“He doesn’t want anything bad to happen to you. Though he seems to be under a lot of outside pressure to get you to cooperate.”
Was that why he had been so kind to me when I had woken up alone with him? Why was he acting so differently now? I assumed the other bed in the room meant that he was still sleeping near me for some reason.
Didn’t they have cameras, sensors, and alarms to supervise a patient? I would have expected any infirmary to possess such a basic system, regardless of the supervising species.
Trusting that Vowels was right about Tori being a human, I reached for her outstretched hand. Clearly, she was the friendliest out of the three and seemed to genuinely want to give me a welcoming first impression.
All three sets of eyes shot to our enclosed hands as if no one could believe I would accept her peaceful gesture.
“Hello.”
Tori beamed with joy. “Hello!”
Squealing in excitement, she covered my hand with both of hers, shaking it excitedly. Biting my lip, I glanced at the two males, unsure of what I should do.
It would be foolish to trust the three of them, especially so soon. My faint mental threads to my nestmates were proof that I was still a great distance away from them—and thankfully, they were still alive. Our separation only heightened my urgent need to figure out why I was here and escape to return to my clan.
“What’s your name?” Tori asked, releasing my hand. “You have nothing to worry about. I won’t allow these two to do anything to you.”
“We know what her name is,” Zyxel hissed. “Why are you even asking her that?”
Snapping my head toward the male who I had mistaken for Kaede, I gaped.
I had known this was too good to be true.
Had they hired kidnappers to take me? I remembered the Trr’kiki mentioning there had been two parties who had wanted me before I’d slipped into the drugged haze. Were these people one party or just a crew who had stumbled across my escape pod?
“What do you want from me?” I demanded, jolting upright in my bed. Thankfully, Vowels had been right to call my body completely healed. Nothing felt stiff or sore when I moved my limbs.
Eyeing the three people in the room, I tried to put together my escape plan. They may have surrounded me, but it was clear that Zyxel was in charge. If I grabbed one of the others and used them as a shield to escape, I wondered how far I could get.
“You suck at this, Zyxel,” Tori snorted. “No wonder you work alone.”
“Stop avoiding my question, Tori,” I snapped, keeping my eyes fixed on the three of them. I didn’t trust them not to act when I wasn’t paying attention. They were hiding something from me, and I intended to figure out what. “I’ve had it with whatever mind game you’re playing. If you know my name, then it’s safe to assume you know who I am. Why am I here? Why haven’t you returned me to my people?”
The blue male wrapped an arm around the bubbly blonde human female, pulling her close to his side as if to shield her from my wrath. They both sent me apologetic grimaces as Tori leaned into his embrace.
“I’m sorry it had to be this way, Selena,” Celyze sighed, combing a hand through his blue-and-white highlighted hair. “It wasn’t our intention to take you by force. In some ways, it’s my fault—”
“But we won’t hurt you. That isn’t the reason we took you,” Tori explained. “Something happened to our commander’s brother while we were under attack, and nothing we’ve tried has been able to pull him out of unconsciousness. I don’t know the finer details because it all happened so fast and no one openly talks about it, but we were willing to do anything to heal him.”
“I’m sorry, but what does your commander’s brother getting injured have to do with me?” I glanced between the three of them. “The Aldawi are a peaceful yet powerful species, along with all they govern in their territory. Unless you are supporting the Quaww, there should have been no hostility between us. You have made a grave mistake by taking me. I pray to the Stars that whoever finds you first is willing to spare you long enough for an explanation.”
“Thanks to my Tori here, I have become one of the most powerful Cosmic Souls in existence.” Celyze glanced down at Tori and squeezed her shoulders. “I asked the Stars for guidance and they led me to you. They told me you were the solution to our problem, even though I don’t agree with how we got you here.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Celyze is a Cosmic Soul, a member of the Cosmic Order and speaker for the Stars,” Zyxel explained. “He is capable of communicating over long distances and healing wounds by touch, but his strength lies in reading the Stars’ path for our gain. A Cosmic Soul as strong as Celyze can read our destinies and warn us about the future. The Stars told him that our commander needed you to save his brother.”
