Page 58 of Hell Storm

“What were the questions?” Felix inquired.

“You won’t want to hear most of them.”

“Try me,” Felix shot back, nearly cutting off Julian’s words with the statement.

There was a brief span of silence, and the air became highly charged, almost electric.

Julian’s gaze met the screen again. “I asked myself what it is Corina fights for,” he began, divulging his truth. “I questioned why it’s so hard for her to just accept things for what they are, when it’s been this way for generations. I asked myself why she can’t just submit to the same way of life nearly every other human has.”

My heart thumped twice inside my chest, as I wondered how this would all be perceived by the two people on the other side of the connection. Two who happened to bequitehuman and might take offense to the thoughts Julian had just shared.

“And what answers did you come up with?” There was only curiosity within Felix’s gaze as he waited for a response.

I noted how Julian hesitated now, how he maybe had the same concern I did—that this might not be what these two wanted to hear. Especially coming from the likes of us.

“It dawned on me that, perhaps it’s no easier for Corina to submit to a life of bondage for herself, for herpeople, than it would be for me,” he confessed. “I acknowledged that … even being born into that life wouldn’t kill my desire for freedom.”

A weighted breadth of silence followed, and I was no longer concerned with the feelings of others. Instead, I too considered what Julian had just proposed, allowing myself to consider a life of enslavement.

“You’ve gone quiet,” Julian spoke up, addressing Felix again. “Have I offended you?”

To my surprise, the expressions staring back at us were soft, thoughtful.

“It’s not that. I just … I’ve never heard your kind say anything evenremotelysympathetic concerning humanity’s plight. Let alone someone of rank,” Felix admitted, before pausing. “But it’s not gonna do us a whole lot of good if you’re the only one who sees our side of things.”

“That’s not entirely true,” I chimed in, earning myself a glance from Julian. “I’ve never met anyone like Corina before—a human so passionate for her cause that she’s almost reckless defending it.”

“Almost?” Liv asked with a raised brow, and a laugh. “You have no idea how many times we’ve asked her to slow down, or fall back because of her—”

Liv’s reason for not continuing was only a mystery for a moment. The next second, I was certain of what it was she refrained from mentioning.

“You don’t have to worry that you’re breaking her trust. We’re aware of Corina’s condition,” Julian revealed.

The way Liv’s teeth sank into her bottom lip made it clear my assumption had been right.

“She seized one morning while we were out handling business. That was actually when I … when I had to turn her,” he revealed reluctantly. “She took off, and at some point, slipped and fell from a fence, hitting her head. When I finally found her, she didn’t have much time left. If I hadn’t … If I—”

“Say no more,” Liv interrupted. The fluorescent lights that hung above her glinted off freshly forming tears that lingered in both corners of her eyes. “We get it. You just … you did what you had to do to save her.”

Julian nodded. “I did.”

I wasn’t sure what scenario they’d come up with to explain it all before now, the reason Corina had been bitten, but it seemed both had been caught off guard by the truth.

“So, you asked a question a bit ago. Something about how you could help us?” Liv inquired.

Julian’s eyes returned to the screen, and there was no missing how the tone between us all had shifted since we first established this connection.

“I did,” he confirmed with a smile ghosting through an otherwise stoic expression.

“Well, the food thing you offered … that’d be really good for us right now.”

That hesitant smile Julian had hidden broadened a bit. “Consider it done.”

“We can meet about a mile up the road from the bridge where the races are held once you work out the details. And while we’re there,” Liv added, “we can discuss our next plan to find Corina and your friend.”

When Julian glanced my way, I sensed he was just as surprised as I was that she thought of, and even included, Levi.

“Thank you,” I offered.

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