Page 46 of The Quoram Effect

Before we’d entered the jet, he removed all my daggers and guns hidden on my body, plus my comms. I didn’t argue. Thesane half of me knew the other half was teetering on delusion. But surprisingly, he broke protocol and left my wrists unbound. And when we arrived on the Argentum’s Delta Ring, confusion alerted me as he led me to my apartment, rather than the detention block on Level Two.

Regardless of the softer touches to my arrest, a cold numbness settled over me by the time Saul had swept my living space for weapons. He even confiscated the kitchen scissors and carving knife in case I decided to utilise them.

My front door was now locked and guarded from the outside. I hadn’t argued with that either.

Alone, I stood at the inwardly curved window in the same way I did in my dreams, watching the beautiful silver-and-purple world rotating below. But this wasn’t a dream. I knew the Damson God wouldn’t appear. And I didn’t want him to.

Emotional fatigue swamped me, making my vision cloudy and my limbs heavy, but I couldn’t sleep—too afraid the meddling god would show up. And when exhaustion turned to despair, the looming tears I’d repressed for days still refused to break free.

After two hours of torturous solitude, a gnarling knot twisted in the pit of my stomach, and I knew Torz had returned to the Argentum. Anger, grief, apprehension—they relentlessly poured into me. That’s when each dreaded thought slashed forward, every anxious nerve heightened, sending me into a spiralling state of panic.

Gods, what does he think of me? First the Q relapse; now this.

Biting my nails, I waited nervously for what felt like another two hours. But when the mechanical lock clicked and I whirled toward the entrance, I was still unprepared for what was to follow.

As the door hissed open, my heart clattered about like a piece of broken glass inside an empty jar. Torz slipped into my apartment, not meeting my gaze until he’d closed and securedthe sliding panel behind him. He still wore his dress uniform, although now jacketless with his grey tie loose and black shirt sleeves rolled up, exposing the wrist support around his left forearm.

With his hands in his pockets, and scowling at me with scrutiny, his quiet rumble carried an anguished heaviness. “What’s going on with you, Rems?”

I found no words to justify a response and simply stared at him, hoping—praying—he’d understand, that my behaviour earlier wasn’t how it looked; that I wasn’t losing my mind. A moment of prolonged silence stretched between us, tightening with each second.

“Talk to me!” he snapped, his voice bellowing around the room in a tone that both startled and frightened me. “What were you thinking? You showed me and Delta Ring up in front of the entire government body! Tarnished our team’s name. They all now assume it wasyouwho sent Marla Hyde death threats. So you need to tell me what the hell you were doing. Is it true?”

“No!” Tears lingered at the back of my eyes, battling against the anger and disappointment streaming through our bond. “I know what it looks like, but I…I was trying to protect Marla. For your sake.”

“By aiming your gun at her head?” His eyes flashed with outrage.

“No, I was…I was aiming at the man who was aiming his gun at her! Torz, please…please believe me!”

He paused, his expression shifting to one of alarm...or was it understanding? “What man?”

“He was tall with long silver hair. He was standing right in front of me.” As the words left my mouth, the absurdity of them hit home. But I was adamant the Damson God had been in that function room and preparing to kill the woman Torz was blackmailed to protect.

Torz fell silent, and his wide-eyed expression ignited a tiny beacon of hope within me.

“He was there, Torz. I’m not making this up.” Pushing my palms into my eyes, I groaned. “I’m not going mad.”

Warm fingers gently pried my hands from my face, and I found Torz standing before me, his countenance softened to a troubled frown.

“That man,” he whispered. “Did he have unnaturally purple eyes?”

“Yes.”Yes!

He cursed. “I may have…I may have seen him, too. Moments before you appeared at Marla’s table.”

Stunned, my gasp stuck in my throat, questioning if I’d heard him correctly. I searched his face for a semblance of understanding, but mentally froze when he eventually said, “That man invades my dreams. He’s a figment of my imagination.”

“Your dreams?” My body surged with a mixture of delight and apprehension. “He visits mine, too.”

“He’s not real, Rems.” Torz took two steps back, his gaze turning dark and haunting. “And it doesn’t matter if some mythical god is messing with both our heads; we need to face facts. You committed an indictable offence. You were on the cusp of murdering someone. And not just anyone—a government official.”

“I wasn’t going to kill her!”

“I don’t think the court judges will see it that way.”

My head pounded. Hell, my life was over. My career, my home, gone. They would be ripped from me, along with Torz.

“The admiral and Zuli have offered you two options.” Torz raked his fingers through his hair, his mannerism shifting to the brink of awkwardness. “The first is to stand trial, to which youwill be found guilty of attempted murder. Because, believe it or not, no one else saw the silver-haired assassin.”