The Opelux and Other Monsters || Book One

CHAPTER 44 - TRITTEON

"I'll do everything I can."

Her reassurance rang through my mind, filling me with more peace and hope than I had felt in a long time. The determination in her eyes had been entirely sincere. She wouldn't let Rilyin die if she had anything to say about it. And for some reason, that alone held more weight than any promise Rilyin had ever given me.

"What are you doing, Tritteon?"

I cut him a glance. "Excuse me?"

"I suppose I should've expected you'd be idiot enough I'd have to add a clause to my already commonsensical orders," Pharro growled. "But I suppose do not develop feelings for the Heir of ConCiagon can't be stated enough."

I stopped, throwing my senses up and down the hallway. But Pharro's shield was already in place. "What are you talking about?"

"Your actions are far too friendly."

"If you're talking about her hug—"

"I was there. I saw your reaction to it. But its more than that. While I'm relieved you're done trying to kill her—"

"I did kill her," I hissed, glaring at him.

"So, now that you've gotten it out of your system, you've decided to throw away all rules and regulations and—"

"I did nothing wrong—"

Pharro jabbed a finger against my chest. "You have never once displayed an ounce of fondness toward any one of your friends. You leave in a year, FengDohrn. Under no circumstance can she develop feelings for you. Convincing her to take on this duty is going to be difficult enough without fighting against such an unnecessary complication."

"She is supposed to be my partner. I will not give her the cold shoulder only to appease your paranoia—"

"You've been doing it this entire time! No need to stop now."

I held the violet creeping along the edges of my vision at bay. "What would you have had me do? Shove her away?"

He reached behind him and pulled the portal door open. "Don't give her reason enough to think such an action is okay."

"She saved my life, Gonreem. I will not—"

A deep, red glow burned to life in Pharro's eyes. "That is an order, Nazonna. Not a choice. I don't care what sort of obligations you are under back in Verse, you do anything to compromise her and you won't live long enough to fulfill them."

The full weight of his words clamped down on something inside my chest, a vicious tautness that shivered beneath my skin, across the tips of my scales. I lowered my gaze before he could see it in my eyes and nodded slowly. "Yes, sir."

The threat didn't leave his eyes, but the glow faded, and he flicked his fingers, breaking his shield, and stepped through into the glowing, white hallway.

I closed the door behind myself, cracking my neck to ease some of the tension building in it, and squeezed my eyes shut against the persistent spots that hadn't entirely disappeared since I'd first stood up.

Pharro stopped in front of the towering, holding cell door, looking around. It was unguarded. The Kovei were gone.

The hair on my neck rose. I breathed in, tasting the air. Burnt flesh. The smell was so faint it would've been missed by anyone else. I heard only the thoughts of the three FengDohrn still in their cells on the other side of the doors.

Pharro touched the wall beside the door and a square section slid away to reveal a small screen. He pressed his palm to it, punched in a code, and the door let out a hiss. And a curling, acrid, gray smoke burst out, rushing over both of us before we could react.

Pharro spun around, burying his face inside his suit coat.

There was a brief moment, not even a second, I hesitated, his threat still a poisonous talon buried in my gut, ringing and shredding through my head. I knew from the burning sizzle across my skin, hotter even than the rain outside, I had only to leave him behind and he would no longer be a problem. But I couldn't take on the threat against us alone. All these years, it had taken both of us to get as far as we'd gotten. Until it came time to assume my responsibilities at home, Rilyin's safety was my only priority. And Pharro was a critical part of that.

My training took over.

I grabbed him and jerked him to the floor, my transparent, third eyelid sliding into place to protect my eyes, and held my breath, wishing I had taken a deeper one. My skin might have been on fire and my limbs shook from exertion as I dragged Pharro further into the holding cell until the smoke in front of us cleared and I found our way blocked.

It looked like the body of a Kovei. But it was shriveled, black charcoal. One touch and it would crumble to ash.

I pushed myself up just enough to see over the body, careful to stay just below the poisonous smoke a foot and a half above us. There were at least seven other bodies littering the ground in our path.

Pharro dragged himself up alongside me. "That was—quick thinking. Well—done," he choked out, his voice raspy.

I looked back—and grimaced at what I saw.

Every inch of the man's exposed skin was a deep red, dark blisters already bubbling across it. From the way his eyes scanned me, I doubted I looked any better.

"Stay here. I will check his cell."

Pharro nodded, stifling his hacking cough in the crook of his arm.

Keeping to my stomach, I pulled myself around the Kovei's body and wound my way through the others. After passing the fourth, the smoke had lifted enough to get to my knees, and I made it over the remaining three and down the steps into the trench with ease.

From one end of the trench to the other, fifteen Kovei bodies littered the ground in their charcoal state, four piles of ash surrounding Daniel's cell. But the door was closed.

I crept forward, keeping low, although the smoke was now several feet above my head. I couldn't see or hear anyone, but I couldn't shake the feeling someone was watching.

I brought up the control screen and the one-way-window. Daniel sat in the middle of the pod, facing the door, his eyes closed, eyeballs dancing furiously behind his eyelids.

I had already been tricked once. I wasn't taking any chances this time. I brought up the power levels in the pod and sent an electric current into the floor. I probably should have been ashamed of the immense satisfaction I felt when Daniel's body seized violently and he toppled sideways. But I really didn't care.

Daniel turned his head enough to spit blood onto the floor. I read his lips easily.

"Theena or Tritteon?"

I had no desire to exchange a single word with him. But even if I did, I wouldn't have been able to.

A solid mass sidelined me, slamming me into the wall of the trench. The spots in my vision turned into fireworks and claws sliced up my back and I landed hard on a Kovei that poofed into dust beneath me. I couldn't hear my attacker's thoughts and I hadn't realized how weak I still was. I couldn't fight with my usual speed or strength, so I would have to rely on training alone.

I rolled as my attacker stomped a foot down where my leg had been and kicked out, connecting with a knee. There was a sickening crack and Angquin screamed and fell toward me, her black eyes wide and staring. I grabbed her hair and brought my knee into her face, knocking her out instantly.

I sat up slowly, laying her gently onto the ash covered ground.

"Quin," I whispered, brushing black strands of hair from her pallid face. Her nose bled freely, clearly broken, and there was a greenish tint to her skin. Her right arm was scarred over, and her pinky stuck out at an unnatural angle. How had Daniel been able to control her from his cell?

I grabbed my com.

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