Page 63 of Heartless

He was hurting. Amalia wasn’t there. No one was there.

Chloe sighed. “You know the drill. Lab records. Operational reports. Anything you can find, I want it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I couldn’t hear any longer. My head was pounding, and my nerves were shot. “I need to go lay down.”

Chloe didn’t even look up at me. “Headache?”

“Migraine.”

“Stress will do that. Go ahead. I’ll let you know if anything exciting happens.”

Code for she’d let me know if anything happened to Oberon.

I shuffled out of the small room with everything spinning. I had my eyes closed, or as near as I could make them, and used my hand on the wall as a guide. Light hurt. Sound hurt. This sucked. No more wine for me.

Never was a big drinker. Should have known better.

Says everyone with a hangover, ever.

Shut up.

“Willow? Do you need help? I can escort you to your room.”

Zarren. Would it be nice if he just carried me? Sure. But I wasn’t ready for that. For him. Not yet.

“No. I’m going to medical to grab a ReGen wand. I’ll be fine.”

“Very well.” I knew him, knew that tone. He was disappointed. With me.

I took three more steps when I felt it.

Energy, raw energy. Like a transport pad.

I looked up, forced my eyes to open, my brain to process what I was seeing.

Nexus 5 stood so close I could smell him. Dark blue skin, eyes dead and black. So tall, like Rukzi. Too big to fight.

I’d tried. So many times.

“Willow. My Willow. Bends, yet never breaks. I knew you would come back to me.”

Oh, fuck me!I remembered that voice. Had nightmares about it.

Zarren yelled.

Nexus 5 grabbed me, his arms like steel bands. Unbreakable.

The air crackled and burned, ice cold.

Nexus 5 held me pressed to his body. Energy rose like a wave around us.

Transport. He was taking me off the ship.

I was his prisoner.

Again.