Vessa slept, devoured another stasis box full of mysterious meat, then slept some more.
But now that she was awake with a clearer head, she was burning with fury and restlessness. She paced the length of the cavern, kicking broken icicles and black stones out of her way.
Kedar had backed her into a corner, forced her to comply with his demands. She had to fight him or never be free of him again. Vessa didn’t do well with threats. And she didn’t do well in confined spaces. She was meant for the open skies, flying through infinite stars, roaming ancient forests. Being trapped with him in this gods damn cave was pure torture. He’d blessedly gone out into the storm soon after she awakened, but the space still felt like it was closing in on her. Constricting her.
Out of all the missions he had to interrupt, why did it have to be this one? The weakness she’d shown in that Orcru camp was an anomaly, and he had been there to witness it. Tosaveherfrom it. It was damn embarrassing. But something else nagged at her, too. Something that was too closely twined with the past.
Then there was her job.
Though she always padded her estimated timeline for a mission, she’d been delayed long enough. When she didn’t report to her client, they would either assume she’d taken the goods and run, or that something had happened to her. Either way, they would hire someone else to come looking, and she was not about to miss out on this pay. The Jax was in need of some costly maintenance, and she’d been eyeing a new navigation system that would really help Liv.
She could get back to the downed ship within days if she really pushed herself, she calculated. Or, she would be able to if there wasn’t a fucking violent blizzard raging outside with no end in sight.
Vessa turned on her heel. Kedar chose that exact moment to step through the curtain of icy snow. Her fingers itched for her raze sword at her hip, but damn him if he didn’t look otherworldly right then, with the snow delicately kissing his black fight suit.
Beautiful.
Terrible.
Especially since he was palming an Orcru head in one hand. With the spine still attached. Taking a good look at its face, which was frozen in fear, she was almost certain this was one of the Orcru that had taken her. Durgo? Dargo? She couldn’t be sure.
“A scout,” he said, lifting the head.
She wrinkled her nose at its stench.
Kedar sat down on one of the cold obsidian boulders. He promptly pulled out a familiar pack of smaller knives from somewhere on his person. They were used to skin and carve whatever part he wanted to keep for a trophy from a greatkill. She doubted he cared to keep anything of the Orcru—they weren’t much of an opponent. It was merely proof of his boredom. Neither of them were good at sitting still for long.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Vessa said. “You challenged me, and I accepted. I don’t see why we have to wait any longer.”
“You’re still weakened, that’s why.”
“Who are you to dictate if I am well enough? I don’t need you or anyone else to tell me what fucking condition I’m in.” Her fingers closed around her raze sword’s hilt. “I have a job I need to get back to. Alife.And, understand this, I intend to be the one walking away.” The threat lingered between them.
Kedar didn’t look up from his bloody task. Didn’t seem to care about what she said at all. “This job you do, it does not sound like Seken work,” he said.
Was he joking? Vessa pried her fingers from around the hilt and crossed her arms, trying to contain herself. “So? I do mercenary work. I get hired for jobs ranging from killing someone because they decided to betray their business partner to bringing back lost things. It’s a living, and I’m damn good at it.” And it meant she never had to stay anywhere too long. Never had to deal with people if she didn’t want to. She could live, train, and work from her ship. The bulk of the money she’d made thus far had gone into upgrades and maintenance. It didn’t matter that over the years, the endlessness of space had started to feel too empty.
“Killing people for credits,” he murmured, more to himself than her. A large chunk of the Orcru’s flesh fell to the ground, perfectly carved away. “I guess I did not imagine you doing such things.”
Her rage boiled, burned behind her eyes. She refused to cry in front of him, even tears of anger. The raze sword’s blade extended before she even realized it was free of its sheath and inher hand. “You really don’t care about what you did that night? What it cost?”
Did you care for me at all?she wanted to scream. After all this time, she still didn’t knowwhy. Why come to her faction that night? Why spill Seken blood? She assumed his qon had ordered him to, but it still couldn’t be reasoned. He could have always come to her first, and he’d chosen not to. That was answer enough.
Kedar tilted his head, and she knew he was looking into her eyes. His visor flashed red.Crimson.Like blood. Like it had that very same night.
He made a growly noise of dismissal at her. “Have you also forsaken your creed, then?”
Vessa’s blade was pointed at his throat. She had closed the distance between them. Every muscle was tensed, ready to make that fatal blow. But she blinked, took a step back—and then another, until the fire was between them. Her breath was shaky as the electric heat of adrenaline left her.
What thefuckwas that?
With a skill she had perfected over all this time, she wrestled the wild beast within her, caged it, pushed it down. Down. Into the darkest depths of herself. Until she was empty. Numb.
She hated that he could get beneath her skin so easily. That he could make her forget herself. That all those old wounds she thought couldn’t hurt her anymore still bled. If she let him goad her so easily, he was already the victor.
Placing the raze sword back in its sheath, she shrugged her actions off.
“Your faction, then?” Kedar asked. She couldn’t read his tone. He was careful not to let any emotion bleed through.
