Page 79 of Elas (Mate’s Mark #2)

Elas

Flames lick the bottom of a large pot of oatmeal as we make a circle around the fire pit.

Everyone sits on the ground or uses the rocks for chairs, while August perches in my lap.

Xeni is across from us, slightly removed from the group, leaning against a trunk and refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.

Instead, he picks at the grass beneath him.

He looks so lost in his own head that even I can’t help feeling sorry for him.

Nyx emerges from the forest with Cameron and Ronan at his side, but when he spots Xeni, a pained whine leaves his throat. His entire body locks up stiff. Xeni’s face tightens further when he glances up to see him, and quickly stares at the ground once more.

Ronan kneels, speaking to Nyx in low, calming tones.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to be here,” Ronan whispers to him in our language, and Xeni’s ears perk up as he listens.

“It’s alright not to trust him just because we say you can.

You’re free here. Free to do whatever you choose, and if you’d rather not be part of the conversation, that’s fine. It’s always your choice.”

Eventually, Nyx calms down enough to respond with a few broken words. “I trust… I trust you ,” he whispers to Ronan, his long fingers absently gripping the hem of Ronan’s shirt like a security blanket. “I trust you to keep me safe.”

“Of course I’ll keep you safe,” Ronan responds, his voice thicker than usual.

The tiny Drüinae brings forth a fierce sense of protectiveness from all of us, and he seems to realize that as he glances around the group.

Surprisingly, Lillith doesn’t seem to bother him.

She lies flat on her back with her head in Taryn’s lap, smiling up at the sky as the clouds roll past. Taryn runs her hands through Lillith’s short hair, focused intently even though the conversation hasn’t started yet.

Reyes sits to my right, eyes locked on Nyx as he speaks with Ronan and Cameron.

Eventually, they join us with Cameron taking the spot to my left.

Nyx stands in the shadows, like a forest nymph that’s as much a part of the trees as he is the group.

He’s nearly invisible, and can only be seen when the light shifts in certain directions.

After what we saw at Ljómur, after knowing what he spent a lifetime experiencing… I don’t blame him for being wary.

Ronan dishes breakfast, narrowing his eyes at Lillith before tossing an extra scoop of oats into her bowl.

She’s extraordinarily pleased at this, showing off her overflowing dish to Taryn with a cheerful smile.

Conversations murmur in a lull as everyone eats, and once our bellies are full, we share everything that happened at Ljómur .

The story is told in fragments as we move between our different experiences. The bulk of the talking is done by me and August, but Xeni chimes in to add bits of information as needed. Taryn and Lillith share their account, and the whole of the picture finally forms.

“But why?” Ronan crosses his arms. “What could be worth all the sacrifices?”

Xeni shifts uncomfortably and his gaze meets mine before his eye flicks away. Our conversation as he was opening my cage comes rushing back. “You know what they were doing, don’t you?” I ask, and he purses his lips and chews on the inside of his cheek. “What was all this about?”

He deflates, crossing his arms and choking out a bitter laugh. “Fuck it. It’s not like I can put a bigger target on myself, can I?”

“Enough with the dramatics,” I taunt, and August squeezes my hand with a sigh.

Xeni glares at me again before staring at his fidgeting fingers. “They’re trying to reopen the passageways.”

Dead silence falls over the group until Xeni takes a deep breath and continues.

“Years ago, when I was stationed at Ljómur, I was… close with a scientist. The Commander divided the tasks, so no one really knew the full scope of what they were working on, only their individual pieces. But he failed to realize that the scientists were friends, too, and eventually, some of them compared notes and figured out their plan... or at least, what they assumed it was. ”

“This whole time, they’ve been trying to reopen the portals?” Ronan asks, and when Xeni nods, Ronan’s lips pull even tighter. “How?”

“That’s what they were trying to figure out,” Xeni says, dragging a stick through the loose dirt at his feet.

“Everything was on a need-to-know basis. Scientists weren’t aware of the methods we were using on the subj—” He falters, a grimace tugging on his face as he glances between August, Taryn, and Lillith, and finally Nyx at the treeline.

“They didn’t know what techniques were being used on the prisoners,” he corrects softly.

“And we had no idea what they were doing in their labs. All the years I was there, I was never once allowed inside that hallway.”

“Why did you agree to do such awful things?” I snarl, and his eye narrows as he glares at me.

“Are you telling me you never did anything you regret for them, Elas? You didn’t kill or imprison anyone? Your conscience never keeps you awake at night?”

“Of course I did, but—”

“No fucking buts!” he seethes, and I’m taken aback by the vitriol in his tone.

“We all did shit we aren’t proud of, man.

Life happens at a rate we can’t stop, and sometimes it takes longer to open your eyes than we’d like to admit.

Stop nailing me to a fucking cross when you’re as guilty as I am.

” My lip rips up in a snarl, but the argument is lost on my tongue as I glare.

Because he’s right.

As much as I hate to acknowledge it, I’ve done just as many terrible things in the name of service .

August puts a soft hand on my arm, jolting me out of my head as he gives me a small smile. His eyes move to Xeni. “What changed your mind?”

“What do you mean?” Xeni asks warily.

“You said that life opened your eyes. What happened?”

Xeni’s jaw tenses, his long white hair falling in a curtain over his shoulders as he stares at the ground. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

August gulps and hesitates, but takes a deep breath before asking, “Does it have anything to do with that m—”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it!” Xeni snarls, and if it weren’t for August’s insistent grip digging into my wrist, I’d be on him already.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, my question was unnecessary. I shouldn’t have asked.” Xeni stares at August for a long second before nodding curtly.

Ronan clears his throat, tossing me a pointed look that means we’ll be discussing this more in private later. “Why would the military care if the portals were active? If our world was destroyed—”

“That’s just it, though,” Xeni interrupts with a humorless laugh. “I don’t think it was.”

Thick silence descends on the group as we all take a moment to process his words. “Why?” I ask, and his head tilts as he raises a brow at me. “Why don’t you think it was destroyed?”

Xeni shrugs, his eye falling back to the ground beneath him. “I mean, as evil as these fuckers were, they weren’t dumb. ”

Ronan barks out an obnoxious laugh. “Not dumb? Khors ?”

Xeni shakes his head. “He wasn’t always in charge there. A decade or so ago, the existing commander disappeared one night and Khors was in her seat not three days later.”

“You think she was killed?” Cameron asks, and Xeni nods.

“It’s the only thing that makes sense. That’s when they started moving the rest of us away into new positions.

It took a while, several years, but we all noticed.

How could we not, when it had been the same crew for twenty years and suddenly we’re all being reassigned?

My opinion? They were getting close to making some sort of discovery, and someone wanted to be at the wheel when the breakthrough happened. ”

“But the Fates told us our world was destroyed,” Ronan argues, and Xeni snorts.

“Says who?”

Ronan hesitates, glancing at me before asking, “You think leadership lied to us?”

Xeni releases another hateful laugh. “Of course they did. They’ve been lying to us from the beginning, and they’ll lie to us until the very end.”

“Most of the openings became the bases,” I say as I dig through my memories.

“Back at Ljómur, I got a small glimpse of the equipment inside that hallway. They were big and bulky, and would’ve stood out in a second.

I’m positive that I’ve never seen something like that being used anywhere on base, and I’ve been stationed at Glaston for most of my life.

Something that out of place would’ve attracted a lot of attention.

” Ronan nods beside me, and even though he didn’t see the equipment I did, he’s observant.

He would’ve noticed anything out of the ordinary.

“They wouldn’t have done it where there would be witnesses,” Xeni says, a touch of impatience in his voice. “They would’ve used smaller portals—forgotten ones that aren’t monitored.”

“Okay, so where are they?” I ask, matching his level of irritation.

Xeni rolls his single eye up into his skull with a sigh. “If I had that information, don’t you think I would’ve just said so?”

“I won’t pretend to understand how your mind works.” The snark in my tone is thick, and he shakes his head as he crosses his arms over his chest. Before I can continue, the pad of soft footsteps catches my attention.

Nyx moves closer to the group, small streams of light brushing over his deep green skin.

He swallows roughly, his gaze glued to where his bare feet rest on the ground.

For a moment, I think he’s going to change his mind and run, but he glances up, his eyes moving past me and landing on Reyes to my left.

Reyes gives him a soft smile, and Nyx swallows again.

“They took me,” he finally whispers. “Many times. To places that felt… magic. Special.” Ronan and I exchange a glance, and Xeni stares at Nyx. “They told me to change them, but I didn’t know h-h-how.”

“You think these were portals?” I ask as Ronan translates to the others. “They were trying to get you to open up the passageways? ”

“Yes,” Nyx says, his fingers fidgeting with the end of his shirt. “They took me to many,” he repeats. “And I could take you there, too.”