Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
With that, she unsheathes her electric rapier and rushes at Kail.
He is not given a choice. He is forced to fight or be run through with a blade of pure energy.
Kail ducks and dives under her outstretched arm, grabbing her by the ankles as he goes, and taking her off her feet. Siryn lands heavily on her ass, and I have to hide a snort of laughter behind Nemo, who is laughing and clapping his hands at this sight. I have to hope his presence will keep this from becoming truly bloody, though I know there is a chance Siryn will try to take out her frustration and anger at me out on Kail.
“Are we done?” He asks the question while standing over her. He extends a gallant hand to help her get up.
“In one exchange? No, we are not done,” Siryn laughs, ignoring his hand and rolling backward away from him before kipping up to her feet. “Take up a weapon, savage.”
“I don’t use weapons.”
“You can’t kill everything with your bare hands.”
“History shows otherwise,” he replies.
I can see a grudging respect in Siryn’s eyes.
“I do not have beef with you, savage,” she says. “And it is not you I truly need to test.”
Kail
The sentiment is well and good, but the language must change.
“My name is Kail. Savage is what the Colony calls my kind, and I am the last of my kind.”
“Kail,” she says. “I am sorry. What the Colony does to the species it meets is unforgivable.”
I nod in agreement, feeling no need to elaborate even in agreement. The sorrows of my past are mine to bear, and I have no wish to bring them fresh life by recounting them. I find Siryn’s presence comfortable, and though her port is strange to me, there is a certain homeyness to it that carries through into this house. It feels like a safe place. For the first time since the Colony came into my life, I feel myself relax thoroughly and properly, tension I had forgotten I was holding flowing out of my muscles.
I am home.
I cast a glance over at Tarni, who does not look so relaxed. She is very nervous in Siryn’s company, and perhaps in mine.
I am not pleased that she did not tell me where we were going, or that we were going to someone who she had previously worked on under the Colony’s rule. This situation could have been, and still could be unspeakably dangerous. Tarni does well to avoid my gaze.
“That,” Siryn says, gesturing to Tarni with the point of her blade, “is trouble.”
“I know,” I agree. There is no point claiming otherwise. These two clearly have a longstanding association.
“Let me see you handle her,” Siryn says. “I trust your prowess in battle, but even the strongest warrior can be undone by that human. I want to see some sign she is under control, her natural treachery moderated by submission.”
Tarni
Kail looks at me with an expression that does not bode well at fucking all.
“I had planned to deal with her for not telling me the truth of where we were going,” Kail says. “Or who we were going to see. It may as well be before you, we won’t be exposing anything you haven’t already seen.”
“No. Come on. Guys. Please…” I back away from them both, my hands raised.
“Don’t even think about it,” Siryn says. She caught my glance toward the window. Unfortunately for her, I have already thought about it. Not only have I thought about it, but I’ve planned it. I know exactly how many steps I need to get to it, and how fast I need to move to leap out of it.
Pirates scatter in surprise as I come out the window like a missile, tucking into a tight ball before scampering along the docks.
Kail
“I should have anticipated that,” Siryn says with a half-shrug as Tarni disappears out the window. “She used to do that a lot. She is an expert at deserving punishment, and an even greater expert at escaping that punishment. Shall we go find her?”
“I don’t think we need to hunt her,” I reply. “We are here. Nemo is here. She is not going anywhere. She will have to come home soon enough, and when she does, she will submit obediently.”
I almost believe myself as I say those words. Maybe Tarni is changing me. I don’t believe for a second she intends to come and submit obediently. I do think she will eventually return, likely by stealth, and I think when she does she will expect the trouble to have passed.
“You’re not as good a liar as she is,” Siryn says. “Tarni has no shame.”
“I think she has a lot of shame,” I reply. “I think she is ashamed of every breath she takes.”
Siryn cocks her head at me. “You’re quite intelligent, aren’t you. And you know her well. I am glad she found someone like you. I do not know what fate had in store for her otherwise. The Colony used her like a whore.”