Page 105 of Colossal

CHAPTER60

KAIA

She stayed there for too long, face down on the synthmarble countertop. Her breath left a layer of condensation on its surface. She’d relaxed there, her knees buckling until the counter was the only thing holding her upright.

Everything was numb at first. Eventually, she registered some sensations—first, the aching in her hipbones and shoulders. Then, the searing pain in her shoulders, radiating down the arms. This was followed by the cold of the stone against her skin and the thin fabric of the gown she still wore. The air around her ass and legs, with the dress still hiked around her waist. Then she felt Orion’s fluids leaking down her inner thighs. They’d cooled and were now getting sticky and uncomfortable as they dried.

He didn’t hurt her as badly as she had expected, but she wasn’t done disappointing him yet. Kaia groaned as she pushed herself up, locked limbs protesting. She did the bare minimum to adjust herself in the mirror. There wasn’t time for anything more than pulling her ripped dress down, pushing up the straps, and swiping the remaining tears from under her eyes. She looked a mess—everyone would know something happened. Everyone had seen him drag her out of the hall before, and surely rumors had already started.

Right now, it didn’t matter.

“Shit,” Kaia wheezed as she stumbled, ankle twisting inward on the ridiculous heels she was still wearing. She pulled them off, collecting them in one hand. She had to find Orion and tell him the rest of the story before Loran destroyed everything. Would he even believe her, or would he think she was just trying to get back at Loran giving away her Upload plans?

She had to try.

When Kaia emerged from the bathroom into the hallway, Alina was already there, waiting for her.

“Are you okay?” she began fussing, touching Kaia right where a welt was blooming on her arm.

“I don’t have time for this,” Kaia brushed past her. “I have to find him.”

A stern, rattling voice down the hall had her look over Alina’s shoulder: “Probably down on the prison deck.”

Mare Halena stood in her floor-length emerald gown, her black hair pinned up with a brushed silver clasp. “Why would you tell me that?” Kaia was suspicious. Mare Halena had hoped Orion would ditch her this whole time, and now she was suddenly giving her tips? The commander rolled her eyes. “It’s much too late for petty drama, scavenger. You both have a job to do now.”

Kaia regarded her. Something was off, but she didn’t have the time or wherewithal to think about it. She bunched her dress up in her free hand and forced her pained limbs into as quick a jog as she could manage toward the elevator.

* * *

“Mrs. Halena.” The guard at the front desk gave her a curt nod, his expression betraying only a hint of surprise. Kaia reminded herself that as far as everyone else was concerned, she was the future commander’s spouse now. She had authority, at least until Orion announced her betrayal and cast her out.

“Is he here?”

The guard nodded. “In the reformation room.” A little more gently, he added, “You sure you wanna go in there?”

She wasn’t sure about much, she had no other choice. “Where?”

The guard pointed her off to a door on the left and closed his eyes momentarily. “Just unlocked it for you.”

The “reformation room” was covered in splatters of blood. She smelled it before she even registered it. It reminded her vaguely of the scent of exorin, only this was so, so much worse.

Orion was beating something on the floor, and even though the blood should’ve given it away, it took Kaia too long to realize it was a someone. The prisoner, presumably, was a huge man clutching his stomach, eyes shut as he took a blow to the head. The hit sent another splatter flying from his mouth across the floor, landing at Kaia’s feet. She only saw Orion’s back tensing as he worked. He bent down and grabbed the man’s red-soaked shirt, dragging him up with one hand. The other wound back, elbow cocking for a punch.

“Orion, stop.” Kaia slipped in all that red as she lurched forward. The man’s head made a pained cracking sound against the floor as Orion dropped him. When she wedged herself between them, Orion’s fist was still cocked. “Hit me. I’m the one you’re mad at.”

Teeth bared, he did as she suggested, that fist flying right at her face. It was only when he grabbed her jaw instead that she squinted one eye open. He lifted her off her feet and held her close, spittle flying at her face as he spoke: “You just want me to kill you, princess. Anything for Upload. You know it doesn’t work that way, right?”

“It’s not like that, Orion. What you said before… you were right,” Kaia rushed the words, knowing she had very limited time in which he’d listen—if he was listening at all. “My brother would want me to find it. Find New Earth. I know I lied. It was fucking stupid. I’ll leave. I’ll do whatever you want. But Loran—”

“Loran,” Orion spat. “I guess I know why you didn’t ask me to invite him yourself, huh? Afraid he was gonna spill your dirty little secret?”

He tossed her aside and rounded on her, forgetting the half-dead man on the ground for now. “No.” She struggled to pick herself up off the ground, her shoulders feeling like they were split open. “It’s worse.”

Orion cocked his head, a flicker of something human crossing his expression. “What could be fuckingworse, Kaia?”

“The plan was his. He’s here to destroyColossal. Destroy it and strip everything. He…. he hates the colonies. He planned for me to seduce you so he could have an in to the ship. It was that or an airlock.”

Orion’s hand slammed against the wall near her head. “What?”

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