am here.”
Zosma stepped beside Regina, tone a brittle calm. “Porrima, as flattering as it is that our illustrious leader sent his most prized lackey to dictate to us, we really must decline.”
The Rishi gave a mock bow, and Dee envisioned the gleeful mockery in his face as he dismissed the messenger.
Porrima’s face lit with untamed ferocity, and it was her turn to forget herself. She stomped forward, leaving the sanctuary of her entourage for the first time. “You will release her. She will come with me, now, and you will finally pay for your pride.”
Porrima’s Soldiers tensed, hands flexed towards weapons they no longer carried. Dee watched their eyes dart about the room nervously, eyeing the much more extensive presentation of Zosma’s people.
We Are Forever (Rishi's Wish Book 2) Page 12