The Bonding by Imogen Keeper

Author:Imogen Keeper [Keeper, Imogen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-12-30T16:00:00+00:00

17

You make no sense.

NISSA had felt this before. This unique sensation. Terror. She recognized it from the darkness that had settled over her when the first of the Trianni had been shot by the ones who stole her planet.

It was the same way she’d felt when she’d seen their bellies sliced open and watched organs, a rainbow of viscera, bright and slick, slide from bodies. She’d felt it when they had made their exodus into the forests, carrying what clothes, food and supplies they could on their backs. She’d felt its cold flames in her bloodstream as she’d climbed into the cryo-pod.

Terror. It made time sluggish and tiny, infinitesimal details take on grave importance. The tickling drip of blood slipping down her breast. The sharp point of a blade pressing against her neck, a minor tinge from the nerves there. Tam’s anger pouring through their bond, steady and thumping.

Tiny bumps raised all the hairs along the skin of her body. Colors burned brighter, the sky violet, the sun a great orange fireball above. Sounds hit her ears, clearer, the screaming birds swooping through the air, the deep chuffing hoots of the regnamissi in the crashing sea below them.

Her eyes froze dumbly on Tam’s, almost purple in the sunlight, with moss the color of blood behind him. His hair was messy from her fingers, the breeze tearing at it. His big body shifted beneath her. They both froze, her legs still straddling his hips, bodies still joined, waiting.

Her hair caught in the breeze and tickled her back and shoulders. All their weapons lay stupidly in a pile a few strides to their right. Out of reach. The cliff broke off sharply maybe two or three body lengths behind her. Tam’s eyes were wide and furious, his eyelashes thick and curling black. Green feathers slashed against the sky. The birds called out angrily.

She closed her eyes against the sight. It was her fault the men were here. She’d angered the birds by stealing their eggs. They must have seen the circling birds and come to investigate. So simple, really. Such a small thing. She’d just wanted to make the soup. Have a taste of Triannon. A taste of home. She’d wanted to give Tam something, even something as small as a stupid bowl of soup, to go some measure toward repaying him for all he’d given her, all he’d done for her.

Her heart hammered in her ears so loud she could barely hear the crashing surf or the strange sounds the men made when they spoke.

She lifted her lids and found Tam’s eyes on hers. With the knife pressed to her neck she couldn’t shake her head to search for a telltale tug at the roots of hair. She saw a question in Tam’s eyes, his thoughts a parallel to her own. If the Goddess were good, there was a tiny blade in her hair. If she could get to it and stab one of them she might cause enough chaos for Tam to get to the weapons.

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