Page 70 of Rebels Rising

When the door shut us off from the cafeteria, he didn’t bother turning around. Instead, he marched on as if I wasn’t even there.

I was scowling at his back, imagining lasers beaming from my eyes and burning holes into his head, exploding it in a gory mess all over the walls. The imagery didn’t soothe me, however. Instead, it merely added to the guilt that had become my constant companion these past few solars. Guilt and shame.He was once my brother, by blood he still was even if I refused to acknowledge him as such.

The harsh reality was I didn’t want him dead. Suffering, yes, but I assumed he was after all this time. It was his faultshewas dead, after all. His fault that both our families were disgraced. His fault we’d felt the need to take the damn job with The Program in the first place.

Yet, when I thought about it, I struggled to hold onto that rage, the emotion slipping through my fingers like water whenever I tried to grasp it again. The ultimate truth was that I never would have met Artemis if it weren’t for the unfortunate chain of events that led us here. She may have hated my guts, the love I held for her unrequited after my own actions, but that was something I could live with. The love was bittersweet, but it was still a hell of a lot more potent and wonderful than the constant battle between numbness and fury.

She made me feel again, and if it hurt then so be it.

As we turned the corner, another figure appeared. Almost as tall as me and Foryk, Alexander Hironimus paused as he caught sight of us, his thick black eyebrows dancing high on his head.

‘Aren’t the two of you supposed to be in the cafeteria?’ he chastised.

I’d seen him and Foryk speaking privately not long ago and wondered if perhaps he had been given a task by Artemis that he had abandoned for this. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

‘Morgrid is resting,’ he began the explanation. ‘She is unaware of what is happening.’

Xander blinked. ‘I see. Well, make it quick. You heard the captain. We need to be in place for the plan to work.’

‘Yes, sir,’ he responded, immediately walking around the man he’d once called captain and headed straight for the room I was sharing with Mother.

I moved to follow but a hand on my arm halted me before I could take more than a step. My eyes raised to meet Xander’s, confused why he would stop me.

‘Your feelings for our captain are apparent,’ he stated, the comment freezing the blood in my veins. ‘How deep does your devotion go?’

I gaped, stunned at the audacity of his questioning. Who was he to demand such person answers from me?

‘How deep does your devotion go, Tormik?’ he asked again.

Something about the desperation in his tone, hidden beneath layer upon layer of forced nonchalance and stoicism, had the answer wrenching from my chest with such velocity it was impossible to contain them. ‘I would die for her.’

He scrutinised me for a beat, his eyes boring into mine while he searched for any sign of deception. He would find none. Finally, he straightened his spine and nodded once, satisfied with what he found.

‘Good. Come with me.’

‘Sir?’ I asked, unsure of his thoughts or intentions. I glanced behind me towards the door Foryk had disappeared, where my mother was resting blissfully unaware of the encroaching danger, but I trailed behind him, nonetheless.

He spoke without inflection, but the tense set of his shoulders told me he was feeling more wound up than he was willing to let on. ‘Artemis is used to doing things on her own. She doesn’t trust easily, and while she trusts me on some level, I still haven’t earned it completely. Unfortunately, that means she is more than willing to put herself in harm’s way. I want you to keep her focused on her job. I need you to be her guard.’

I scoffed in disbelief. ‘Artemis would never accept a personal guard, let aloneme,’ I told him.

‘Which is why we won’t be telling her,’ he said decisively. ‘Plus, I have a feeling you were already planning on doing so regardless. Now, you won’t have to hide it, and you won’t be doing it alone.’

I huffed out an exasperated breath. ‘I don’t understand why you would care.’

He halted in the middle of the corridor and spun to face me, a fierce determination and protectiveness shining through. ‘Because she is friends with the woman I love, and I have come to care for her wellbeing just as much as anyone else here. She is our only hope at getting through this alive. She is our leader, and I will not stand by and watch while she continues to sacrifice herself for others, especially when she is more important than all of us combined.’

He sighed, his shoulders slumping forward slightly as he peeled back his mask to show me just enough vulnerability that I would take him seriously.

‘We need her, Tormik. We cannot win this war without her. She is the glue that holds it all together. If she’s captured…’

‘She won’t be,’ I practically snarled. ‘Where do you want me?’

While his spine straightened once more, his shoulders were no longer as tense as they were before. ‘Those with enhanced abilities are in the cockpit performing duties the rest of us cannot. You will be stationed near her at all times.’

I snapped to attention at the order. ‘Yes, sir.’

The rest of the journey to the cockpit was quiet, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. We had come to an understanding between us. He saw me for my truths, and I was beginning to see him for his, as well.

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