Chapter 16
““You know, I’m really disappointed to find both of you with your clothes on.”
Kael’s eyes snapped open. He’d been half-awake and would have sworn the door hadn’t opened.
Shade was leaning against said door, the picture of amused nonchalance.
In Kael’s arms, Wraith groaned and rolled over to face the wall.
“Tom, go kill him and then come back to bed.”
Who the fuck was Tom?
Shade clocked his expression and grinned, all teeth and zero sympathy.
“Come on,” he said quietly. “She’ll sleep for another couple hours at least. And we won’t go far.”
Kael gently untangled himself from Wraith, stretching out kinks as he stood. He didn’t think he’d moved at all. Certainly hadn’t slept much.
He glanced down at Wraith, whose breathing had evened out. He’d never seen her relaxed and fully asleep. Another first.
Shade opened the door and yes, it definitely made a sound opening. Kael stepped through silently. Waited for Shade to shut the door. Then hammered his fist into the man’s face.
“Ow!”
Shade cracked his nose back into position, eyes still watering.
“I deserved that.” Another crack. “Maybe. But hit me again and I won’t tell you who Tom is just to spite you.”
Kael unclenched his jaw, but not his fists.
“You think I care?”
Shade smirked at him, “Oh, yeah.”
Asshole.
“Have a seat.” Shade pulled out a chair, turned it around and straddled it. Flopped over the back to put both elbows on the table and rest his chin on his hands.
It didn’t look comfortable.
Kael released his fingers and pulled the other chair out, angled it to the side. Sat.
“Now, you see that,” Shade told him, “That right there is a massive tell, Major. You’re prepared for a fight, and I know it. Now me? I’m relaxed, I’m chilled. So, when I slit your throat, you’ll never see it coming.”
Kael kept his face neutral, “Nice to see you’re finally paying attention to rank, Lieutenant.”
For a bare second, the shutters dropped on Shade’s eyes, but then he boomed out a laugh.
“Direct hit, Sunshine. And thanks for the reminder. Don’t worry, I won’t make that mistake again.”
There was a sound of feet in the corridor outside, and two hooded cultists brought in water and a mushy porridge. Three bowls.
They didn’t acknowledge either of them. Just put the food down and left.
“Eat,” Shade told him, pulling a bowl towards himself. “It tastes like shit, but beggars can’t be choosers out here.”
Kael took a reluctant bite. Chewed. Swallowed against his better judgment.
“GRIM?” he asked Shade.
“Yep. Mixed with this and that to stretch them out. We found a cache of them. Farming’s not exactly our strong suit.”
General Ration Industrial Meals were universally loathed by anyone who had ever eaten one. Even worse than nutri-cubes, which were otherwise the nutrient source of last resort.
They ate in silence for a while.
“I’m surprised a suit like you knows what GRIM tastes like.”
Kael held his gaze. “Wasn’t always a suit.”
“Interesting, I’m going to have to see what—” he caught himself, “—I can dig up.”
Kael gave him a half-smug smile, and watched as reason drained from the man’s eyes, leaving someone else in charge. He’d seen the same thing with Wraith when she’d had her near-panic attack on the hangar deck.
He needed to tread carefully.
“You clearly wanted to talk, Shade. Or should I call you Zane?”
Or not.
Blue eyes stared at him from somewhere very far away. Then slowly, he seemed to turn human again.
“Only people I’ve snuggled with get to call me Zane. So, what do you say, Sunshine? Wanna cuddle?”
They carried their empty bowls to a small room. Shade dumped his on the counter and nodded for Kael to do the same.
The competition of silence was reaching ridiculous proportions. Kael was about to throw in the towel when Shade spoke.
“Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”
Kael looked back towards the room where Wraith was still sleeping.
“She’ll be fine. Worst case scenario, she wakes up and kills everyone here. More food for the rest of us.”
Kael couldn’t tell if the man was joking. Was very much afraid he wasn’t.
They walked down a corridor and through a door into a large room Kael immediately recognized as a hand-to-hand arena. People milled about. Some sparring, some working out. Some talking in hushed tones.
They didn’t look at them. Not directly. But Kael could feel their regard like static under his skin.
He had no doubt they were absolutely aware of his and Shade’s every move.
“They want to fight you,” Shade told him. “You’re a shiny new toy that everyone wants to play with. Mostly to see who can break you first.”
Kael wondered how much of that was true. Watched the hooded heads follow them through the room, and worried that it hid deeper undertones.
On the far side of the arena, the wall had partially fallen down and beyond it, Kael could see soft dawn light filtering in through gaps in ceiling. Another corridor.
“What was this place?” he asked Shade as they approached.
“You don’t know?”
“Assume I’m ignorant,” Kael told him dryly and was not disappointed with the response.
“But that would be so hard, Sunshine, why, it would practically strain the bounds of credulity.”
“So, what was it?”
“Most recently? A black site. Research base. You know, illegal experiments, off-the-books personnel. No one to mourn the failures. One of yours.”
Kael assumed he meant SID’s. “You’re sure about that?”
“Ha, nice try. You’re not getting all my secrets without at least buying me dinner first.”
“You mean the GRIM porridge didn’t count?”
Shade burst out laughing and stopped in his tracks, holding his ribs. The sound echoed in the corridor and a glance back to the arena showed that people were still looking their way.
“I like you, Sunshine. I can see why Ash does too.” He sobered. “When she doesn’t hate you, at any rate.”
Kael looked at him curiously.
“You Tethered her, Major. After dumping her in a cage and forgetting about her. Do you think she ever forgets that?”
Wraith opened her eyes. Blinked at the wall.
Not her cell. Not her quarters on the Eventide with its weird whispers in the walls. And the color was wrong for a MedWard.
So where?
She rolled over. Looked around.
Let the memories come.
And promptly pulled the thin pillow over her head.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Although at least Helios had been a gentleman enough not to let it come to that. Neither had Zane, for that matter.
Zane. Shade.
In the quiet aftermath of the Silk, she could see him—them—clearly. Fractured. Not quite sane. And quite possibly warped…
Void save him if he was.
And what would she do if… when the Major decided that he needed to bring him back into the SID’s not-so-tender embrace.
A memory shivered through her. Strong arms around her. A gentle kiss on her head. Heart beating like a lifeline beneath her ear.
She closed her eyes, forced calm. That was something she’d be adding to the not thinking about ever list.
She sat up and looked around.
Her head throbbed and her ribs still ached.
If this was hell, it was shittier than advertised.
And also… where the fuck were they?