Page 33 of Shattered Silence

“E-Enki,” she repeated, his name feeling strange on her tongue as she spoke it aloud for the first time. “It’s r-really you?”

“I said I would come for you,” he said quietly, his words permeating into her weary soul like rain in the parched desert. Layla forced herself to be still, to not fight, even though she couldn’t see Enki at all.

How strange. He was actually here with her, immobilizing her, his warm fingers pressing firmly into her aching wrists, and she was definitely scared, but ,not as scared as she should be.

“How are you even here?” Layla’s confused thoughts crashed around in her mind as she tried to understand how this person—this Kordolian—could have infiltrated a supposedly impregnable battle cruiser.

Or had he been here all along?

“The details are not important.” Slowly, gently, he brought her wrists down by her side and then released them. “Don’t fight me,” he repeated. Steady. Calm. Rational. “You are hurt. You’ll only make it worse.”

It occurred to Layla that it had been so long since she’d had contact with someone who wasn’t hostile, who didn’t speak to her as if she were an inferior life-form.

“Can you walk?”

“Yeah.”

“Follow me.”

Layla took an unsteady step forward, and was surprised to feel his guiding hand on her back.

When did he…? Somehow, he’d moved behind her without making a sound. If he hadn’t spoken, she wouldn’t have suspected a thing.

“This way.” He was careful not to touch the wounds the mad scientist had inflicted upon her. The bare pads of his fingers were featherlight against her skin as he coaxed her into the light. “These are claw marks. Did the medic do this to you?”

“M-medic?” For a moment, Layla was confused. Oh. He must mean the mad scientist. That freak… was a medic? It was strange to find out that he was supposed to have healed people, not tortured them. “You knew him?”

“Vaguely. You killed him?”

“I get the feeling you already know the answer to that. Am I in trouble?”

“You are not.” A note of approval entered his voice. “I would have killed him myself, but it seems more fitting that you did it.”

As they stepped into the light, Layla tried her hardest not to make it obvious that she was staring, but this was the first time she’d seen the mysterious man, and she was dying to know what he looked like.

This is Enki.

The very same Enki she’d been thinking about as those Kordolians put her through hell.

He’s actually here.

Light washed over them. For a heartbeat, all of Layla’s pain melted away as she looked over her shoulder, catching her first glimpse of the man who had found her drifting through infinity.

Amber eyes stared back at her, and Layla could have sworn they glowed green just for a split-second, but maybe that was just the blue light reflecting off his striking irises.

His skin was that typical Kordolian shade of silver, a tad darker than the other Kordolians she’d seen. Its slightly reflective sheen gave him a distinctly otherworldly appearance, and Layla got the sudden urge to reach out and touch him, to confirm for herself that he was actually real, but there was no fucking way she was going to do that.

Just because he’d come for her didn’t necessarily mean he was on her side, and the memory of Kordolian cruelty was fresh in her mind.

She took one last drink of his features before turning away, noting the elegant white brows that were drawn together in a slight frown, the straight nose, the razor-sharp cheekbones and chiseled jawline, the slight hollow of his cheeks and the subtle feline slant of his eyes.

His face was sharp, regal, and cruel, all at once.

And he was beautiful.

She’d seen a few Kordolian faces by now, and none of them were as striking as Enki’s.

Layla blinked as she grappled with that realization. It was a stupid thing to think when she’d just been captured and tortured by Enki’s very own kind, but his features were rudely perfect, demanding her attention.

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