The dual suns shone brightly into the room, and he couldn’t see anything without his eyestones. He held his hands out to make sure he wasn’t going to run into anything as he moved around the perimeter of the tank. Cassie. He’d saved her. Hadn’t he? The blast had gone straight through him. Dread mounted as the possibilities struck him. She might have harmed herself. It might have been irreversible this time. Cassie. How long had heleft her? Was she still alive? He had to know where she was. He had to know she was safe. No doubt he was in the clinic. If he could just make it to the door without falling, he could call for help.
Panic started to ripple through him. He gripped his wrist nodes hard as his energy core pulsed erratically. He paused for a moment to take stock of his body. He’d shattered. The last thing he remembered was Cassie’s eyes on him. His outer shell was thin in some places. Unevenly thick in others.
The pieces hadn’t quite reformed the way they were before. The nodes on the back of his neck were dull and uneven, not the impressive crest he’d had before. His wrist nodes were in a slightly different location. But the node over his chest was harder, heavier than he was accustomed to. The unwieldiness of this familiar yet unfamiliar body threw him further off balance as he tried to feel his way around.
Heat and light blazed in through the window. What time of year was it? They were due to start flooding season soon. How many days had he been incapacitated? He gripped the side of the tank tighter, moving with caution, seeking a safer, darker space where he could see properly.
Örim took another step around the perimeter of the tank and then tripped over something soft on the ground. The thing made a muffled groan and untucked itself from the curl it had been in at the foot of the tank. He got down on his hands and knees, not sure who or what was there. Örim’s core flared with frantic anticipation as he crouched down beside the figure and placed a hand on its hair.
Cassie’s hair was always soft, clean, and cared for. This creature had a thick sheen of grease covering her scalp. Her breathing was unsteady, and she whimpered in her sleep. This was different from the nightmares that woke her up sweating.
Beneath the obvious self-neglect, she was still alive. Still his aöseria. The pulse of his core steadied as he took her in. Örim wasn’t sure if he wanted to wake her. He warred with the instinct to take her into his arms, but the not knowing, the sense of longing won out in the end as he scooped her up off the floor. Her weight had diminished since the last time he held her. His fingers skated over sharp bones instead of soft lines.
“What have you done to yourself, my aöseria? How long have you been like this?” He murmured his questions into her unwashed hair.
CHAPTER 54
Cassie
She shouldn’t have fallen asleep like that against the tank. Her neck ached as she blinked back to consciousness, feeling unexpectedly damp. There was a hand on her hair, arms around her body. She stared back at the tank first, finding it empty. Had something happened? Was he gone? Did Aglao or Eleri move him without her knowledge to spare her some tiny final moment of despair?
Cassie pressed her hand against the glass, not sure if she was asleep or awake. The hand on her head remained, a firm, persistent pressure. She finally gathered the courage to look up.
“Örim.” The name on her lips tasted like electricity.Örim. She repeated his name with her hands because she didn’t know what else to say. What could she say that would take the feelings she’d nearly drowned in and clarify them into sound? She dove into his open arms, taking in every facet of him as if for the first time.Are you real?
“I hope so.” He held her tightly. “How long have you been alone?” Örim stroked her hair. “Have you been eating? I can feel your ribs.”
“I didn’t think you were coming back.” The words were muffled against his bare shoulder as he clutched her trembling body closer still. Cassie fell apart in his arms, her entire body bleeding out the pain she’d been carrying for the past months.
“I know.” He traced circles between her shoulder blades with his thumb. “I wasn’t certain either. Thank you for staying. I wasn’t sure if you would.”
This admission only made Cassie weep harder. “Don’t ever leave me again.”
“I would never leave you intentionally.”
Cassie nodded, believing his conviction if not his words.
He held her like that for what felt like hours, not asking anything, not needing her to do anything, just being there as a solid presence until she felt like she could be again. It almost wasn’t enough. Cassie needed more of him. She needed to wrap herself inside of him and stay there until she could undo all the time she’d been without him.
Can we go home?she finally asked.
“Whatever you like, aöseria. I’m just grateful to be able to hold you again.”
There was a knock at the door. “Cassie, are you okay? You were supposed to go visit the pups this morning, but I didn’t see you leave.” Eleri poked her head inside the door, making eye contact with Cassie, who was still very much wrapped up in Örim’s arms. The door banged open without ceremony. Eleri stared at them, at Örim, at Cassie, and then back at Örim again.
Her eyes filled with tears. “Thank all the gods and stars.” She smudged the tears away from her face with the sleeve of her uniform. “Let me get Aglao. Do you need anything? Örim, how are you feeling?”
Behind Cassie, Örim shifted his weight slightly. “If it’s not too much trouble, can someone get me a new set of eyestones? I’m mostly blind without them now. I have a few spare sets back at my home. Oh, and maybe some clothing.”
Eleri nodded. “I’ll send S’samph or K’kaen to go get them for you. Where do you keep them?”
“In a box on my desk. Clothes are in the closet.” He stood on unsteady legs, still holding Cassie close while Eleri sent a comm. “How long was I in the reseeding tank?”
“About two standard months. Let’s get you downstairs so we can do an exam, and then we’ll answer all your questions.” Eleri held the door open. Cassie reluctantly dragged herself away from him, unable to shake the sense of dread that if she let him go, he would disappear. She followed Örim and Eleri down the stairs.
“Cassie, with love, please go take a shower while we look over Örim. I’ll grab something clean for you to wear.” Eleri pointed in the direction of the clinic’s lavatory and cleansing unit.
Cassie’s face burned with embarrassment for the first time since he’d disappeared. She didn’t want to go, didn’t want him out of her sight, but she suddenly remembered that she had a body, and it was sticky with old sweat and crusted with dried blood.
