Page 79 of Xeda

Xeda leaned forward and gave them the most nightmarish expression he could possibly give. "Let's see you win your way out of this."

He turned and left them to cower in the corner as the fighters passed by him. As he heard their screams, he made for the stairs.

* * *

Capura's apartments were just as destroyed. Bodies of men strewn about, the doors blown in.

His heart sank to his stomach as he stepped inside, trying to catch Ophilia's scent through the thick smell of blood. Fighters had already been present, he could see by the glass everywhere from shattered lamps, furniture broken and ripped apart. He was waiting with dread to come into a room and find her mangled body.

Every room was empty. He came to the back room and found an empty table with plates scattered on the ground. He rushed past to the balcony and found Kaxek's trainer, slumped to one side.

But not Ophilia.

He went back inside and, growing panicked, called to her. He walked every room again and shouted her name.

Nothing.

He turned back to the room beside the balcony and was ready to start destroying more of the place himself, when he heard something shift and clatter behind him. He drew closer to the sound and caught a familiar scent.

"Ophilia?"

A large grate near one wall popped open and there Ophilia's arm reached out with knife in hand. She let it fall so that she could use her hand to crawl out of the vent. Xeda reached down and grabbed her arm, sliding her out.

She slid on to her back, coughing, rubbing dust out of her eyes. She blinked and looked up at him. Then her face twisted as if she were in pain. "Xeda," she whispered.

He picked her up and brought her to him, wrapping his arm around her as she clung to him. He let his face fall in her hair, breathing in her scent. "Isara si na kissala," he said softly against her.

Shaking, she drew out of his embrace to face him. Then her eyes locked on to his missing arm, and her face paled.

"Your arm. Oh, Xeda."

He let his one hand cup her face, thumb grazing against a cut on her cheek. "It was worth losing it in order to get here. To get to you."

A few of her tears wet his fingers, and he moved his hand around to the back of her head, pulling her closer, his mouth brushing against hers before trailing down her jaw, then nuzzling her neck.

"Let's get out of here," she whispered.

He liked that idea very much.

CHAPTERTHIRTY

Ophilia

The air was cool as she opened the door to the small office. A relief from the heat she had to endure in the cramped, stuffy room with no windows and a small vent for air. She felt a little lighter now. A little calmer.

She stopped at the doorway and turned back to the gyda man that sat at his desk, his computer next to him and a little holographic chart beside it. She stared at the chart, her throat tightening.

“Thank you, Dr. Sybrim,” she said softly. Her voice was still raw, still healing from the damage it had been dealt a day ago.

The man bowed his head as he eyed her and those outside his make-shift office with quiet apprehension.

She closed the door behind her, then slid to one wall, pressing her back against it, tilting her head back and closing her eyes, taking slow breaths. She listened for a moment to the sounds around her, to the voices of people, to a cart rolling by, to the sound of rain pattering against the roof above like soft white noise.

She bent her head forward and stared ahead.

The hangar was a decent size, meant for storing supplies and smaller low-land vehicles, but had recently been turned into a waiting area and a medic bay. Crates had been pushed back against the walls while some were used as seats. Some of the fighters had sustained minor injuries, mostly bullet wounds. But all were so thick skinned that they hardly seemed to notice them.

It had taken her to persuade some of the medical staff to come and treat them. And it took Xeda to make sure the fighters didn't harm them while they did. Some of the staff were willing while some refused, leaving as soon as they opened the medical bay where they had been locked in by Xeda and the fighters to make sure they didn't send for more security.

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