Page 54 of Us Defiant Few

“Yes. Every week, you trained me in the basement. At the beginning, we hated each other, but eventually we were able to be in each other’s presence without wanting to stab something. That worked for a while until something changed.”

“What changed?”

She hesitated. “A guard attacked me.”

“What?” His head snapped toward her.

The air thickened, Takeshi’s expression twisting furiously. She didn’t understand why, though.

“Don’t worry about it.” She waved it off. “It was a long time ago.”

“Did he…” Takeshi’s throat bobbed, “He didn’t—”

“No,” she answered. “You killed him before he could.”

“Good.” He nodded, like anything less would’ve been unacceptable. It startled her, this brutal honesty. Khalani had thought she was as insignificant to him as the billion grains of sand they walked over.

“What? Are you saying you believe me now?” she asked.

He paused, giving it deep thought before responding.

“If someone told you the last few years of your life were gone—that everything you believed was a lie—would you believe them?”

She looked at the people walking ahead of them, her family that kept her sane and grounded. Even Takeshi’s dark and commanding presence still made her burn and feel more protected than the sun rising above them.

Khalani knew how stupid that sounded. She didn’t care.

“If someone told me none of this was real,” she said, “I’d tell them to drown in a tub of poison.”

The answer didn’t help her cause, but Takeshi had been lied to so much that all he deserved the rest of his life was the truth.

“What happened after the guard attacked you?” he asked.

“A lot.”

“Say what you need to, Kanes.” He glanced at her. “You won’t get another chance to convince me.”

The pressure nearly buckled her knees. But she had to keep going. She couldn’t quit until the world tumbled around them.

So, Khalani told Takeshi their story.

He listened intently, brows creased as she spoke in soft whispers, their tale a dangerous and delicate thing to convey.

She recalled the longing stares in prison. The way he fiercely protected her. The shared moments they held in secret. She told it all.

But Khalani didn’t dare say the three words that poured from the vestiges of her soul.

Honestly, she didn’t know if she’d ever have the strength to offer the last remnants of her heart. But she refused to consider the possibility until Takeshi remembered her.

When Khalani finished, he didn’t speak for a long time. He stopped and stood motionless. His jaw clenched. His body was tightly composed—the only thing he seemingly had control over.

“Thank you for telling your story,” he finally said before walking away, drifting farther and farther from her.

Your story.

Not theirs.

Solely hers.