Page 60 of Obsidian Dream

Chapter Twenty-Six

KHALIDA

“Talik!”

Khalida hit him on the chest, trying to force him to wake up.

He groaned.If he could feel pain, he was still alive.She leaned against his chest, needing to hear his heartbeat.It was faint and slightly erratic, but it was there.A sigh of relief escaped her.He had been asleep for ten minutes, but every second was dangerous.

She hadn’t moved Talik far.They were still next to the sarcophagus they had used as a shield in the blast.The dust had settled on their surroundings, and the damage to the catacombs wasn’t as bad as she’d first assumed.Only one part of the ceiling had collapsed; huge chunks of rocks had fallen on four of the eight vaults.The rest of the catacombs looked a little worse for wear, but nothing appeared to be in danger of collapsing on them.

The venom would be running through his system by now.The blade had been designed to inflict the most amount of damage to an Atlantean.It wasn’t the flesh wound that was fatal to them—Atlanteans healed within minutes—it was the venom that had no way of being easily extracted once the wound was healed.The tip of the knife had been designed to break off and remain in the body.The only reason she cared was because she didn’t want to die in the catacombs.

Don’t lie to me.

The voice was small, coming from a part of her she would rather ignore.She didn’t care what happened to Talik.She only cared because if he died, so would she.This situation, combined with Sidra’s anniversary, was making her far more emotional than she normally was—after all, it was the one time a year when she couldn’t reason with herself.

If it was the truth, why did it sound so hollow?

She made herself move away from him and cleaned the surrounding area, moving the rocks away, careful not to disrupt the extra layer of dust.The ceiling above them looked like it was hanging on by a thread, and any large movement was going to cause a cave-in.

Breathing in deeply, she tried to find any hint of the scent of the creatures, but like every other time she had done this exercise in the last five minutes, there was none.They had disappeared just as quickly as they had appeared.She really didn’t want to think too hard about that, or the likelihood they would appear when she and Talik were at their most vulnerable.Her two swords, countless knives, and Talik’s girls were the only weapons she had, and it would have to do.Letting her senses roam, she focused for a few seconds.The erratic, shallow breathing of Talik and his decreasing heart rate was all she could sense.Opening her eyes, she adjusted to the darkness.The dimming flashlight would not last much longer.

Moving back to Talik, she took one last check of his vitals, before she gently turned him on his side.

“I’m awake,” he grunted, his eyes still closed.“I think I am hallucinating.Are you being nice to me?”

“Talk to me,” she demanded, ignoring the question.She wasn’t ready to discuss her conflicting emotions, let alone explain them to Talik.He needed to cool down if he had a chance of getting through the next couple of hours.The survival rate increased after the two-hour mark, even without an antivenom.“Did you really need to use the grenade?”

A smile formed on his pale face as she pushed away strands of his hair.Dark circles appeared under his eyes, as his skin took on a yellow hue.“You always accuse me of being dramatic,” he coughed.“I thought it was only fair I should live up to the expectations.”

“Why didn’t you sidestep the knife?”

“Because it would have hit you instead.”

She froze, her hand halfway to Talik.She trembled as she registered his words.It meant nothing, she softly reminded herself.