Page 74 of Breakaway
This, of course, doesn't stop Yryff from bringing his fist back and punching Leo square in the face. I jerk away from the violence, tucking my head closer to Wyn's body.
"Let's get you to the ship," Wyn says.
He doesn't say anything to Yryff, though I can hear the sound of him punching Leo a few more times. I stumble as I try to walk, and then I'm scooped up into Wyn's arms. I don't know when I started crying or if I never actually stopped from the first time I started back in Leo's ship. Either way, there's no sobbing or wracking hiccups. It's just a silent trail of tears running down my face as I shake and tremble in Wyn's hold.
"It's so cold," I tell him, my teeth chattering.
His jaw clenches as his shadows wrap tighter around me. "I'm going to run, but it might jostle your ankle, okay?"
I nod, too tired and cold and just done with everything to care. His running does, in fact, jostle my ankle, and I have to bite down on my lip to keep from crying out. Thankfully, he's fast, and he gets us to the more populated area of the port in no time, and then to the ship even faster. It's only once we're inside that I notice it's not Zill's ship.
I close my eyes tight, thinking I'm imagining things, but when I open them, the inside of the ship is still ridiculous shades of purple all over. The metal is tinted mauve, the inlaid carpet is lavender, and as we traverse further inside, even the majority of the furniture varies from plum to periwinkle. "Where are we?"
"Oh gods," Mauve's voice is not one I'm expecting, but it all kind of clicks into place. When I'm thinking more clearly, I'm going to tell her I'm judging her color choices. "Get her in the medbay, I made your father install one of those nice automated ones since you know he's getting up there in age."
"Don't let dad hear you say that," Wyn murmurs, but does as Mauve says, taking me deeper into the ship until I'm laid out on a small medical bed.
I look around the room, my eyes wide, my body still shaking uncontrollably from the cold. Wyn searches through some cabinets and comes back to me with a thin blanket I've seen packed in emergency supply kits. He unfolds it and drapes it over my body. I cling to it as he moves to my feet, removing the strappy sandals I'm wearing.
"Where's Zill?" I ask, my voice cracking as my body and mind finally come to terms with the fact that we're safe now. I'm safe, and I don't have to be panicking. Since I don't have to anymore, I'm just exhausted.
I'm on my way, love.Zill's voice cuts into my thoughts, and I let out another cry.I was at the other port. I'm on my way now.No one else is listening now. It's just you and me, and I'm on my way to you.
Just get here. I need you.I tell him, sniffling as Wyn adjusts my leg.
"He'll be here as soon as he can," Wyn tells me, squeezing my hand as he sets my shoes beside the side of the bed. "I'm going to start the medbot, but I'm not leaving your side until he gets here, okay?"
"Thank you," I tell him, taking his hand in mine.
"Don't thank me," Wyn says with a small smile. "Mom would've had our heads if we didn't find you. It was really just self-preservation."
I let out the world's most pathetic laugh at that. "Well, I guess I'll have to thank her then."
"Mom!" Wyn yells so loud that I startle.
Thankfully, my injured leg is strapped down as the bot does its job and figures out the best way to heal it. Mauve is in the medbay area as soon as Wyn calls her, tears pricking her lower lashes, and her face free of ninety percent of the makeup she usually wears. And yet she still looks more put together than I do most of the time.
"Reese wanted to thank you," Wyn says, smirking at me in a way that makes him look so much like his brother it's almost uncanny.
"Reese, sweetheart," Mauve says, walking over to the side that isn't occupied by her kid. She strokes my hair out of my face gently and opens her mouth to speak before closing it. She takes a deep breath and seems to settle herself. "I want you to know that even before you were Zill's soulbond, you were one of mine." She strokes my hair down my temple again, looking more to the side of my head than in my eyes as she speaks. "I've been told I'm not the best at expressing my fondness and care for others sometimes."
Wyn snorts, earning him a glare from both of us. He holds his hands up in faux surrender, but his eyes remain crinkled.
"Call it a byproduct of most of my loved ones being Sombrans. They hear how much I think about them, hear my love for them. What I'm trying to say is that you have always been part of my family, and you will always be cared for and looked out for by us. And that would've been true with or without Zill. I should've been better at expressing that to you out loud over the years. Maybe things wouldn't have…" she trails off, and I reach up to grab her hand, squeezing it.
"I wish you'd been my mom," I tell her with a whisper. A confession I've felt for a while now, but felt like a bad daughter for even thinking it.
"Yes, well." She wipes at her eyes, clearly not sure where to go from here.
Wyn interrupts, making the heavy moment a lot more lighthearted. "Pretty sure Zill's glad she wasn't your mom."
"Ew," Mauve and I say at the same time, shooting Wyn matching scowls. He throws his head back, his laughter filling the room as Mauve and I continue to show him our disappointment.
He's not wrong.Zill's voice fills my mind, breaking my stern expression and forcing a smile on my lips.It would've been really awkward.
"You're the worst," I tell Wyn, hitting his arm as he keeps laughing.
"I'm telling Dad and Yryff when they get back."
