by S King
“What the fuck happened to you?” Emric appeared from the copilot window and looked down on me as I limped my way to the cargo bay of the Citlail. I didn’t have time to wonder about how he woke up so fast from the sucker punch, that would have to wait.
“The better question is why were you meeting with Somsang!” I fell into the metal flooring of the aircraft as Eikko popped his head out from the pilot seat.
“Oh shit!” Forgetting that he was supposed to be getting us out of here, he ripped the safety straps from his body and rushed to my side.
“Damn it!” Hard pings from the windshield told me that Somsang and his goons had found out about mine and Emric’s escape. Leaving us very little time to take off the right way.
The Citlail jerked upward and blasted past the historian building I had just escaped out of as Eikko ripped his shirt off and tied the thing around my thigh.
Without meaning to, I punched him in the arm from the pain of the pressure being put on my bullet wound.
“That hurts!” I snapped still clutching my side and clenched my teeth.
Eikko narrowed his eyes at me for a moment before tying the shirt tighter around my leg, “I’m trying to help you, Ostana, the least you could do is be grateful for that.”
“Irrelevant,” I used his own word against him and turned to look at the silver blood still pouring out of my side. The bright side, if there was one, at least they didn’t use an Eyno blade on me or else I would be dead.
“What were you doing there, Ostana?” Emric snapped, jerking the Citlail out of the historian district and toward the military district.
“What were you doing there?” I countered through clenched teeth.
“Trying to get answers. The Parlan Playboy’s assistant wasn’t too forthcoming with information either.”
“Parlan Playboy?” Eikko looked at me with a raised brow.
“You,” I shook my head and tried to sit up, “what did you find out?”
Emric glanced over his shoulder at me and took a deep breath, “he’s after something, or someone, here in Padrieg that’s going to make him a lot of money because someone,” he shot Eikko a pointed look, “isn’t paying him enough.”
“Hey! I pay him what he’s worth, ok?”
“Then you tell me why your assistant is hell bent on finding whatever it is he’s looking for at any and everyone’s expense?”
Eikko couldn’t say anything because like he had told me, he didn’t handle his finances. Somsang did. For a moment I felt bad for him but at the same time, I was shot and Emric could’ve been killed. Whatever he wasn’t paying Somsang, the other man was going to get one way or the other.
My mind began to cloud with blackness as I tried to focus on what I needed to do when I got sewed up; Theodora really was missing now and Somsang was after something in the Padrieg society that he wasn’t going to let go of so easily.
“The first thing we need to do is…” unconsciousness dragged me down to the nothingness of my mind and forced me to close my eyes.
When I came to, I had to rub my eyes to adjust to the drone lighting in the room. The sun was just beginning to break over the horizon and the silence of the infirmary room was suffocating but I kept reminding myself that I was alive when I shouldn’t be.
Grabbing the medical handheld, I read my report on what had happened when I was taking a beauty nap.
Two surgeries to get the bullets out, seven skin graphs to make the scars disappear and a repair on my communication device. I remembered hitting my head against the rail when I got shot the second time which explained why I had heard a faint beeping in my ear when I was running to the Citlail.
I reread the report until I knew everything like the back of my hand before I was satisfied. Setting the handheld down on the side tray and stopped as I caught sight of Eikko slumped in the chair next to the solitaire window.
His normally perfect blue-black hair was standing on end and dark crescent moons were hugging under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept in dana. The suit he was wearing was wrinkled and in desperate need of a wash and fluff. He was dangerously handsome even in his current position; in the back of my mind, I admitted that I could just watch him sleep for a few more sati. Unfortunately, he started moving around and forced me to lay back and pretend that I was asleep.
The door opened and the smell of peppermint hit me. My grandmother’s signature perfume filled the small room as she crossed the floor. Even with my eyes closed I could tell that she was staring at Eikko.
“You need to go back to Ostana's domicile and get some sleep, Mr. Kangho.”
Eikko grunted, moving around in the hard chair, “I’m fine, Ms. Shaye.” He hit her with the same official tone that she had with him. Cute.
“What’s your end game in all of this?” Othala wasn’t one to let her emotions get out of hand, but at the moment, she was irritated, and I didn’t know why.
“Excuse me?”
“Your end game. What is it?” She repeated.
“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” the chair scraped against the floor before his steps came closer to me.
“Emric told me about your dispute in the corridor, Mr. Kangho. It would be wise not to lie to me, so I’ll ask you a final time.” Her boots clicked across the floor, only to stop a few steps away from my bedside, “what is your end game?”
Silence filled the infirmary room between the two of them while the tension reached a breaking point.
Finally, Eikko said, “I’m just trying to get home, Ms. Shaye. I don’t want to be here anymore than anyone else wants me here. But given the current situation, that’s not really an option. Is it?”
My heart shattered at his admission; what he had told Emric was nothing more than what I had originally thought. He was just trying to get under the other man’s skin, and he was successful to the point that my grandmother was becoming protective over me.
At the very least, I knew the truth and could put my stupid fantasies through the inferno that raged in my mind. It was nothing more than a ploy and there was nothing left to say on the matter.
I couldn’t continue to pretend that I was asleep, knowing that Eikko couldn’t stand to be in Padrieg. In my domicile. With me anymore than anyone else wanted him here.
Opening my eyes, I looked around the infirmary, careful to avoid Eikko’s pink eyes. Meeting my grandmother’s gaze, I could tell that she had known that I was awake since she walked into the room. In her own way, she was just trying to help me.
“How are you feeling?” She sidled up next to the bed and grasped my hand in hers.
I smirked, “I’ll feel better when I get back to the training arena.”
“You can afford to miss a few days,” Eikko whispered from my other side.
For one reason or another I couldn’t stop myself from saying, “the faster I recover, the faster I can get you back to Parlan.”
He actually had the nerve to look like my words had hurt him; those rose-pink eyes had begun to darken with the dark purple flecks slowly bleeding through until there was nothing but left of the gentle pink.
“She has a point,” Othala agreed, absently looking at the heart machines. “I’m going to get the doctor, to see when you can be released.” And I wondered where I got my resilient nature from.
The woman could’ve been in my position and she wouldn’t hesitate to just leave the infirmary and start her own recuperating regimen.
As the thought sprang to my mind, I stared at the tubes coming out of my arms. I’d need the pain medicine long enough to get my protein health drink, but I had just enough anger running through me to make it back to my domicile. I would be fine, I told myself.
With my mind made up, I started pulling the tubes from my arms and stopped the bleeding before it could get out of control.
“What’re you doing?” Eikko stood up from his chair and looked at me like I had lost my mind.
“Leaving,” gritting my teeth together, I swung my legs from the be
d and stood up.
He jumped toward me as I started stumbling, “Ostana.”
“I’m fine,” I snapped, ripping my arm from his grip. I didn’t need his help and I wasn’t going to accept it even if he had offered. If anything, my pride was more hurt than my feelings; I knew better than anyone that Eikko and I couldn’t be together, but that didn’t stop the sting from slicing through my heart.
My grandmother came in with Physician Caleum standing behind her and eyed me, “what’re you doing?”
One thing was for sure, I was getting tired of everyone asking me what I was doing when it was clearly obvious.
“I’m leaving. I have things that need to be sorted out,” I looked around the room for my clothes as all eyes continued to follow me.
“Major Shaye,” Caleum started before catching sight of Eikko standing to the side of me.
Snatching my clothes from the hidden compartment by my bed, I gave the physician a warning look. “We’re not going to do this again, Caleum.” Getting dressed under the infirmary gown had become somewhat symbolical when I got hurt, I thought to myself as everyone pinned me with worried glares.
Caleum sighed in agitation, his sandstone eyes burning, “you need to give your body time to recover, Major. That isn’t going to happen within a few dana.”
“I just need a health drink and I’ll be fine.”
“You sustained some serious injuries—”
“That you fixed,” I pointed out, tossing the gown on the bed and braced my weight on my good leg. I couldn’t make an argument about getting out of here to the top physician and fall all over the place.
“My point is, you need time to recover and if you go back to your domicile now, that isn’t recovering. It’s overestimating your ability to recover properly beyond the point of no return.”
What he was saying made sense, I knew it did, but at the same time I wasn’t going to lay bedridden and have Eikko staring at me the entire time. He needed to go back to Parlan, and I needed to move on with my life. Plain and simple.
My grandmother raised a questioning brow at me as she stayed silent. I was the younger version of herself and we both knew it.
I clenched my fists to stop focusing on the pain in my leg and stood tall in defiance, “I will be fine, physician Caleum, I’m leaving regardless what you say. So, thank you and pleasant skies.” Without breaking my act of perfect health, I walked past him and out of the infirmary with Othala following behind me at a sedate pace with Eikko to her side.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” he mumbled to her.
“Do you want to go home or not?” As usual, Othala didn’t break the business tone of her voice just because we were out of earshot from the physician.
“Of course, but Ostana—”
“Is fine all she needs is to eat and drink down the health liquid that comes with her meal. She’s the only one that can get you back home and she can’t do that if she’s in an infirmary bed.”
Even I had to flinch at the sharp words coming from her mouth; apparently, my grandmother had more resentment for the Parlan man than I had originally thought. Slowly, I was beginning to understand where the frustration was coming from. Yet, it wasn’t Eikko’s fault. It was partly Somsang’s fault and Eikko’s brother and stepmother.
“Welcome home Major Shaye,” the holographic Parlan woman smiled at me as she appeared next to my front door.
“Thanks,” I grumbled, finally able to collapse into the wall and let out the breath I had been holding in since leaving the infirmary.
The pain in my leg and waist had spiked to the point of tears erupting from my eyes, but I’d be damned if I started crying now.
“Make sure you drink the health mix, yeah?” Othala helped me into the kitchen and spotted me as I fell into the chair just as the delivery compartment beeped with a notification that my meal was ready.
“I will,” I grabbed mine and Eikko’s tray and drinks, “I’ll get ahold of you later.”
She smoothed my hair back before leaving without saying anything else.
Eikko sat down in the seat across from me and sighed as he looked at me. “How much of the conversation did you hear between me and your grandmother?”
I stabbed my straw into the cup and glanced at him, “all of it. Good to know the truth after two tjedan.”
“What?”
“Weeks,” I snapped, drinking down the frothy pink liquid before eating everything on my plate and tossing the tray in the recycling compartment.
“Ostana,” he stood up and raked his fingers through his hair, “the animosity here is unbearable. Seeing you hurt because of me is something that I can’t deal with. It would just be better if…if I go home.”
“That’s what I plan on doing, getting you home.” I limped my way from the kitchen after tossing a halfhearted godnat to him over my shoulder.
Slowly, my leg and waist were beginning to feel better and with a few sati of sleep, I’d be as good as new.
Laying down in my bed, I stared at the ceiling; in the jutro I’d go to the military airbase and find out what the status of the Citlails and the Magdolonians were. If I were really lucky, I could talk Orrie into coming with me to Parlan and finding Theodora. Maybe I could even drop Eikko off and I could go back to my life and he to his.
Rolling over on my side, I clutched one of the full-sized pillows to me; if I imagined hard enough, I could pretend that whatever Eikko and I had was real and instead of the pillow, my arms would be wrapped around him.
I closed my eyes, letting my imagination carry me to a dreamland that was nothing more than a sweet illusion of my subconscious.
Chapter 15 Drowned in Me
I opened my eyes, staring at the spiral ceiling; the pain from my injuries had ebbed to nothing but a dull ache. Swinging my legs from the bed, I went to the shower and quickly got cleaned up before pressing my communicator to get ahold of Orrie.
“Major, you ok?”
I ripped the hard brush through my blonde locks and shrugged, “a little aches and pains. Nothing unusual. Listen,” I tied my hair up into a bun, stopping short as I stared at my skin. “What the…”
“What’s wrong?”
Something was different about my face. I had a glow radiating from the inside out, the small bags under my eyes were gone, and my complexion was just as beautiful as Theodora’s. I didn’t go to bed looking exactly like my twin and now here I was standing in front of the mirror looking like I had gotten one of those facial things that Eikko, Somsang and Theodora were raving about.
“Major?” Orrie sounded more worried than before.
“I’ll call you back in a minute,” I disconnected the communication and went to my closet. “What the fuck?”
Looking at my closet I couldn’t do anything but stare. Gone were my combat boots, compression shirts, cargo pants. Replaced with flowing pants, thin strapped shirts, jeans, dresses. “Oh no, no, no, no.” I grabbed a pair of the flowing pants, a shirt that revealed more cleavage than I cared to have and a pair of sneakers.
Storming from my room and into the kitchen, I found Eikko sitting at the table eating his chicken, rice, and kale.
“What did you do to my closet?”
He glanced at me before shrugging, “since Somsang was free to come and go. I told him to pick you up some new things and I put a face mask on you when you were sleeping because you’d lost some color with all of this stress and your injuries.”
“Who gave you the right to do that?” I snapped.
He slammed his fork down and stared at me with glowing purple eyes, “I was trying to do something nice for you! Since it seems that I can’t get a word in edgewise with anyone here.” He raked his fingers through his hair and pointed at my stomach, “you got shot because I had trusted the wrong person and I could never forgive myself for that, but I can attempt to show you how grateful I am for allowing me to stand by you in your time of need.” He scoffed, shaking his head with a defeated smirk playing on his
lips, “but it looks like I didn’t do that right either.” Tossing his try into the recycling incinerator, he fell silent.
“Eikko—”
“No, you’ve made yourself perfectly clear. Consider the point taken,” he brushed past me, going to his room and slammed the door to his room.
“Please refrain from damaging the property,” a holographic Parlan woman appeared outside of his door, smiling at the barrier.
I felt like a jackass for snapping his head off when he wasn’t doing anything but trying to make me feel better. Sinking into my chair at the table, I pressed my communicator and stared at my meal.