Page 31 of Zalis
“Maybe because it’s true. This,” Gemma said, gesturing to the room broadly, “is a lot. I was scared for so long that it didn’t feel like real life and now that I’m safe, I can’t shake the feeling that something terrible is about to happen. My foot hurts. My head hurts. What I did to Zalis was unforgivable.” She couldn’t talk to him about it because he vanished on her. Her desperate need to see him made her feel clingy and she was all sorts of resentful because that wasn’t her.
“He agreed,” Emry said.
“Did he? Or did he feel pressured to say yes because of all the people watching us? Because I was crying?”
Emry looked down at her nearly empty coffee cup. “Ren said?—”
“Oh? What does he have to say?”
Gemma’s tone must have sounded some sort of way because Emry’s eyebrows went up.
“Really? Got a problem with Ren, the guy who rescued you?”
Gemma slumped back in her chair. Her attitude was unwarranted. When no one else listened or cared, Ren took Emry seriously when she said something was wrong and Gemma was missing. “No, I don’t. He’s actually not bad.”
“Damned with faint praise,” Emry said dryly.
“I’ve known him for three entire days, but yeah, I like him.”
“I like him too,” she said, grinning.
Ugh. Love was gross. Did Gemma look like that when she got all starry-eyed about someone? She hoped not.
As if Emry could read her mind, “Yes, you look ridiculous when you get all sweet on someone, so I don’t want to hear it.”
This was getting off track.
“What does Ren have to say?” Gemma asked.
“Have you actually talked to Zalis about how you’re feeling?”
Gemma tossed up her hands to gesture again at the empty apartment.
Emry gave her a flat stare, clearly unimpressed with the sarcasm.
Okay, so maybe theydiddo the creepy twin-silent communication thing.
“Did I tell you the reason why Ren sent me away?” Emry asked.
“He’s a shallow bastard.” When Emry had been returned to Earth less than twenty-four hours after she left, the sisters decided that had to be the reason. He took one look at her face and noped the fuck out.
“That’s what I assumed, but I was wrong.” Emry fidgeted with the mug, rolling it between her hands. “His warlord hated him. Hated Ren. He was a bully. Worse, he was abusive. Said Ren was weak and just generally made his life hell. He feared for my safety if I stayed.”
“But the Mahdfel don’t hurt their mates,” Gemma said and grimaced, horrified to be spouting propaganda. The message that the Mahdfel were gentle and caring partners had been shoved down her throat for so long that apparently she internalized it.
“Renwouldn’t hurt me,” Emry said, her tone implying that Ren had no control over what a bully warlord might do. “He was trying to protect me, so he sent me away.”
“But he didn’t explain any of that, so he did hurt you.”
Now it was Emry’s turn to toss up her hands. “Yes. That’s the point of the story. Look, I’m just saying that I could have avoided years of feeling like crap if we had just talked.”
“Basically, be an adult,” Gemma said.
“Use your words like a grown up. Talk to the guy. Maybe he’s into the ambush marriage thing.”
Gemma dragged her finger along the rim of the cup, searching for any remnants of whipped cream, and considered Emry’s advice. “You’re not wrong?—”
Emry pushed herself back from the table. “Then hop to it.”
