I hold onto her. My arms shake, but I do not let go. Her wide, damp eyes search my face. Trails of salt streak her cheeks. And a thousand words hang unsaid in the air between us.
“Are you ok?” she rasps, her voice cracking and frayed.
“Fine,” I answer as I scan over her. Her hands are shackled, skin mottled with bruises and cuts, and her feet are bare and bloody. I lower her to the ground and inspect her shackles, searching for a way to release them. But I am distracted by the blood. Her hands are covered in it.
“Where are you injured?” I ask, scanning her body frantically.
“I’m fine,” she insists. “It’s not all mine.” Her eyes flick behind me, and I understand.Sheis the reason for Gaius’s bandaged hand.
I pull her against my chest again, working hard to keep the fear from my voice. “Are you ok?”
She nods, and before I can say anything else, Gaius clears his throat expectantly.
I growl, turning to face the pseudo-king of this shit planet while pulling Amara tight against my side. He is still standing in a puddle of his own piss, gripping his microphone in a shaking hand like it might protect him from me. His lips part, but before he can say a word, I wrap my fingers around a bar of the cage, wrench it free, and throw. The metal projectile impales the microphone, knocking it out of Gaius’s grip and pinning it to the stone wall behind him. Shrill feedback pulses, then silence.
Gaius stares at his empty hand in confusion. Then horror. And like a fearful child, he runs.
Amara’s entire body tenses against my side. Her weightshifts. And I feel the urge roll through her.She is going to chase him.
I move quickly, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her back into my chest. “Not today,” I whisper into her ear.
She spins to face me, and it takes a moment to process what I am seeing. Two black eyes stare up at me. My knees hit the stone as I drop to be level with her. “Amara,” I whisper, staring into the void-like darkness of her eyes, “breathe.”
38
ON OUR OWN
AMARA
“BREATHE,” VEXAR WHISPERS.
I shake my head, pulling against his grip as I watch Gaius disappear into the shadowy passageway. I don’t want to breathe; I want to tear out Gaius’s jugular. He waslaughingwhile Vexar was dying, and I would really, really like to return the favor.He can’t have gotten that far. If I could just…
Vexar turns my face back to his, sliding his thumbs over my cheeks. There’s a deep, calming reverence in his gaze that I want to sink into.
But Gaius is so close.
“Stay with me,” Vexar whispers.
But I…
Choose,a voice whispers in the back of my mind.
Can I even do that?I can hardly think straight. The rage is too much. I need to finish what I’ve started. I need to end Gaius.
Can you live without him?
The question is loud and commanding, and my answer is clear.I can’t.I can’t live without Vexar. Slowly, my fury melts, dripping down my spine and slipping away inthe wind.
“We will come back for him. I promise,” Vexar says.
I let out a heavy breath and nod. “Ok.”
Vexar looks at me with a combination of gratitude and admiration and kisses me. He tastes like pain and sweat and joy, and I don’t want to let go.
“We need to get out of here,” he says against my mouth.
I suck in a sharp breath. “Did you get it?”
