Page 62 of Command

Threxin captured her as soon as their eyes locked. Still unmoving against that damn wall, he crawled into her head through her eye sockets. Alina vaguely felt the restraints hold her back in her seat, but even that soon dissipated. Her vision was burnt to ash at the edges, closing in until all she could see was black and glowing cyan blue.

Alina felt a vague sense of wetness that spread from her hand all over her skin as something prodded her, but it just seemed so irrelevant.

“Shoq.” The voice was closer to her ear—too close. Unfamiliar and grating, it wasn’t like how Threxin said it when he cursed. It was foreign and cruel, without a trace of care in it.

Something stabbed into the side of her neck and ripped through her like a bite. She grasped for the cyan fire filling her vision, but already it was dispersing. The universe tilted as Alina fought to get out of this viscous thing she was drowning in, but her eyes wouldn’t open, her ears wouldn’t work, and her body felt heavy as everything disappeared.

“Oh, good. You’re awake.”

Barely.

Alina’s head lay heavy as consciousness returned. She moaned, bringing an arm instinctively to her eyes.

The wrong arm.

She opened her eyes.

She was in her cabin. In her bed. Her right hand had been wrapped in an exocast that went past her wrist. She dislodged the thin sheet covering her with her good hand and stared. Someone had undressed her.

Her left knee had been bandaged up tightly, and a carbon splint had been attached to her upper thigh, keeping her left leg in a forcibly straight position.

Well, damn.

Finally she remembered someone had spoken.

“Kaia,” Alina said dumbly.

“How are you feeling?”

Kaia Halena sat in her chair next to the bed, holding a shot of water. She handed it to Alina’s good hand, waiting until she had a firm grip before releasing it.

“I’m fine,” Alina said. “What happened?”

“You got hurt traversing the jump,” Kaia explained. That much Alina knew. She wondered how much Kaia knew. “You were found. By Threxin. The usurper. He brought you to the medbay. One of them fixed you up.” Kaia looked Alina up and down, as though evaluating the job. “Not sure why he didn’t leave you to wait for a human medic. Did he say anything?”

Alina’s breath hitched. “N-no, sorry. Maybe he knows I work for you and did it as a gesture of goodwill?”

Kaia scoffed. “I doubt it. But maybe. They got word to me afterward. The uhyre claimed he had to sedate you… Who knows what the fucking brute did? But you look fine, I think.”

“I am fine,” Alina offered. “I think.”

“How much do you remember?”

She had to be careful here, and the fact that she was even lying there thinking of the best story to tell was seriously messed up. When did she go from being the loyal assistant of the commander’s wife to a traitor hiding her involvement with the leader of the invading force?

“I got to the dock, as you said. Isabelle and the dockmaster…”

“Barton.”

“Barton. They had me help them send out a message.”

Kaia leaned forward. She hadn’t heard yet.

“To…?”

“Hydra Company. They said they won’t know if it worked until someone comes… If they come.”

Kaia nodded. “We expected that. Okay, then what?”

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