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“Hey, wait,” she says, her brow furrowed with worry. “You don’t have to leave. I didn’t mean to offend you, I just want to be sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine,” I repeat and stalk from the room.
CHAPTER 10
ALANA
“I’m fine,” Karvex growls and stalks from the room, leaving me alone on the crumpled bed.
My shoulders still feel the strength of his grip as he shook me awake. What the hell was that about?
I don’t understand. I was just trying to help. The barely restrained anger in his eyes still terrifies me.
I play back the scene in my head, trying to work out what I did wrong. I can see nothing that should have invoked such wrath. But a sneaky seed of doubt lurks in my mind. If I did nothing wrong, why do I feel so guilty?
The strange encounter has left me shaken. He was so sure he was someone else. One of the magnificent Ishani, famed for their love and beauty. How can that possibly be?
I’ve always been drawn to stories of the Ishani. ‘The Race of Angels,’ brutally crushed in a war that wasn’t theirs. But I’d never heard of survivors from the utter devastation of their planet. And Karvex certainly doesn’t have the visage of an angel.
And yet a memory flashes to mind of the first time I saw him, outside the casino vault. For a brief second, I swore I saw him with beautiful golden skin.
I need more answers, and I’m not going to get them sitting here alone.
I dress hurriedly and pull a blanket from the bed to guard me against the chill of the night.
I know instinctively where I will find Karvex. He always did love to sit under the stars when he needed to think. The thought comes unbidden to my mind. A knowledge that is mine and yet not mine. I don’t know what the fuck’s happened to me since Karvex dragged me from my life on Gur. Everything I once held true is coming unraveled.
Or maybe it’s me that banged my head in the crash. I feel like I’m going a little crazy. Could this be a simple concussion?
I don’t believe it is, but I reach up and check my head just in case. There is no pain nor unexpected lumps. Besides, the weirdness started before the crash. The inexplicable bond I’ve felt from the moment Karvex found me.
Just as I predicted, I find him sitting on a bench in the hotel courtyard.
I throw the blanket around his shoulders as I sit down next to him. He left the room without a shirt or jacket, and his skin feels chilly as he leans into the warmth of me. My arm snakes around behind him, my hand running over the bony protrusions that run down his back.
It makes me feel reassured and safe as he puts his arm protectively around my shoulders. I hadn’t realized how unsettled his dream had made me.
“I believe you,” I say quietly.
He hugs me a little closer to his side, and for a while, we simply sit and stare out at the rocky landscape.
“I can see it, too. You as an Ishani. I believe you, though I don't know why. I shouldn’t. It's insane. But I know it's real somehow.”
When he speaks, his words come from far away, like he’s only partly here with me. “We were Ishani,” he says. “All of the Reapers. The war changed us. Their toxic weapons.”
“Tell me what you know about the Ishani,” I urge.
“I know that the Ishani tried to help resolve the cursed war between the Ataxian Coalition and the Trident Alliance. It was tearing at the very fabric of the Universe. The weapons they were using were hurting things in more ways than they could possibly understand. But they wouldn’t listen.”
I squeeze his hand in silence.
“And then we began to catch it from them. We argued, some of us taking sides. We fought each other, and they were quick to fan the flames. Before long, they turned their weapons on the Ishani and destroyed everything.”
I already knew some of this from the stories I’d heard. I had always hated both sides for their actions. Most humans did, as we were losers no matter which side would come out ahead.
What they did to the Ishani, however, had always settled particularly painfully in my gut. I never knew why. All I knew was that they had destroyed something priceless and beautiful when they destroyed the Ishani and their home planet. The bitterness in Karvex's voice tells me he feels the same way.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I remember it now,” he says. “At least some of it. It wasn’t a dream, not totally. It was a memory, too.”
