Page 11 of Splintered Shadow
The black dissolved, again reminding her of swirls of smoke as it faded out of sight, leaving his cool gray complexion unmarked.
And that broke her. After being sucked into a portal, landing on an alien planet, falling through the roof, and whatever those monsters were, his trick with the wings was one thing too many for her brain to process.
Dizziness washed over her.
Now seemed like a good time to faint.
Vekele
A pistol. How utterly pointless. He had grabbed it out of habit as he left the ship.
Useless.
Growling in frustration, Vekele kept the female pinned under a wing while he tried to hit the damnable void beast. They phased in and out of the shadows, never staying in one place for long. A hunter had to be extraordinarily skilled to hit one, let alone kill.
Let alone with only half his sight.
Ignoring the blurry area in the center of his field of vision, he concentrated on what he could do. He tilted his head to one side, anticipating where the beast would appear and firing a short burst. There was no need to hit the void beast; keeping it at bay would suffice. At least the female kept still under the shelter of his wing.
Eventually, Kenth and Luca arrived. Well-timed shots hit the beast and drove it away, proving the guards to be competent, if not timely. The skirmish over, he retracted his wings.
That was when the female fainted. Vekele caught her before she hit the ground.
She was… odd. Pinkish, but some of that could be the bloody wound on her head. Her hair was a flamboyant scarlet, dark brown at the roots. A chemical odor clung to the hair, and he could not understand why anyone would alter dark locks to such an unnatural color.
Everything about her seemed unnatural, down to her clothing.
And yet…
With his thumb and forefinger on her chin, he turned her head to the side.
Nothing, just a smooth expanse of skin. If she had been blinded or her eyes injured, perhaps removed due to disease, surely there would be scar tissue.
He ran a thumb over the unblemished skin. It was as if her second set of eyes had not existed at all. Odd. Odder still, he was intrigued rather than repulsed.
This female was not Arcosian. She was something else entirely.
“You call this staying back?” Kenth trotted up, fury in her tone. “Running into the unknown?”
“You were slow, Captain, and mind your tone.” Vekele lifted his chin and pulled his shoulders back, still holding the strange female. He might be disfigured with two damaged eyes and no longer a soldier, but he was still a prince. Baris might find amusement in insubordination, but Vekele did not.
“You ignored a direct order,Your Highness,” Kenth said, her tone cold and correct but full of dislike. Which suited Vekele. He required obedience, not approval.
“Again, you were slow.” He turned his attention to the female.
The void beast savaged her leg. The wound bled profusely, soaking the fabric of her trousers. She required a medic, but he had enough practical experience to do the basics with a med kit.
He stripped off his tunic under the mantle. The female had lost a considerable amount of blood. No wonder she fainted. As he wrapped the fabric around the wound and applied pressure, he examined a design inked into the pink skin of her upper arm.
A karu.
Highly stylized but unmistakable, with the four eyes and wings spread wide.
Why did this stranger have the royal symbol etched into their flesh?
“Who is that?” Luca asked.
“Our anomaly,” Vekele replied.
