appeared as if its entire face was split in half.
“You are here,” the Tasqal finally spoke and, she couldn’t quite tell how she knew, but it wasn’t speaking to her. “I must say, those little devices you barbaric species use are delightful.”
Huh?
The guard behind him stopped walking and she swore every other guard in the room was tense. She could even sense the wariness of the ones that stood by her side.
The fear this Tasqal incited was real.
“No words?” the Tasqal continued. “I know you are here, rebel. I have been waiting for you.”
No one in the room moved and she was beginning to think she may be misinterpreting things until the Tasqals’ gaze fell on her.
His eyes were pure black, yet she could feel his heavy gaze on her the moment that he held her in his scope. Along the sides of his face, bubble-filled sores oozed in their pockets and her stomach turned.
“Very well. If you won’t reveal yourself, maybe your little human friend can get you to.”
What?
With an almost imperceptible jerk of his head, the Tasqal motioned to the guard right next to her. There was no other indication of what was to come next and she was hardly ready for it.
Pain rocketed down her back as something hard was jammed into her shoulder blade. Her legs gave out and she fell to her knees once more, her body falling forward with the force of the blow that she had to stop her fall with her hands even as the pain made her vision go dim for a second.
Biting her lip hard, she knew she would be drawing her own blood soon, but she’d rather do that than cry out in pain.
When her vision cleared enough for her to raise her head, the guard to her left had a smirk on his face as he readjusted his heavy blaster in his arm, the butt of which she was sure had just been what was slammed into her shoulder.
“Harm me and the human dies.”
The Tasqal’s words didn’t make sense. Lifting her gaze through the burning rage that filled her, she rose her eyes to the Tasqal once more only to see something unexpected.
There, holding a blaster right to the Tasqal’s head was one of the guards.
Had they finally had enough?
Was the tension among the guards because they had all been waiting for the right moment to start a coup?
“How did you know of my presence?” the guard snarled and Evren watched the exchange with bated breath.
If they started fighting, she needed to get the hell out of the way and quick. If they killed the Tasqal, there was no telling if they would spare her life, kill her, or worse, use her like the Tasqal was planning to.
She’d like the first option, but a girl couldn’t choose.
“How?!” The guard roared and pressed the blaster farther against the Tasqal’s head.
“I have my ways,” the Tasqal answered and it was then that she began to realize that something wasn’t quite right.
The Tasqal looked oddly calm for someone being threatened. It was almost as if he believed he still had all the cards in his hands and the thought made a niggling feeling of anxiety begin to form in the back of her mind.
Something wasn’t right.
None of the other guards were moving either. Instead, they were all watching the exchange, standing as if ready to intervene at any moment.
“You love the human?” The Tasqal turned his dark gaze to the gator-guard holding the gun to its head and the bubble-popping sounds began in his throat. “How precious.” His laughter began to echo in the room and Evren found herself swallowing hard.
What was he talking about?
She didn’t understand.
With another almost imperceptible movement of his head, the Tasqal motioned to the guard standing beside her once more and she felt the cool metal of the blaster against her skull.
“One wrong move, rebel, and I assure you the human will be pulp against my pristine floor.” The Tasqal turned his head slowly to look at the gator-guard by his side. “She is not so valuable that I would hesitate to kill her.”
There were a few moments of complete silence and she watched as the guard lowered his weapon slowly, his eyes on her the whole time.
His eyes were a deep gray, like silver, and there was thick emotion in them.
It took her a few moments to realize she knew those eyes.
But...it couldn’t be.
“Kyro?”
She was imagining things. The patch M’Agunt had put on her head