Page 53 of Lies That Bind
“Get used to it,” the commander snapped and then left to go give the order.
Elaine and Caruso left next, Elaine squeezing my shoulder as she passed, and then I made my way to my room.
Two days of hiding out down here with no more lessons. That sounded incredibly boring.
That night, I lay awake around midnight, having trouble falling asleep. There had been another explosion, not as big as the one before, but enough to knock the chess pieces over on the board in the corner.
A small tap came at my door and I grabbed my dagger, padding over to it.
“Who is it?” I asked, refusing to open it until Elaine or whoever it was announced themselves.
“Your soulmate,” Kohen said from the other side, and I grinned, pulling the door open.
“You’re so cheesy,” I told him.
“You love it,” he winked, slipping inside after looking up and down the hallway. I shut the door quickly behind him.
“You can’t be seen in here!” I hissed but secretly relished the fact that he was here.
He nodded. “I know. That’s why I have been casing out the hallway for the past forty-five minutes.”
My heart ratcheted up a notch. Being stuck with Kohen in a broom closet was one thing, but my bedroom was another. If someone saw, they could say we’d slept together. It would be the end of my reputation as?—
“Oh, do you play chess?” Kohen walked over to the board and sat down.
Get out of your head, Aisling,I scolded myself.
Walking over to the chessboard, I sat before it. “I‘ve been playing since I was three. My tutor was the grandmaster of Riverine.” I moved the black pawn forward one space, and Kohen grinned.
He moved his white pawn forward opposite mine. “I may not have had fancy tutors, but I’ve also been playing chess since I was small. My father taught me, and then after he… passed, we all played in the orphanage.”
Passed was a nicer term thanmurdered. My fathermurderedhis. It was the unspoken thing between us.
“About the orphanage,” I said, changing the subject. “I thought we paid for you and your brothers to be properly schooled and raised and stuff.” I wasn’t really sure what kind of childhood he had. The Blackout started a war with Imbria that took us five years to win, ending with my father killing his. Kohen would have been about ten at the time.
I moved my rook next, and he snort-laughed, quickly pulling out his knight and taking my pawn. Dammit, I was distracted.
“My little brothers and I were thrown into an orphanage in the slums. We went to a government school with all the other poor kids. I was given no special treatment.”
I continued to play chess, but my heart wasn’t in it. I was thinking about him growing up without parents because of my father.
Kohen shrugged at my silence. “Turns out I didn’t need special treatment.”
I shifted uncomfortably. He wasn’t saying anything mean, but I still felt bad. It was my father’s fault he didn’t have the childhood he would have had his father still been alive.
“I… I’m sorry for judging you and your friends when I first met you. I was taught wrong,” I admitted, unable to meet his gaze. My father told me that Imbrians couldn’t be trusted. That they all hated us and would turn on us at any moment. He was wrong.
Kohen’s hand slipped across the table and found mine as I moved to pick up a bishop. “I know. It’s okay.”
I finally looked up into his eyes, and all I found was compassion. I didn’t deserve him. I found myself thinking about his gift and all of the visions he’d had about us. I prayed they were true. Every single one.
“If you could give your power back, would you?” I asked.
He froze, contemplating that. “Yes.”
I cocked my head to the side in surprise. “The other day you said you liked having your power. That it allowed you to relive the good moments.”
He nodded, his face appearing void of emotion. “But it also allows me to see the bad, Aisling.”
