Page 20 of Shattered Silence

Filled with newfound power, the Tharian laughed inside his head.

Exultant.

Triumphant.

Bastard. Enki recoiled in horror, and at last, the failsafe mechanism of cycles upon cycles of brutal training slammed home. This body is not yours to take.

He pushed against the Tharian with the full force of his will. He cleared his mind the way he’d been taught, forcing his hammering heartbeat into a steady rhythm.

Yield.

Slowly but surely, he bent the Tharian to his will, crushing it.

Demanding its submission.

And all of a sudden, his mind went silent again, and he was back in control.

Good.

His hand relaxed, and he released Relahek from his grasp. The noble slumped to the floor, gasping. “Wh-what the hell are you, monster?”

For a moment, Enki could only stare at him, not entirely sure of the answer. “Exactly that,” he said finally. Slowly, he lowered his arm, realizing he was standing over the noble with his dagger poised.

“Anything but the fucking face,” Relahek whispered, pressing his fingers against his bleeding cheek. Impossibly, the bastard summoned a deranged half-smile. Was there anything he took seriously in this life? “You really don’t know how scary you looked just now, do you? I don’t know what they’ve done to you, but—”

“Shut up,” Enki grated, not liking the fact that Relahek had seen the lapse in his self control, had caught a glimpse of the Tharian—a side of him that he’d rather keep under wraps until he figured it out. “If I decide to let you live, you will not tell a single soul about this,” he hissed. “What do you choose, Alerak? Life, or death?”

Relahek shakily rose to his knees and studied Enki carefully, For the first time, there was real fear in his eyes. For a moment, the only sound that could be heard was the shallow, uneven rasp of his breathing.

Then his shoulders slumped.

“I’ll tell you everything,” he said, and the cynical mask fell away, revealing a man who was utterly spooked. “J-just don’t do that to me ever again.” He pushed his long hair away from his left ear and tilted his head, revealing a network of fine black threads embedded in the skin behind his ear. “I have a permanent comm,” he said quietly. “Luron has one too. It’s a House thing.”

“Ah.” Grappling with the aftermath of the Tharian’s disruption, Enki eyed the modification with renewed hope. “And he can be traced.”

“Your tech people could probably figure it out. Goddess knows you have the resources. Last time I spoke to him, he was lurking around on the Ristval V, hiding behind Uncle Daegan. He’s shit-scared of this post-Imperial Universe, you know.”

And there it was.

A lead.

The exact opening he’d been hoping for.

Layla’s lifeline came in the form of a spineless noble who would betray his own flesh and blood out of spite.

The irony wasn’t lost on Enki as he flexed his fingers and put the knife away, making sure he was fully in control of his body again.

And for the first time in longer than he could remember, he was on the verge of actually volunteering for a mission, because really, who else amongst them could infiltrate the Ristval V without being recognized? Perhaps the Silent One—with his monstrous ability to manipulate ka’qui and become invisible—but Ashrael was back on Earth, and technically, the Silent One wasn’t in the employ of the Darkstar Corporation.

Unlike Ashrael, Enki didn’t possess the gift of invisibility, but he knew how to hide in plain sight, and he knew how to infiltrate.

He would find a way to break into the Ristval V, and if they didn’t let him leave with the human—his human—he would simply kill every last one of them.

The passenger in his mind wholeheartedly agreed.

Chapter Seven

They led her down dark corridors, into the bowels of a huge ship that seemed more creature than machine; a vast mass of curving black walls and strange technology and closed doors made of intricate fiber-like materials.

---