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Janik stares at me in wide-eyed disbelief. “Of course I’m not happy. Never have I wished for any Bohnari to die. Not even you. I’ve only ever wanted what was rightfully mine.” He slams his fist on his chest. “I wanted a chance to show Bohna that I would be a better ruler than either you or your despicable father.”
I take a threatening step forward. “On what grounds do you base this lie?”
“It’s not a lie.” Janik’s fists are clenched, but his claws remain retracted. “Your father—the king—forced himself on my mother then did nothing more than pay her credits as if she were merely a pleasurer at some brothel. As if he didn’t violate her and then abandon her to raise their child alone.”
Rage more powerful than I’ve ever felt before crashes over me like waves against the base of a rocky cliffside. Fire pierces my stomach as if someone’s taken a branding iron to it. The beast inside me roars with vengeance, while my own voice echoes it in agony. I double over, clutching my waist as if that will keep the beast at bay, but it’s no use. My vision goes black. No matter how hard I fight against the beast clawing its way through me, it’s stronger than I am.
I groan in defeat and the tenuous hold I have on my control snaps. The beast—who wants nothing more than to kill—takes over.
I should not have come.
I have only a vague awareness of its movements. It’s out for blood and won’t stop until it’s been satisfied. It doesn’t speak, but I’m inundated with pictures of destruction. Death. The beast fights an opponent. Over the noise, I hear vague impressions of sound, but nothing makes sense.
The beast jerks and roars in pain. It stumbles as everything around me becomes a confusing blur until I can no longer tell where or who I am. Slowly, I drift, floating on a sea of nothingness.
Chapter 6
Present
Devon
For weeks I’ve been lying to my friends. Well, maybe not outright lying, but definitely not telling them what I’ve been doing in all of my spare time.
I glance around for any prying eyes before quickly pushing open the small, hidden door carved into the side of the mountain and shutting it even faster behind me once I’m inside. In the same place where I stashed it after my first visit here, I find—by touch—the light source I use to guide my way.
It fits in my palm, but gives off enough illumination that I can see my hand in front of my face as well as the narrow rock passage I’ve traveled more often than I first set out to. The tunnel is damp and cool and smells faintly limey like when water has pooled within stone for too long and gone stagnant. At least it doesn’t smell like shit the way the sanitation facility where Olivia, Quinn, Lindsey, and I used to work back on Earth did.
The sloping path before me has become so familiar, I almost don’t need the light, but use it anyway. At least until I get to where the tunnel ends and spills out into an open area. I shut it off and pause a few minutes to listen for any sounds coming from up ahead, but like usual, it’s quiet.
The time I do spend here has decreased in recent days. I shouldn’t complain, except the two other people who come down to the pit leave with more grief and despair than they arrived with. Neither Horek nor the queen can bring themselves to put Alik out of his misery, but seeing him stuck in the state he’s in is doing them no favors either.
None of them know I too am a visitor. I’m not sure why I’ve kept it a secret. Maybe because I worry they’ll bar me from returning. So I continue lying to my friends about where I disappear to all the time. And yes, I feel guilty that they think I’m taking the communication classes I said I’d talked to Johnna about, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.
When I’m certain I’m alone—aside from the only other living soul down here—I turn the light back on and continue moving forward until I’m no longer confined to the tunnel. Instead, I stand in a rectangular area peppered with several identical doors. Only one of them holds something behind it and that’s the one directly in front of me.
Beside it is an alarmed keypad. Lucky me, I know the combination, which I press. With each button, a beep sounds until they’re followed by a sharp click and a lock disengages. Slowly, I open the door and am greeted by a familiar growl that’s so deep, even from the distance that separates us, it vibrates through my chest.
“No need to be so cranky. It’s just me.”
The rumbling noise cuts off, and I hide my smile. Because it upsets him, I don’t shine my light into the transparent containment cube situated inside the room to search out the resident. Instead, I lean back against the steel doorframe and slide down it until my butt hits the ground. Then, I pull my knees to my chest, turn off the light source, and set it beside me. Faint bioluminescence shines so that we’re not engulfed in darkness.
Not a single sound comes from inside the containment cube, but I know Alik’s watching me. It’s become our routine.
“It’s another gorgeous day. The sun is shining so brightly, but there’s a cool breeze, so it’s not too hot. Of all the things I expected to appreciate here on Bohna, the weather wasn’t even in the top five.”
Like always when I start talking, a soft rustling sound comes from inside the cube. Still, I remain where I am. I’ve learned to let Alik inch closer in his own time. All I do is talk and don’t make direct eye contact. Not that I’m scared to look at him, but it makes him feel safer. I don’t know how I know, but I do.
“Carrik and Bannik are sort of talking, I guess. At least that’s what Lindsey says. They’re never going to be friends, but they’re learning to be civil with one another.” Considering the sensitive issue of brothers and not sure how Alik would react, I avoid—as much as possible, anyway—bringing up Janik. I didn’t even tell him that after blood tests were done by Vornak, it was determined that Janik is the biological son of the king and Queen Veroneek. The one who’d been kidnapped as a baby and presumed murdered all this time. The entire reason Janik had organized the rebellion in the first place.
“I told you Lindsey’s pregnant, didn’t I? And that Quinn suspected she might be too?” I pause at the scuffling sound. A flash of movement appears in my periphery, but I keep looking forward. “Well, she and Horek went to the healing facility so she could get confirmation and guess what? You’re going to be an uncle. I mean, yeah, technically the kid’ll be your second cousin or something, but the commander has said he considers you more a brother than a cousin.”
I’m happy for my friends. Not only have they found their husbands—mates—but they’re going to be moms. Kids have always been a sort of a transient idea for me. Mostly because I had zero prospects back on Earth, but also why would I want to bring a child into the world I lived in? The bottom tier was hard enough by myself. Add in having to care for another human being? I would have been given a small government stipend for any children I bore, but it wasn’t nearly enough to make sure my kid didn’t go without.
“Anyway. So, yeah, we’ve now got two pregnant women and nearly a dozen more mated pairs. Just over half the women you brought here have become brides. My guess is we’ll see a few more pregnancies before long. Looks like your plan is working.”
An even closer shuffling sound happens as Alik moves again. I turn my head a fraction to get a better look without drawing too much attention to the fact. From the glimpse I’m able to take—given the fact he’s squatting slightly behind and to the side of me—I can tell his skin is the deepest shade of copper I’ve ever seen on a Bohnari. The dragon-like scales lining the crests of his shoulders and traveling partway down his upper arms and across his upper chest appear as if they’re nearly black. It’s hard to tell exactly in the dim lighting.
“Oh, before I forget, Beck is getting big. I know he misses you. Olivia says Mak is slowly learning to tolerate him, but it’s a process. Maybe they’ll eventually be friends, but he’s still in his puppy phase so he gets on Mak’s last nerve. I’ll give him some extra love from you the next time I see him, if you want.”
