Page 115 of Revenge of the Forgotten

“I might not be able to kill you, Marlena, but now I know you can’t kill me either.”

“Don’t be so sure about that,” she said with a grating laugh.

“Keep lying to me. See where it gets you.” Bridger didn’t let her up. “You might be strong, but don’t forget that I was made to be the strongest warrior this world has ever seen,” he boomed. “And I’ve been going easy on you.”

Marlena bared her teeth, her smile fading. “Don’t get too comfortable, Commander.”

“Or what?” he asked. “You know you can’t lose me. We both know it. So here’s what’s going to happen.” Marlena hissed when he pressed down harder on her throat. “The next time you think about putting your hands on me, remember that little fact. Remember that without me, you have no army and no one to defend you when the rebellion attacks.”

“If you don’t find her?—”

Bridger chuckled, interrupting her. “Vega is your problem, not mine.” He took his knee off her rib cage, the blade following soon after. Bridger exited the vehicle, and Marlena followed.

“I own you! You work for me!” Her raucous screams scared birds from the surrounding trees.

Bridger opened the driver’s side door and pulled his soldier’s limp body from the seat. He placed him over his shoulder and sat his body down in the back. Bridger would transport him back to Ardor, where his family would be alerted of his passing and thanked for his service. They would be allowed to take his body for proper burial or cremation.

“No, Marlena. Without me, without the army that I saved and rebuilt from nothing after you let my father run it into the ground, after you murdered him as bait to lure me to your side because you knew I’d want to protect my people… you’d have nothing to rule over.” He pulled himself into the driver’s seat. “I am not your pawn to torture Vega with. I am the commander of the strongest army our world has ever known, and it’s about time you recognize that.”

The engine whirred to life, but it didn’t drown out Marlena’s response. “I hold your life in the palm of my hand! Your life is tied to hers, to theirs! I am the key to you surviving when I kill the rest of them, Bridger!”

He slammed the door, driving away from Marlena—her voice reached him inside the vehicle.

“Don’t make me kill you too!”

46

The smell of bacon pulled Vega out of a cadaverous slumber. When her eyes peeled open, Khort was in the corner of her room, arranging a fresh bouquet of hydrangeas and pouring water into a glass on her desk.

She cleared her throat, and Khort jumped, knocking over the glass of water. “Shit!” He laughed, grabbing a towel from the tiny bathroom connected to her room.

Vega sat up against her headboard, stretching her sore muscles and limbs. “Morning.” She yawned.

Khort smiled, tossing the sodden towel into the bathroom sink. “Welcome back to the land of the living.” He sat at the end of her bed, handing her the plate he’d brought into her room. “I didn’t mean to wake you. I figured you’d be hungry when you finally woke.”

Bridger had been right. Khort was alerted when Vega crossed into Demuto—once his home, now a place he couldn’t cross into without the possibility of being trapped forever. He met her at the border of Vates as the sun rose. Somehow, Vega survived a night in Demuto with only one near-death experience. She shuddered at the memory of the bird-beast she’d had to fight off.

“Thanks.” Vega smiled and reached for a piece of crunchy bacon, then chomped down with a content hum. “How many days did I sleep this time?” she asked before tearing into a piece of toasted bread.

“Only two.” Khort stared at the scar over Vega’s eye.

Upon returning to Castra, Vega only had time to shower and look herself over in a mirror before she passed out. The version of herself that stared back at her was one she never wanted to see again… but the scar, the claw marks of her sister, became a reminder of what she’d survived, of who she’d survived.

It split her eyebrow in two, the first mark slicing through her brow and onto her cheek while the other two trailed off the corner of her eye.

Khort’s lips were in a tight line. “Will you please let me see if a healer can mend that for you?”

Vega shook her head. “They have bigger things to worry about.”

Khort reached across the small room, able to reach the glass of water from the desk without leaving his spot on the edge of the bed.

Her eyes wandered to the flowers Khort brought in with breakfast, and her heart dropped to her stomach. I can’t avoid this conversation.

Vega chugged the water in one go and sat the empty glass on the side table. She took a breath and let it out in a sigh. “I think it’s time we talk about something.”

Khort met her gaze, nodding slowly. “I guess so.”

Vega laced her fingers together, rubbing her thumbs together as a way to focus. “Khort, I love you, you know that. You’re my best friend, my first friend.” She bit her lip, working through the mess in her brain. “Our kiss was—you’re a great kisser.” She paused, trying to find the right words and not make this about the physical act. “First, I want to thank you for stopping me that night. You’re a stand-up guy for not taking advantage of that situation.”

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