Night of the Shayde: A Reverse Harem Romance by Zander Lili

Author:Zander, Lili
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-29T04:00:00+00:00

23

Nero

Boarus 4

Sundown, TenthDay of FourthMonth

My head is pounding, and my face feels like it's on fire.

The memories slowly return. We had sunblock on, but it was practically useless. It worked less than five minutes before the sunlight started penetrating.

Why am I alive? The last thing I remember was fighting an enforcer, willing my body to resist the tug of slumber. The black-market juice hadn’t worked as well as our usual stuff. It felt like I was moving through mud. Everything was slower. My limbs refused to respond to me.

I thought it was the end.

Where am I? I open my eyes, sighing in gratitude at the welcome dimness. I try and sit up, and I must make a noise, because someone immediately moves to my side.

Raven. She’s here, apparently unhurt. An intense flood of relief fills me. “You’re alive,” I croak. “I was afraid we were too late.”

“You need to rest,” she whispers. Her voice sounds thick and strained. My gaze swings up to her face. Her eyes are red-rimmed, and her face is blotchy. She's been crying.

I ache to comfort her. I want to kiss away her tears and make it all better. I don’t know what to do with my emotions, because they’re new to me and bewildering. Sex, I understand. The rush that comes from a well-fought battle? I know how to handle that feeling. But this tightness in my chest, this feeling of intense vulnerability, this ache when I see her hurting? Uncharted territory.

It’s too much to process. “There is a salve,” I say instead. “In my pack.”

She's crouched next to me, but at my words, she gets up and leaves my field of vision, returning a moment later with a pack in her arms. “Is this it?”

“That’s Zeke’s pack,” I reply. “It doesn't matter. He'll have the salve too. Look for a small yellow bottle.”

She rummages through Zeke’s stuff. “This one?” she asks, pulling out the salve.

“That’s it.” I stretch my hand out for it, wincing in pain. Opening the stopper, I dab the liquid on my skin, and an immediate, welcome coolness fills me.

“Your skin,” she says, her mouth falling open. “It already looks better.”

“Nothing but the best for the Imperial Army.” I hand her the bottle. “Use it on the others, will you?”

She does as I ask while I struggle to sit up. “Where are we?” I ask, looking around at the small one-room structure.

“It’s a mining shack,” she replies. “They’re all over Glacis. The Overlord is always prospecting for fresh sources of boarium.” She smiles wanly. “Whenever we got restive in the re-education camps, the guards would pick about twenty of us at random, and they’d throw us out on the ice, warning us not to come back to camp for a week. We used these cabins for shelter. They’re not warm, but we were out of the wind, at least.”

Rage settles in my belly, deep and cold. Lula Kenner had better succeed in her rebellion because if she doesn't do something about Zimmer, I will.

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