Defy the Sun (Beware the Night #2) - Jessika Fleck Page 0,35
the moss and leaves back up, hide the metal pull back under the wood, then climb in. I cover, then close the hatch, make sure it’s secure. But when I move to climb down the ladder, jump onto the net, my foot misses the rung and I fall.
I don’t make the net.
The last thing I remember is landing flat on my back and hearing my name.
Then darkness.
* * *
I STRAIN TO open my eyes, but everything’s a blur.
I missed the net. Probably hit my head. Definitely knocked the wind out of my lungs. That much I know.
* * *
THERE’S AN ORB of light coming in and out of focus, and the brightness isn’t helping the aching in my head. Just above the annoying flickering I can make out a silhouette, but outside of that it’s all darkness.
“Veda…” The voice instantly brings me around to where I am. Who it is. “V, can you hear me?” His hands graze my cheek and the touch is familiar too. I hadn’t realized it, but I’ve longed for this, to be near him, for some time.
Dorian.
I mean to say his name out loud, but it’s like I can’t work my voice. I try to sit up, try to use my eyes, all at the same time.
“Careful,” he says, gently helping me up. “How do you feel? Are you hurt?”
I whisper the word no, but at the same time, I gingerly touch the top of my head where I find a decent bump and the slight slick of blood. As my vision clears and the swimming in my brain calms, I regain my bearings. Every detail floods back.
“Imi?” I say, confused. She was with me when we came down the den, but I don’t see her now. Maybe she went to find help? But …
“No, it’s Dorian.”
“I know it’s you—” My smile’s inescapable and as if of their own accord, my arms reach up and around Dorian’s shoulders. “I wasn’t sure I’d ever make it back here,” I breathe into his neck.
He smells of dirt and minerals and underground and sighs deeply into my hair. “We worried you were dead.”
“Nearly.” I don’t want to, but I pull away. Then, “Wait—” I shove both my fists into his shoulders.
He furrows his brow but somehow still looks pleased with himself. “I missed you too, V.”
“You let them execute Arlen … the other soldier … possibly Nico!” This wipes the smile off his face.
“No. I mean, yes, it happened. I tried to stop it … but I was too late.” He glances away, then back. “The Sindaco wouldn’t have hurt Nico. Besides, he escaped before anything got out of hand.”
“And what if he hadn’t escaped?” Slowly, I get to my feet, Dorian watchful. “I’m fine. I have to find my friend.” I know he’s thinking I look weak … Fragile … When I glare at him across the short, dark distance—still angry over the Settlings, still confused over what the hell’s been going on the mere fourteen days I was gone—that’s when I spot her. “Imi?”
“What?” Dorian follows my gaze. “Oh…”
Imi’s tied up, mouth covered, sitting on the ground within the shadows. She gives an angry whimper the moment we make eye contact.
I march full speed toward her. Nearly fall right on top of her, but am able to halt just in time, landing in a sort of crouched position. Furiously, I begin untying the rope, remove the bindings over her mouth.
But before I can free her fully, Dorian’s bent down next to me. Helping. “I assume you’re going to explain.”
“I was going to say the same to you,” I snap back.
He gives me a signature Dorian look—apologetic, yet somehow innocent and authoritative at once. “What was I to think? I was doing a perimeter check and stumbled upon an Imperi officer standing over you at the bottom of a den.”
“She saved my life.”
“Well, I didn’t know that.”
Imi’s only watching, listening, probably cursing the Sun she got herself mixed up in all this. Once her mouth is free, she speaks. “He wasn’t cruel, Veda. Just cautious. I’d have done the same.”
“Thank goodness for that. I owe Imi my life. In exchange, I’ve promised to have her sister released.”
“Madelina Rossi is her name,” Imi adds, brushing dust and dirt off her uniform. “She’s an officer as well. Taken prisoner the night before last at the battle in the south Basso village field.”
Dorian nods.
“You know her?”
“Not specifically, but I know a female officer was brought in with the others.”