Page 77 of Silent Lucidity

“I’ll stop them.”

She bolstered her hold with her other hand, tugging him toward the wall with the secret door. “They didn’t have surveillance on the entrance below,” she said hurriedly. “We just need to have the door closed before they get in here.”

Though her words had been rushed, adding a thicker accent to her universal speech, he understood completely. If the Tegris guards had known about the access tunnel entrance, there would’ve been either a drone or a guard positioned there as security.

He nodded, and they sprinted across the room together. The shouts and footsteps in the hall increased in volume.

Abella pressed a spot near the base of the wall with her boot, and the hidden door swung open. She dashed through the doorway, keeping one hand on his arm. Tenthil twisted to look behind him as he followed her into the next room. Still holding his blaster, he grasped the hidden door’s interior handle with two fingers and tugged the door shut.

The cage room’s entry door burst open in the same instant the hidden door closed.

Abella’s fingers dug into Tenthil’s arm as they ran to the elevator. He wasted no time before pressing the down arrow on the control panel once they were inside. The double doorswhooshedclosed, and the elevator made its quiet descent.

She was running again as soon as the elevator opened enough to allow her through; Tenthil had to turn his shoulders sideways to avoid slamming into the moving doors. They were on the catwalk in the access tunnel seconds later. Abella hurried to the ladder and reached for one of the rungs.

Tenthil caught her arm. “There should be other hatches. We will use one closer to the vehicle.”

He tried to ignore the thunderous pounding of his heart, the tightness in his chest born of fear for her safety, the red tinge of at the edges of his consciousness that demanded he go back and kill the men who’d chased them.

All those things faded away when Abella turned her face toward his.

Her cheeks were flushed, her pink lips parted with quick breaths, but when she smiled, she looked more beautiful than ever before—an excited light gleamed in her eyes. She leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. Before Tenthil could respond, they were running along the catwalk, hand-in-hand.

Fifteen

We did it!

Abella could barely contain her elation as she and Tenthil made their way through the side streets and alleyways that led back to Alkorin’s place. She’d thought she had moved on from her time at Cullion’s, that she’d left it behind and could no longer be affected by it, but all the pain and trauma had flooded back to her the moment she saw the place. Stepping into the discipline chamber had been one of the most frightening things she’d ever done, somehow made more terrifying because sheknewit was irrational, sheknewthe people who’d hurt her were gone.

But she’d pushed through. She’d overcome her anxiety, overcome her fear. She and Tenthil had accomplished their goal, and now they were going to obtain the means to leave the planet.

They’d made it.

The azhera and the pair of troll-like cren guarding the forger’s alleyway entrance let Tenthil and Abella pass without issue. She walked down the alley alongside him in excited silence, stepped through the door, and passed the lone cren inside. Each step up toward Alkorin’s chamber felt like another step toward freedom,truefreedom.

At the foot of the final flight of stairs, Abella caught Tenthil’s hand and pulled him to a stop. He turned to look at her, furrowing his brow. His spindle pupils expanded and contracted.

“No matter what he says, remember that I amyours,” Abella said. “Don’t let him get a rise out of you.”

His frown—which he’d had in place since they neared the alleyway with the roasted-worm sign out front—deepened. “No promises.”

Smiling, Abella reached up to brush a strand of his hair back, tucking it behind his pointed ear. Her fingers lingered, tracing the tip of his upper earlobe. “I know you have some pretty…stronginstincts, but just know that I’m not going anywhere. I’m with you, Tenthil, and nothing is going to change that.”

He lifted a hand to her face, settling his palm over her cheek and trailing the pads of his fingers over her cheekbone. The feel of his gloves made her long for the gentle scrape of his callouses.

“I know,” he said.

Abella took his hand and brought it to her lips. “Remember, we have some…unfinished business. After.” She kissed the pad of his finger through his glove before playfully nipping it.

Tenthil dipped his face closer to hers, inhaled, and released a low growl. “We do. Let’s be quick about this.”

Abella pecked a quick kiss on his lips and drew away. She looked up at the at the elaborate door at the top of the landing. The two vorgals standing guard on either side both stared down at them, one of whom wore a smirk. To Abella, their species was reminiscent of orcs from the fantasy movies popular at the beginning of the last century—though more appealing in appearance.

Tenthil stepped past her and led the way up the stairs. He seemed to purposefully keep his hands away from his weapons, but his posture was stiff, and his fingers were curled into tight fists.

“Are you sure it’s the forger you’re looking for?” one of the vorgal asked. “Or do you just need a room?”

“I’d pay credits to watch,” the smirking one replied, sweeping his gaze over Abella.

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