“Stop!” I shout.
Despite Krellix being smaller, Sada’s movements are slower and more bullish. He is unable to react fast enough to Krellix’s attacks. Krellix, quickly regaining the advantage, punches the Boa in the face, bloodying his nose. Snaking atop of the bigger naga, Krellix scrapes his claws—the ones he has left—down Sada’s face. The Boa roars but the sound is cut off by Krellix’s fist.
“Stop!” I manage to cry again. Dodging their wrestling, I stumble to their side and tug at Krellix's arm.
“Your brother hurt and tried to rape Zaku’s female!” I yell out when that doesn’t stop Sada from his thrashing. “That is why your brother has gone missing! He’s now just another pile of bones in Zaku’s yard!”
Krellix, hissing loudly, shakes me off and slams his knuckles repeatedly into the Boa’s face, over and over until the yellow naga goes limp.
This time when I pull his arm away, he lets me.
Afterwards, he slowly rises up, blood splattered across his face and chest, and turns to me. I straighten up to meet him. The warmth that’s usually in his eyes is completely gone, replaced by a feverish weariness I’ve never seen before. The fierceness from before is fading away.
“Come, Julia,” Krellix says, reaching for me. His tail slides out from around the Boa’s and he raises his tailtip to my face, pushing my hair back over my shoulder. He dislodges himself entirely from Sada and takes my hand. Helping me through the trampled plants, he leads me back the way he came.
“Wait,” I croak, stopping. “Aren’t you going to kill him?” I indicate Sada. I’m not exactly for killing him, I’m just surprised. “Isn’t that… what you guys do?”
Krellix looks down at the unconscious naga. “Some of us but not me. No. I won’t kill him. I might have… once.”
I tilt my head, ignoring the swimming pain in it. “Why? He might come after us.”
“Because I know what it’s like searching for family, and searching for my own brothers… He knows what happened tohisnow and no longer has any need for us. You told him the truth. Come, let us go before I change my mind.”
“I didn’t know you’d been searching for your family.” I squeeze his hand, finally allowing myself to feel how happy and relieved I am to see him.
“It was a while ago. I have stopped since then.”
Not sure broaching the subject right now is smart because of what I’ve been told by Daisy, I let it drop.
We stop in the bushes nearby where he picks up my rifle and my pack from the ground. I grab my gun from him and shoulder it on, beyond grateful. “Thank… you.” I wince.
Krellix frowns down at me as his tail coils around my feet. “You are hurt.”
“I might have—” I cough “—sucked in some smoke and some chemicals… and maybe hit my head on the tree. I’m fine otherwise. It’s nothing I won’t get over in due time.”
He growls and, grabbing my arm with his hand, tugs me to him to take a closer look.
“Trust me, I’ve been through worse in training.”
I don’t stop moving towards him, pressing into his chest and circling my arms around his middle. I bury my face against him, breathing him in, uncaring if it’s his pheromones. His arms slowly come up to wrap around me, tightening like bands. I sink into his embrace, unable to stop the shudders that want to wrack my body.
“You are okay now,” he says, his voice soft, his hand sliding over my hair.
“I know. You’re here. You always make things okay.”
And I mean it. I know if I’m safe with anyone out here, it’s with him. If anyone’s got my back outside the other human women, it’s him.
I pull away first to peer up at him. He looks more disheveled and dirty than I’ve ever seen him; the golden god is now also a bloody warrior.
“Thank you,” I say again, whispering it this time so as not to ruin it with a cough.
He cups my cheek, his eyes finally warming. “Julia, we should go.”
I nod, lean into his hand, and then ease back. “Then let’s go.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
LIGHTENED TRUTHS
