Page 9 of Us Defiant Few

I chose it.

Takeshi didn’t blink.

His dark gaze zeroed in on her, the black depths of his eyes drawing her in like a magnet. They held a strange note of curiosity, but when she sat up, his upper lip curled, and that flicker of interest twisted into sheer contempt.

Even in Braderhelm Prison, he’d never looked at her that way.

Like he craved her death.

She dug her nail into her thigh, focusing on the sharp pain instead of the crippling anxiety. She waited for him to speak, but Takeshi seemed content to tilt his head and stare, like he was imagining all the depraved ways he could make her suffer.

She took a deep breath, ignoring every instinct that told her to run.

Her limbs protested as she shifted to a more comfortable position. Khalani had no idea how long she’d been asleep, but she noticed the charred redness around Takeshi’s wrists and the trickle of blood leaking down his forearm.

She cleared her dry throat. “How are you feeling?”

He didn’t respond, but the dark look in his eyes spoke volumes.

Of course he wasn’t feeling great. He was chained to a freaking wall.

“My name is Khalani. Khalani Kanes,” she added, hoping her last name would trigger something, a surging flash of memory, but he kept quiet, his cold and hostile expression unchanging.

“D-don’t…don’t you…don’t you remember me?”

Her voice shrank to a pained whisper, no louder than the sound of a heart shattering to a million pieces. Takeshi’s black eyes flickered, and for one second, she thought she saw the barest hint of recognition.

But he said, “You never answered me before. How do you know my name?”

She forced herself to take a deep breath. “You’ve known me for over a year. We met in Braderhelm Prison. I was an inmate, and you were in charge of my cell block. We spent a lot of time together. Escaped together. You traveled with me all the way to Hermes. We…” she stopped, trying not to break before she bared herself.

The crease between his eyes hardened as she spoke, and her words spilled faster.

“We were close. Are close,” she corrected. “We were imprisoned in a prison camp and tried to escape. But you got shot.” Her voice cracked, and the tears she fought to hide slipped free.

“I tried to go back for you, Takeshi. I tried so fucking hard. I would’ve broken through the earth’s core to save you. You have to know that. I barely slept. Barely ate. You’re in every breath I take, but it isn’t fucking enough. I need you, Takeshi. Please. Please remember me.”

Takeshi silently watched her weep, his face giving away nothing. She wiped her tears, but they kept coming. An ocean she’d never be able to drown herself in.

Her heavy breathing filled the space as she waited for him to speak. She needed him to say anything to break the silence. Her limbs tensed, about to go crazy and scream, when he finally spoke. “You have me confused with someone else.”

“No. That’s not true.” She touched her chest. “Don’t you feel anything when you look at me?”

“Why would I?” Takeshi cocked his head. “You’re nothing to me.”

Punching her would’ve hurt less.

She’d thought she understood grief. Intimately.

But apparently, even the most broken hearts still have spaces to cut.

“You don’t believe me at all?” She dared to look up, and even chained, Takeshi lounged back like he held the upper hand.

“I don’t indulge in delusional fantasies.”

“It’s not a delusion!” she yelled. “They did something to you. Something to make you forget.”

“My memory is perfectly intact.”