Page 86 of Lies That Bleed
He scanned her face and went pale. “Your med?—”
“Shh,” she hissed, widening hereyes, and guilt crossed his features as he peered at me and anyone else in earshot.
“Your medical tape? For that cut?” he said.
She nodded, but it was clearly a cover-up for something else.
Tetra and I shared a look. I wanted so badly to talk to my bestie about this. What were they hiding? Was it those chewy candy things I saw her taking that day in The Wilds? They seemed pretty important. I wondered if they were medicinal, a drug maybe? If you had a drug problem, the Imperial Fleet would throw you out.
Kohen met me gaze, as if pleading me not to say anything.
“What did you lose?” I asked Anika. I wasn’t going to cover for some druggie. My life might be in her hands one day, and if she had a problem it needed to get sorted out now.
Her nostrils flared. “Nothing.”
‘Kohen says drop it,’Liana told me.
Hah! He was sending me messages through Onyx.
‘Is it drugs? I’m not covering for an addict,’I shot back through Liana.
Kohan hadn’t dropped my gaze and the deep stare was having an effect on me. Why was he so gorgeous? And why did he have to tell me that our futures were intertwined? Now it was all I could think about. What he kissed like, how in the hell we would ever end up together, why I would beg him to protect me one day?I wanted to know everything and nothing at the same time.
‘It’s drugs, but not the kind you think,’Liana said.‘It’s medicine for a condition she is hiding from the Fleet.’
I frowned then, and he widened his eyes as if begging me to drop it.
Liana added her own two cents:‘He’s telling the truth.’
Yeah. And hiding something from the Fleet.
“Let’s move out. We are still under the clock,” I announced, even though technically I wasn’t one of the leaders. Kohen and Anika appeared relieved that I had dropped the subject, and everyone packed up their stuff.
Over the next hour I watched as Kohen walked extra close to Anika, keeping his hands stiff as if he were ready to catch her at any moment. Stupid, treacherous jealously rushed through me. I hated that I cared so much. He was literally the crowned prince of Imbria, the country that murdered thousands of my people in a terrorist attack. Our hostile takeover of their land made our peoples hate each other. We were enemies at best. I shouldn’t be feeling what I felt about him, about any of them. Did it make me a traitor to the fallen Amerseans? The ones who lost their lives that night?
‘That was years ago,’Liana said.‘Maybe it’s time to move on and mend bridges. When you are empress oneday, maybe your legacy will be uniting the peoples of Imbria and Amersea. Healing the past.’
Either I was thinking loudly or she could read my mind. I didn’t want to know if it was the latter.
‘Maybe. Or maybe this is a long game he’s playing.’I watched as Kohen sent another worried glance at Anika.‘Maybe he doesn’t see the future. Or he does but he’s lied about the parts where he sees us together. He’s playing on my emotions so that he can get the ultimate revenge for my father killing his.’
‘If that’s the case, I’ll tear out his intestines with my talons and sprinkle them over the skies of Imbria.’
My eyes widened.‘Whoa, Liana, too dark,’I joked, laughing in my head.
But I could feel the seriousness from her.‘If anyone threatens your life, I end theirs. That’s a promise,’she said, and the statement brought me comfort. Especially since there were so many people trying to kill me.
The trek was long, and my wrist still hurt, which told me it was healing wrong and would need to be reset and casted. Just like Kohen said.
I peered over at him just as Anika dropped to the ground with a thump. One second she was standing and the next she went limp, crumpling into a heap as her body hit the earth. Kohen reached for her instinctively but was unable to catch her.
The second she hit the ground, everyone stopped. Kohen fell to his knees and took her head in his lap just as her body began to convulse. Her eyes rolled into theback of her skull; her back arched and she thrashed around.
This must be related to whatever was in those chewy candies she was always taking, the ones missing from her bag now.
“Shhh.” Kohen stroked her forehead and I wanted it to be me. I wanted to be the one he was touching, and I hated myself for it.
“Is she okay?” I knelt beside them both, guilt washing over me for even thinking she was a drug addict.
