Kyle groaned into the stone. He faintly registered the nearby footsteps. One set of boots and… bare feet? Did Korac have another prisoner? Lifting his head took serious effort under the tranquilizer’s influence. He hoped the prisoner appreciated it as he graced them with a quick scan.

If his heart could pound, it would. Tongue heavy, he cried, “You’re a dream!”

Rayne, dressed in some weird barbarian leather outfit—it was kinda hot, honestly—approached the bars with Sagan behind her. She looked great. Especially considering—

“I’m real, Kyle.” The hard edge to her voice made him wince, but he didn’t blame her.

Hydrated and well rested. That’s how she looked. Also… her left arm was moving. “You came to rescue me then? I… told them you would.” He groaned against the grogginess of the drugs.

Sagan hissed, “Why would she do that? You betrayed us!”

“I thought… I thought it was the right thing. It was… hard for me—”

The blond girl Seamswalked into the cell and screamed in his face, “Oh, I’m sorry did my back hurt your knife when you shot me with tranquilizers?”

Rayne popped the bars right off and appeared between them. Just in time to stop the blond from cracking him in the jaw. Famous for her right hook, that one.

Sagan peered at her in confusion.

Their leader shook her head.

“They made me watch.”

They both snapped back to him. Some color drained from Rayne, and he took the hint it wasn’t the right thing to bring up. “Sagan doesn’t know. Please don’t tell her.”

Sagan sighed and threw her hands in the air. “I’m an adult. I can handle—”

“I can’t live with myself knowing…” Kyle wailed. “Please. They’re executing me tomorrow. Take what’s owed to you.” As the scene of her violation played in his head for the millionth time, he begged, “I keep seeing it.”

Rayne didn’t snarl or growl. Her voice was stone. “Don’t ask me to pity you for witnessing what I endured.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Kyle groaned and curled on his side. Excellent point. “I wanted to save you.”

Sagan scoffed.

His heart almost stopped when Rayne said, “I don’t want you to die.”

Sagan glared at the side of her head. “Are you kidding me?!” Her voice utterly incredulous.

“I know why you did it. I know what you thought would happen. I don’t have it in me to forgive you. We’re a family, and you hurt us. But the Progeny are not complete with only four.”

Kyle’s eyes fluttered closed as he listened. It did feel wrong to separate them. Everything felt wrong, now. He spoiled whatever bond kept them together, doubly wrecked by Xelan’s death. Kyle fucked up big time.

So close to his ear it startled him, she murmured, “I know how you feel about me.”

Either the drugs wore off or this affected him deeply because his heart pounded hard enough to kill him.

“I know seeing what happened to me set some part of you on fire. Even that isn’t punishment enough. But it’s a start. Soldier?”

He opened his eyes.

“It’s time for you to get off your cross and contribute to this team with open honesty. If I suspect for even a moment you’re deceiving any of us, I will tell you the firsthand account of my ordeal as I rip out your nacre. Do you get me?!”

“Sir. Yes, sir.” The drugs wavered some, and he reached for her. “Rayne—”

She vanished and reappeared on the other side of the bars before he touched her. Sagan pressed her ever-present axe to his throat. Through gritted teeth, she warned him, “Don’t. Move.”

Kyle swallowed as one does with an axe to their throat.

“Did you want to add something?” Rayne swept back into the cell, keeping her distance. It hurt him to see it.

Kyle glanced at Sagan for approval to speak. He continued after her nod, “Celindria was here.”

Sagan hissed, “Were you working with her, too?”

Rayne lowered the blond girl’s axe with a gentle push and a shake of her head. “What did she want?”

Before Kyle read too much into the gesture, he explained, “She came to take me. Like… like the others.” He straightened out and groaned with the effort to sit up. Both girls backed out of his reach.

“Rayne, after they took you, Celindria tranq’ed Tameka. She was trying to take her. But she fucked with the wrong Progeny, and we scared her off.” So Sagan understood, but they needed to know everything.

“There’s more. I have her memories. Oh, Rayne, I have so much to tell you.”

“General. Callahan.”

Pain lanced through Kyle’s chest. He deserved the ice in her voice. Hanging his head, he exhausted his capacity for speech. The floor reached for him, and the warm stone embraced his face. Distantly, they argued over his fate.

“He’s coming with us. Our unit only works strongest when it’s whole.”

He angled his head for a better view.

“We can’t endanger our camp with him. Rayne, I haven’t had the chance to tell you this, but things are bad for us.”

The Shadow would suffer without Rayne and Xelan.

Their General peered down at him. “I know.” Did she hear his thoughts? She turned back to Sagan. “I promise things will get better, but whatever Kyle took from Celindria can help us. We are players in someone’s game, and she’s one of its architects.” A strange light flared in Rayne’s eyes. “We can stop her.”

Sagan glanced briefly at him. “Ugh, I have to carry him, don’t I?” With an angry snarl, she added, “I don’t even want to touch him unless it’s to kick his ass.”

For the first time in three weeks, Kyle found the urge to grin.