Page 45 of Us Dark Few

She wasn’t particularly thrilled to be stuck in her cell all day, but it could be worse. She could be dead.

“Thank you, doctor.” She tried to smile but gave up when her cheek muscles hurt from the motion.

Dr. Francis nodded gently and left the room, leaving her and Takeshi. Alone.

Weeks of silence had thickened the air between them, and the room was charged with a static unease that seeped into her skin. His face remained an impenetrable mask, betraying nothing of what lay beneath.

Khalani sank deeper into the bed, wanting to vanish into the thin mattress.

“Be honest with me.” She sighed. “How bad do I look?”

“Do you want the truth?”

“No, I want you to lie. Yes, the truth.”

Takeshi sat in a black chair across from the bed, stretching his long legs out in front of him. “You’ve looked better. A lot better. You actually look like shit,” he added.

Sparing feelings wasn’t part of his dazzling personality, but she found his honesty hilarious in that moment. A pained chuckle escaped her. For the first time, Khalani didn’t detest his vexing presence.

His stern expression didn’t shift, and her laughter slowly faded. “What happened after I got knocked out?”

“I allowed two of the male prisoners you frequently speak with to carry you back to your cell. This morning, you didn’t wake up for your morning shift. When I checked inside your cell, I noticed you threw up several times and were in and out of consciousness.” The steely shift in his gaze made her pulse quicken. “I made the decision to carry you here.”

Her mouth popped open. She had no memory of him carrying her. Of all people, she expected him to leave her.

“Why?” she whispered.

His eyes darted away, and the silence thickened, like a violent current threatening to tear them apart. Takeshi’s cold voice sliced through the air.

“It would be inconvenient for a new prisoner to die on my block. And more paperwork.”

She blinked at his cruel words, and her mouth snapped shut. That’s all she was. An inconvenience. But she couldn’t expect any more from him. He already did more than necessary by taking her there. She should be thankful.

But why did his words hurt so much?

She cleared her throat. “Well, um, thanks anyway. I don’t wanna inconvenience you further, so you don’t have to stay. Not that you need my permission.”

His lips set in a harsh line, and she was taken aback by the aggressiveness bleeding from him. Like he was mentally dissecting her into pieces.

“What the hell were you thinking?” He didn’t raise his voice. He spoke slowly and calmly, and somehow, that was worse.

“What?”

“Why did you agree to fight in the pit?”

Khalani swallowed hard as the memory of Dana ripping her heart returned. “I didn’t have a choice.”

Takeshi leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “Wrong. She baited you, and you fell for it.”

Khalani breathed heavily. “If you only knew what I felt when she tore that picture. What it meant to me,” her voice cracked.

Takeshi said nothing, his gaze fixed on her as she teetered on the edge of falling apart once more.

“If someone humiliated you and obliterated the only object you had left of your family, what would you do?” she asked him.

“I would destroy them.”

“Then you should know why.”

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