Page 21 of Taming Chaos

Blood! Freezing in horror, she realized what the viscous substance was.

Screams became howls. Something clattered onto the hard metal floor. There was a thud, a whoosh, a bam. Without warning, the doors opened, and Seph didn’t get a chance to hold her breath.

Breathing in a lungful of toxic air, she gasped and wheezed.

“Naaktakaa,” Torin roared, sounding furious. The word was obviously Ephrenian, but Seph had no idea what it meant.

She doubled over. Her chest felt like it was about to burst. As she coughed some more, her throat seized up.

What the hell is happening?

From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of her Ephrenian guard as he escaped through the doorway, leaving behind a trail of viscous green blood. He seemed to be missing an… arm.

Oh my god!

Blade in hand, Torin crossed the floor in two long strides, preparing to give chase. He paused at the threshold, glancing over his shoulder.

He took one look at Seph, spun on his heel, and rushed to her side.

The doors slammed shut.

A broad hand rested against her upper back. “It’s all right, Persephone. Slow down. Take a deep breath. Breathe.”

“Ooooh…” Great shuddering gasps racked Seph’s body. She stared at the floor, trying to focus.

For the first time, she noticed the body.

The other guard.

“H-he’s dead,” she said absently, sounding oddly calm and detached. A small crack in the Ephrenian’s helmet revealed a patch of deep green skin. “You killed him. Wh-what happened?”

Her thoughts slowed, trickling through her mind like sands falling through an hourglass. In the span of less than a few hours, her life had spun out of control, and she was completely powerless to change her fate.

And now one of her captors had just been killed before her very eyes, and she didn’t understand how or why or what the fuck had just happened.

This terrifying new world… it moved too fast for her.

You’d better catch up soon, sweetheart, or you’re not going to survive this place.

“They didn’t listen to me.” Torin stroked his fingers up and down her back, his touch gentle and reassuring. He sighed. “Why is everybody in the outer sectors so obtuse? I told them not to move, but still they tried to attack me from behind. If somebody moves against me like that, I’m hard-wired to react. Tch. They should have known better.”

Seph stared down at the fallen Ephrenian as the Kordolian rubbed her back with the gentle touch of a killer.

Her breaths came in deep, shuddering gasps. A vise clamped around her chest, squeezing tighter and tighter until her throat closed up.

“Breathe.”

A stranger was comforting her.

She focused on the rhythm of Torin’s movements; the gentle back and forth of his hand… not too rough, not too fast, not too firm.

A stranger was comforting her, and his touch felt good.

“Breathe.”

She closed her eyes and inhaled. The air was stale, but not toxic like before.

It took a while for her breathing to return to normal. All the while, the lethal Kordolian remained by her side, waiting patiently until she was able to rise.

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