Page 12 of Shattered Silence

He had given her his word.

“I won’t let them have her.”

Both Lodan and Nythian turned their full attention on Enki, staring at him as if he were mad, which he was.

His mind, which had been operating like a machine up until now—on autopilot—now flickered back to life, and he thought furiously.

How the fuck did one locate a shadow in deep space?

The Tharian chose that very moment to surface.

You have an interesting prisoner down below, soldier.

“Relahek.” For once, he didn’t silence the Tharian.

“Luron Alerak’s little brother,” Nythian murmured. “He was with Daegan when they tried to take Earth from us.”

Lodan’s smile was predatory. “If Relahek’s been lurking around the Outer Sectors, chances are he’s been in contact with his idiot brother. He might know how to find him, which would lead us to the Ristval V.”

Enki was already moving. “Give my your dagger, Nythian.” His blades were in his quarters, and that was too much of a detour to take right now. A sense of urgency pounded through his veins. Goddess help the lordling; nothing would stop him from getting answers.

Time was running out.

Nythian raised his eyebrows, managing to look suitably impressed as he pulled one of his Callidum daggers out of its sheath. “Anything else you need, brother? My swords are your swords.” He flipped the blade, offering it hilt first to Enki.

“No.” Enki closed his fingers around the familiar hilt. A single blade would be more than sufficient.

He knew a thousand and one different ways to inflict pain, and not all of them required a knife.

Chapter Five

Layla’s terror became full-blown panic as she was thrown up and down. After moving at a constant speed for what felt like forever, the pod jerked violently, shocking the hell out of her.

Thud. She lost her footing, slamming against the wall. Pain unlike anything she’d known before speared through the right side of her chest, making her gasp.

Yep, she’d landed on her broken rib. Layla’s vision darkened, and she saw stars.

Dazed and in agony, she scrambled around on the floor, trying to find something to hold onto as she was tossed around like a ragdoll in the cramped storage unit.

A half-open canister of Nutricubes—those disgusting ultra-high calorie food bars that tasted like a mixture of chocolate and seaweed—fell onto the floor, spilling its contents. Layla ran into the wall, putting her hands out to break the impact.

“Ow!” She hissed. There it was again, that pain in her right side. Layla tried to ignore it, but it felt like someone had shoved a knife in her chest and was constantly twisting.

She dropped to her knees, snagging a stray cabin-jacket that had fallen to the floor. Folding it and pressing it against her injured side in an attempt to minimize further damage, she curled up into the fetal position, tucking her head in.

Layla braced herself…

And then everything went still.

Still and perfectly quiet.

After all that commotion, the silence was deafening.

Terrifying.

What the hell just happened? With no way to see outside, she couldn’t tell whether she was still floating in space, or whether the small escape pod had been swallowed up by a much bigger craft.

If the exploration drones were anything to go by, she’d probably been pulled into the belly of some monstrous vessel.

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