Page 49

“ S he’s coming round.” A familiar voice thumps into my head as I open my eyes.

My vision clears, and I see Rosalie, Scarlett, and Maggie staring down at me.

“What the fuck happened?” I sit up. The planet spins wildly and I lie down again.

“Give it a few minutes,” Maggie says. “We were all knocked sick by that stuff for a while too.”

I grip at Rosalie’s arm. “I’m so pleased I found you.”

“This is starting to become a habit,” she says with a smile which is slightly forced. “I feed you once and you follow me home.”

I chuckle, but it turns into a rasping cough which shakes my body for too long a time. When I’m done, I can hardly breathe.

“That didn’t happen to us,” Lydia says, looking down on me with concern.

“I’ll be fine.” I roll onto my side. “I was coming to find you anyway, so the Veseli saved me a job.”

Rosalie helps me sit up.

“I’m not sure your attempts to help us have improved our circumstances,” Maggie says. “The Sarkarnii seemed unprepared for the cockroaches.”

“That’s because it’s an old enemy they thought they had conquered.” I sigh, my ribs aching.

I continue to feel nauseous, not necessarily from whatever the Veseli gave me, but from the knowledge I was unconscious until I got here.

I don’t know what they did to me in the interim. And worse, I’ve been handled by massive cockroaches. It’s enough to turn anyone’s stomach.

“It seems to me the Sarkarnii are too full of themselves,” Scarlett says darkly. “They think they have everything under control.”

“Everything except themselves.” Maggie answers for me. “You can’t possibly be that feral and not have enemies.”

“Why did they think they had conquered them?” Rosalie asks.

“Because they thought they’d killed them all.”

“Proves my point,” Maggie says.

“I’d knew you’d be defending them given you’re doing the nasty with one.” Scarlett turns to me.

“I prefer dragon men over cockroaches any day,” I reply, glaring at her.

There’s a chorus of agreement around the room. “Especially as they’re considerably easier on the eye,” Maggie says.

“And an aversion to clothing.” Rosalie nods sagely. “Such a shame for them.”

Scarlett looks around us all, her lips pursed. Lydia bursts out with a laugh which is on the edge.

“Have you been here the whole time?” I ask, looking around the weird buff colored room.

It’s circular and there’s no sign of any furniture. Or a door. In the center is a flat black circular stone. On the top is a clear container which has liquid in it.

“Not the whole time. We were taken out of the Sarkarnii ship and then drugged like you. When we came round, we were in a white room,” Rosalie says. “Then we were brought here when we were all mobile.”

“To say it’s shit is an understatement,” Maggie adds. “I’d rather be back in the trap.”

I shouldn’t laugh, but I do, and coughing overwhelms me again.

“Here.” Rosalie hands me the canister. “Please drink, Kerra.”

I take a gulp. The water tastes stale, but it lubricates my throat and slowly stops the coughing.

“Maybe you’re having a reaction to what they gave you?” Lydia says.

“I think spending the night with an insane Sarkarnii in a sopping wet cave did this.” I take another swig of the water and grimace as I swallow.

“Darax?” Rosalie looks concerned.

“His brother, Deus. He’s the sixth warlord.”

“Oh god,” Maggie groans. “There’s more of them?”

“As long as they’re not cockroaches, I’ll happily have another Sarkarnii to deal with,” Rosalie says.

“Yeah, thanks for your clue,” I say.

“Not sure what else to call them.” Rosalie shudders. “Other than disgusting.”

“Did you say they were Ves- ilie ?” Lydia asks.

“That’s what Darax calls them.” I study her face. “You’ve seen them before, haven’t you?”

“I’m not sure. My head was already scrambled enough before they drugged us, but I saw enough which makes me want to throw up every time I think about them,” Lydia says.

Rosalie puts her arm around her. “You’ve got us now,” she says protectively. “And the chances are the big beast will be coming for Kerra, so we’re going to get rescued.”

“Until next time,” Scarlett grumbles. “I hate we’re pawns in all of this.”

“I want to learn how to shoot one of their laser guns, then these cockroaches would think twice about more human abduction,” Maggie growls.

Guilt crawls in my chest. It clamps its claws into my lungs and squeezes tight.

“I’m sorry,” I gasp. “I said you would be safe. I said the Sarkarnii would protect you and it wasn’t true. I never should have promised anything.”

“It was our choice, Kerra,” Maggie says quietly. “We didn’t have to trust you, or the Sarkarnii, or each other for that matter, but we did.”

“There’s always a choice.” Lydia takes my hand in hers.

“Most of us could have been somewhere else when we were abducted, but we weren’t.

I could have chosen not to eat the green meat when we got on the Sarkarnii ship, but I did.

” She gives me a supportive smile. “Don’t eat the green meat,” she whispers. “It tastes like rotten eggs.”

“Our choices are our own,” Scarlett says fiercely. “I don’t want anyone else to feel bad, least of all you, Kerra. You did what you thought was right.”

“Including the deed with Mr. Growly,” Rosalie snorts.

“But he is coming for you, isn’t he?” Maggie asks. “Because we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

I think of Deus’s prone body. It makes my heart hurt so badly I wonder if I’m being turned inside out, because it could have been Darax.

And if it had been him, my heart wouldn’t be hurting. I know it would be torn to shreds.