Page 4 of Unleashed

“Orishok found me.” Nina stepped closer and touched her fingers to the strands of blonde hair that had escaped Quinn’s hair tie. “He’s right. You are pretty.”

Quinn chuckled. “Thank you. You are too.”

“I don’t have a father, and mama died.”

Quinn sucked in a breath, looking up at Orishok with her brows high.

Nina thrust her hands into her hair and tugged at it. “I’m sorry! I did it again. Please don’t be scared of me!”

“Shh.” Quinn took a gentle hold of the girl’s hands and tried to pry them from her hair. “It’s okay.”

“Nina’s mother was changed on theConcord,” Orishok said, “and the changes passed to Nina. She can see into minds.”

Tears had left streaks in the dirt on Nina’s cheeks by the time she finally stopped resisting Quinn and lowered her hands. Quinn drew the girl into a hug, rubbing her palm up and down Nina’s back. Nina wrapped her arms around Quinn in a desperate embrace.

“I’m not scared,” Quinn said. “I was surprised, but not scared. It’s okay.” Her smile was touched with sadness as she looked up at Orishok, her eyes shimmering with tears. The meaningfulness of her expression struck him deeply; this child had been through so much in her short life, and she deserved safety, comfort, and happiness. Sonhadra was a harsh world, but that didn’t mean the young had to face it alone and unshielded.

“You can stay here with us, Nina,” Quinn continued. “You’re home now.”

Five years ago, Orishok had been gifted with Quinn. She had been the first step toward reclaiming his life despite what Kelsharn had done to him and his people. She’d become his tribe. Now, they had Nina as well, making their tribe just a little larger, making afamily. Nina’s circumstances had been terrible, but now there was a chance to do right by her. To fight back a bit of the darkness in the world. To teach and grow in ways he had never considered.

He knelt beside Quinn and drew both her and Nina into his arms. “You are part of our tribe now.”

Chapter One

15 Years Later

Nina layin the thick grass with her eyes closed and her face turned toward the warm sunlight. “You should have seen Unali today, Kreshok. Her flowers were in bloom, all covered in tiny dew drops, and the moment the morning sun shone through the trees, it set her aglow.” Nina smiled, folding her hands over her stomach. “You’d like her, I think. She’s a little shy and doesn’t talk much…but neither do you.”

She opened her eyes and stared up at the puffy white clouds drifting across the bright blue sky. A soft breeze rustled the grass and leaves around her, blowing loose strands of her hair across her face. The quiet rasp of vegetation and the soft sighing of the wind were the only constant sounds within Bahmet.

“If you’re interested, you should approach her soon. Dalegan has his eyes on her. In fact, he can’t stop looking at her.” She smirked to herself; though the underlying tragedy wasn’t funny, even Orishok had commented on the way Dalegan’s face had frozen while turned toward Unali’s remains.

Kreshok made no response, not that Nina expected one. These were her people, her tribe, just as much as they were Orishok’s — the statue-like remains of them, anyway. She’d spent hours wandering the city with Orishok through the years, talking with the fallen valos as friends and family. They’d provided her comfort in that time; she never had to worry about accidentally prying in their minds or causing them inadvertent pain. There was only blissful silence. Peace.

But today was different. Today, Nina felt oddly…hollow. Empty.

Lonely.

What would it feel like to have someone look at her the way she imagined Dalegan looking at Unali?

The way Orishok looked at Quinn?

She’d always known her parents loved each other deeply, but now that she was older, Nina found herself noticing subtler details.

Too many details, she thought, blushing.

“Gah!” She rubbed her eyes hard, as though it could wipe away the mental images of her parents together. Over the years, Nina had learned to block out most of the thoughts everyone unknowingly projected, but some still seeped through — especially those that were paired with particularly strong emotions. And the love and passion Quinn and Orishok shared…

It was an undying flame, impossibly bright and fiercely heated, and Nina craved to feel that for herself. There was someone out there who could share that with her…wasn’t there?

She sighed and dropped her hands to her sides, looking skyward again.

She’d been plagued by nightmares for most of her life, but now that she was older, when her dreams weren’t frightening, they were the sort that left herwantingwhen she woke, the sort that made her body hot and achy after the imagined caress of shadowy hands and mouths. Those dreams served only to remind her of how lonely she was despite the constant companionship of her parents.

That loneliness was her own fault. Nina had chosen to isolate herself from others. She rarely left home, preferring the serenity and solitude of Bahmet, and when her mother’s friends and their families came to visit, Nina usually hid away until they were gone.

It was better for everyone that way. Quinn’s human friends had been aboard the same ship, and none of them and escaped without experiencing their own horrors aboard it; though their scars were different, their pain was similar. No matter how hard they tried, none of them could forget. Those traumatic memories lurked just beneath the surface of their consciousness, waiting to strike when their owners were at their most vulnerable. Waiting to strike Nina in her nightmares.

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