Page 10 of Us Defiant Few

“If that’s true, then how did you get to Hermes?”

“I’m not here to indulge your questions either,” he snapped.

“Then why are you here?”

Takeshi slowly shook his head, sneering at Khalani like she was a pawn who had no idea she was being played.

“You were right about one thing. I did serve in Braderhelm Prison. My superiors transferred me to Hermes to assist with the work camps and help put down the rising insurrection.” His eyes locked on hers, and she stiffened as he leaned forward, pulling the clinking metal chains as far as they’d go, indifferent to the pain in his wrists.

“We know your rebel gang has been plotting to overthrow the government,” Takeshi hissed. “We’d finally found your hideout, but you escaped from the Black Heart and interfered with my mission.”

His voice grew raspier, and Khalani was confident that if he weren’t chained to the wall, Takeshi would’ve finished the job he started in the alley.

“I’m not your enemy, Takeshi,” she whispered. “None of us are.”

“Convenient when I’m the one chained up.”

“You tried to kill me! Do you even remember that?”

“Vividly.” He openly appraised her, scanning her from head to toe as if he were searching for every weakness imaginable. “If you were smart, you wouldn’t be in this cell alone with me.”

Khalani narrowed her gaze, remembering him saying something similar in Braderhelm. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“Then you truly don’t know me.”

The tension was practically visible in the space between them.

She closed her eyes, and for a moment, Khalani pretended that this was only a nightmare. Any moment, she’d wake up and hug the real Takeshi. He’d lift her into his arms, kiss her lips, and listen to the three words imprinted on her soul.

But reality didn’t shift on demand.

Dreams stayed firmly out of her grasp, and when she opened her eyes, Takeshi still stared at her like he was deciding which bone he should break first.

She needed a new tactic. Something else to spark his memory.

“You used to paint.”

Takeshi froze, his eyes imperceptibly widening.

“You used to paint for your mother when you were little. She’d hang your drawings everywhere.” Khalani whispered, letting the heartbreaking story he’d once told her ripple across the cell as if it were her own. “But when Hector moved you both to Genesis, you hid all your art under the bed.”

Takeshi had stopped breathing.

“How…how do you—”

“How do I know that?” she finished for him. “You told me.”

Takeshi lowered his gaze, shaking his head. “That’s not true.”

“It is true, Takeshi.”

“It’s not!” he lashed out, clenching his fists. But Khalani noticed the hint of unrest in his eyes. And she pounced.

“Your mother raised you alone. She meant everything to you, and when you couldn’t save her, you enlisted to become a guard. You carried that guilt for so long. You had so much taken away.” She paused, her bottom lip trembling. “And through it all, you’re still one of the best people I’ve ever known.”

Takeshi muttered inexplicable curses to himself, glaring at the floor.

It was working. He was finally beginning to remember!