Page 89 of Obsidian Dream
Khalida quietly closedthe door to her suite behind her, despite every part of her wanting to kick it closed and scream into the abyss.It shouldn’t hurt.It definitely shouldn’t feel like hundreds of small incisions in her heart.Like the world was growing smaller and tighter.
Leaning against the wall, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on her breathing and where she was.An old trick she had learned as a child, during the years she had cried for a mother who hadn’t wanted her—who had chosen solitude as a High Priestess of House Mestor—and a father who had tried his best but who had also ruled a House during a civil war and turbulent times.But here she was, falling apart after she had sworn to give no one that power over her.
She could still feel Talik on her, branded by his touch and scent.
Stomping to the dresser, she slammed her palm on the wooden top before curling her hands around the dressing table, letting the wood dig into her as she stared at her tear-streaked face in the highly polished silver mirror.Pain rushed through her, chasing back the tears.Good.She could wear the pain like impenetrable armor, where it couldn’t be used against her.
Watching Talik almost succumb to a coma in the catacombs had shaken her to her core, pushed too many memories to the forefront.Memories that should have stayed dead and buried.Perhaps that is what the Anki had intended—make them weak enough that they forget what they are doing.
Khalida wiped her eyes and stared at her reflection.Perfect, thick Atlantean braids encircled her head, like a damn crown, framing her face.
Growling, she pulled at her hair and hastily unwound the two thick plaits, letting them fall to her sides before she attacked them, pulling them apart, until she was just left with unmanageable hair.She grabbed a brush and pulled it through the strands, using the pain to stop the tears from falling.
She had been a fucking fool.There was no need to remember what had just happened.Another blip along the path, one that wouldn’t send her backward.They had a mission to finish—she couldn’t back out of it.Duty was the only thing she had left to cling to.She had to finish it.If she wasn’t Khalida head of House Azaes security, who was she?
Just another lost, privileged Atlantean, clinging to the past.No matter how much she ran from it, it was always on her tail.And for the briefest second, she had thought she had outrun it.
She had extended Talik an olive branch, hoping against common sense that he was feeling the same thing she was—an inkling of hope and something deeper.Yet all he had wanted was a goodbye.She didn’t blame him.He had given her exactly what she wanted—had demanded—except she had realized too late that it actually wasn’t what she needed.
She hit the wood, smashing the edge before it splintered under the force.The mirror rocked side to side, its metal legs precariously trying to keep its balance until it settled into position.Blood ran down her arms.Her flesh knitted itself together until there was no evidence of the injury.Just the dried blood on her skin.Too bad she couldn’t heal her heart or her memories as easily.Walking toward the small hidden fridge, she opened it and stared at her options.She had lost her appetite, but she needed to eat something more substantial than a cracker and a handful of figs.Grabbing the first thing she could, she tore the wrapping off the protein bar and chomped on it, gulping it so she wouldn’t change her mind.
The knives she had left on the edge of the bed glittered in the dying moonlight.It was still at least an hour before dawn.She could use her time productively and sharpen and polish her knives.But a bone-weary tiredness slammed into her and she stumbled backward.Sleep had continued to elude her.The quick nap in Talik’s room had barely recharged her.And now, after everything that had happened, all she wanted to do was curl into a ball and slip into the darkness.And hope that she was too exhausted to dream.
As she walked toward the bed, she stripped off the shirt Talik had given her and threw it onto the floor.She didn’t want any reminders of the evening.When she next faced him, it would be on her terms, and the invisible armor she wore like a second skin would be back in place.Khalida crawled into the bed, the cool sheets soft against her bare skin as she curled into a ball.The knives remained untouched at the end of the bed.
She closed her eyes and wished for silence.
After what felt like only a handful of minutes had passed, her watch chimed, and the morning sun had begun to shine through her window.She had forgotten to shut the heavy curtains.Groaning, she stared at the watch face.
It was a message from Kade.She swiped it, unsure of what she would find or how he had gotten her number.
She sat up, the sheet falling down to her waist, rereading the message.
The box is flashing.
***
KHALIDA
“When did it start flashing?”Khalida asked as she warily stared at the box.The day just kept getting better.Kade had finally allowed her to have access to the armory two hours after his initial message.It would have been highly annoying if it hadn’t given her time to sort through her conflicting emotions and better prepare herself for seeing Talik.Although she couldn’t remember the last time her knives had been as sharp as they were now.She touched her sides, feeling half naked without her swords.The blasters and any metal objects had been kept just outside the armory as a precaution.“No other changes?”
Talik took a bite out of the black bar sprinkled with seeds, his teeth flashing bright white.She ignored the beginning of the rumbling of her stomach.It was just her body protesting the lack of food she had consumed over the last three days.After two bland protein bars, she couldn’t stomach another one, and the thought of real food was not appealing to her.
The box remained in the center of the room, isolated from everything, on the black cloth.The relic was exactly the same as it had been when she had last seen it, except for the flashing lights—from where she was standing, the lights appeared to be coming through the carvings themselves, oddly shaped and slightly distorted.Pale blues and whites dominated the light show, changing hues quicker than she could register.The colors were bright enough to project themselves on the nearby concrete wall.She took a step closer and hesitated.They still didn’t know what it did, and more importantly, why it had suddenly started flashing now and not when they had found it.
“It has been cleared,” Kade answered.“No traces of explosive elements from either Atlantean or human material.”
Talik looked at his phone as he casually leaned against the wall, arms crossed, and dressed in a similar black matte uniform to Kade.“Chaucer has had no luck deciphering it.Thinks it may be in a dialect indigenous to the Anki.”
Careful to keep her expression neutral, she stared at the artifact, pointedly refusing to look anywhere else.It hurt more than she had expected—she had hoped, by now, she would have entered the numbness stage.It would make the rest of their time together easier to deal with.Her entire body ached, and it wasn’t from the lack of sleep.It was from deep inside of her.Talik appeared unfazed, except that there had been no hint of playfulness or flirting—a staple of how Talik interacted with anyone, not just her—from his end.She could feel Kade’s dark gaze boring into her.Apparently neither she nor Talik were pretending as well as they had hoped.
Boundaries.She reminded herself mockingly.
Where had her boundaries been the day before?What could be torn down could always be rebuilt.That is all she had to do.Piece herself together like a fragmented puzzle until she was whole again.Jagged pieces and all.
Closing her eyes for a moment, she counted to three and opened them, focusing entirely on the flashing lights, trying to work out if she was hallucinating or if she was actually seeing it.If she squinted while she tilted her head at a forty-five-degree angle, the colors reminded her of crashing waves, the whites forming the foam tips coating the water.“It is an ocean.”
Kade and Talik both stared at her.
