Page 11 of Gemini
“See, I think I am right.” He glared at me. “You killed them all, but it was not enough to quench your need to spill blood.”
“Me staying is pointless,” he added.
I chuckled, shaking my head. “Why, because you cannot understand each other?” Nitochi grunted. “Wendy is right, I can translate. Or do the sign thing, even though I am not sure what she meant by that.”
He let out an annoyed sigh as he stood back up, leaving the stones on the floor next to the fire.
“I will go. It will not take long and she will barely notice that I am gone.”
The slices of meat that Nitochi prepared now on the pan, I placed it on the fire and scoffed. “She will.”
That stopped him in his tracks. He froze and turned his face just enough to look at me from the corner of his eyes.
“I mean, you are the one who rescued her,” I added, my voice lowering as I focused on the sizzling meat. “The first of us she met.”
“Bae—”
“I know it was not what we agreed on when we accepted this…experiment. But this is how it happened.” I met his gaze head on. “Your part of our soul will take the lead in this union.”
The muscle in his jaw ticked. “Is this why you wanted to wait until morning for the rescue?” he asked.
I gave him a sad smile. “Yes. But you were right. And if you had not gone, she might not have been here anymore. So I know we agreed I was to take the lead, but now it has to be you.”
His throat bobbed, hands flexed. “Are you okay with this?”
I shrugged again, not sure what to do with my body. I needed time. Time to accept that she would grow closer to him than me, when I was the one who hadpushed for this to happen. “I am. Because it means she is alive, and with us. Areyouokay with this?”
The expression on his face shifted, like he was not sure himself what to think of all this. “It is not set in stone,” he said. “We cannot understand each other and who knows when that will be fixed. I will make myself scarce and—”
“Stop acting like a child,” I deadpanned. “It is the way the souls of our people work.”
“Icannotbe the lead in this union,” he snapped. “I am not—”
“If you start talking nonsense about not beinggoodenough, I will push you down the damn cliff.” Nitochi rolled his eyes. “Yes, I know you can fly, but it will relieve my nerves.”
“It is not—notthat I am not good enough. I just…Every human we ever met saw me as a monster. One even shrieked and prayed to his god that I would noteathim.Shewas terrified of me when—”
“She was terrified, period. Put yourself in her place! Alone, prisoner of a bunch of other humans on a strange planet. She had no idea who we were—whoyouwere when you killed all of them and took her away.”
His face softened, like he was replaying the whole event in his head. She did not seemtooscared when they arrived, he must have shown her the paper. She must have figured out who he was at some point on their way back here.
“I…am scared. I was not supposed to take the lead, she—”
“Shewillnotice if you take off,” I repeated. His hand flexed again, the thought not sitting right with him. “You are the lead. Accept it, and learn to act like it.”
He cursed, turning his face away from me. He was still cursing when he turned his back to the opening on the outside and walked toward the tunnels. Toward thebaths.
7
Midnight black.
Nitochi
Ihad absolutely no clue what I was going to do once I arrived there. At the pool. Where my human female was—the human female who did not understandmebecause, as the hunter and provider of our soul union, I was never meant to be in contact with other humans much and never bothered to learn their language.
It was supposed to be Baelor.
She was supposed to behisbefore being mine, so his part of our soul would take the damn lead. All unions led by the mindful instead of the raw, overly emotional one were happier.Our parents, being one of them.
