CHAPTER 22
Tormik
Iscratched at my damn hand again, the incessant irritation starting to piss me off.
Even lathered with healing creams and bandaged to keep it away from the elements, the itchiness burrowed deep.
What pissed me off even more was that it had distracted me enough that I’d lost sight of Artemis and the others.
They’d disappeared onto the ship before I’d even realised they’d started running.
I was losing my touch, and that was unacceptable.
I could not allow myself to be distracted by a damn itch when I was supposed to be looking out for the woman I had already failed, too many times to count.
And now, I could add another time to the ever-growing list.
I had to do better.
I had to be better.
Get your head together, Tormik.
You’re acting like a stars-damned amateur.
I ran through all the places they could have gone.
The fact that Artemis had passed Baldr back to Dorian before she’d run off was telling.
She would be somewhere she could take action.
But action against what?
I chose to check the bridge first.
It was a hub of activity despite the ship being stationary, and I scanned the crowd for Artemis’s silky brown hair, Reece’s silver braid, Bromm’s blue skin… any of them.
They weren’t there.
Okay, so not the bridge.
The urgency couldn’t have been for something more intimate, though, right? They wouldn’t all rush off for a fuck session when we had work to do, I was sure of it.
Plus, they had Reece with them.
Although Reece and Artemis had been getting awfully cosy together as of late. I froze, indecision warring inside me. There were only two places they could realistically be: the Captain’s quarters or the prison deck.
I was saved from making that decision when Cadmus and Bromm came thundering down the hallway wearing twin expressions of that same urgency as before.
A glance behind them proved that they were alone, Artemis and Reece nowhere in sight.
If these two were running around without the others, then they definitely weren’t getting to know each other’s bodies in the comfort of the Captain’s quarters.
Which meant the problem was with the prisoners.
Shit.
What had they figured out? What had we missed?
When they saw me, Bromm halted and waved Cadmus along, who immediately dashed away without a backwards glance.
‘What’s going on? What happened?’ I demanded as he stopped in front of me.
It was clear to see that he was eager to move on, but whatever it was, it was important enough for him to include me.
‘I don’t have any details, but there’s something going on with the prisoners.
Specifically, Demari and that woman he’s been seen with.
Artemis told us to evacuate the ship.’
My breath was expelled from my lungs like I’d been punched in the gut. ‘Fuck.’
‘Your mother was moved here earlier.
Dami probably got Foryk to help, which means he might still be here with her.
You need to get her out, Tormik.’
‘Understood,’ I said, my feelings clashing so hard they left a ringing in my ears.
My head suddenly felt fuzzy, so I shook it to try to regain some clarity.
Artemis needed me to deal with my mother, so that was what I would do.
I tore off down the hallway, before halting in my tracks.
I had no idea where she was being held.
Releasing a resigned groan, I started back up with my hunt, only this time it was more methodical as I searched for my mother rather than Artemis.
Room after room, I checked.
If I found someone inside, I told them about the evacuation order and then moved on to the next.
I didn’t know how long I searched until I finally caught sight of my little brother’s lumbering frame as he exited a room, head swivelling as her scanned the hallway.
He must have heard the commotion.
He froze when he saw me approaching, then his forehead creased in a scowl.
Not exactly a warm welcome, but I hadn’t expected anything less.
‘What’s happening?’ he asked, getting straight to the point.
To be fair, there wasn’t any other option for us.
He had irrevocably broken our relationship, proving to me through his actions that our brotherly bond meant little to him.
If he’d tried to get sentimental with me in any manner, I would have been suspicious.
‘Evacuation order from the captain.
They found something with some of the prisoners.’
His fists clenched alongside his jaw.
‘She was just moved.’
‘I don’t know what to tell you, Foryk.
She needs to be moved again.
The ship isn’t safe.’
He huffed, obviously put out, but he could see the lines of tension in my face that had absolutely nothing to do with him or our broken family and knew that this was serious.
‘I’ll need your help,’ he said reluctantly as he opened the door wider to let me in.
I saw why as soon as my gaze landed on our mother’s restrained form in the centre of the room.
She had been wrestled into a straitjacket, chains criss-crossing her back to keep her arms restrained across her torso.
She was pacing back and forth, insanity emanating from her every movement. Her head kept twitching as she muttered something unintelligible under her breath, her movements stiff and jerky.
When she tilted her head back and released a keening cry of pure agony, then immediately went back to her pacing and muttering, I knew things were worse than I could have imagined.
Watching her now, I began to mourn the mother that had once stood so strong, so immovable in the face of hardship, because this was not her.
‘She’s too far gone to come back to us, isn’t she?’ I asked Foryk, my voice uncharacteristically small in a way that it hadn’t been since I was a young child.
‘Her deterioration was swift.
I do not believe she will survive much longer,’ he admitted sadly, genuine tears misting his eyes as he, too, watched the woman that had raised us wither away into madness.
‘He was her true mate,’ I said.
His next words hit like an axe splitting through the last vestiges of our family’s connection, ‘She will meet him across the valley of death soon.’
The implications of those words sent a rush of adrenaline through me, exacerbating the incessant itch on my hand.
His eyes drifted down to the bound cut, his forehead furrowing in confusion.
‘What’s that?’
I shrugged, forcing my fingers away from the small, insignificant wound.
‘Nothing.
Just cut myself during the rescue mission on a sharp piece of rock.’
‘It’s bandaged, and you’re scratching at it like it’s causing you discomfort.
How bad is it?’
‘It’s nothing,’ I snapped, losing my patience.
The energy it took to be angry made my head swim again, however, and I couldn’t bring myself to hold onto it.
‘It doesn’t look like nothing.’
‘Why do you care?’
‘Because you’re my brother,’ he said, like it was so simple.
Like he hadn’t destroyed any trust or love between us.
‘Fuck off.
You stopped being my brother the moment you-‘
‘I love her.’
Panic rose within me, rage tinting my vision red, and I barely held myself back from launching at him.
‘Who?’ I demanded, my voice low.
Deadly.
One wrong move, one wrong word, and he would unleash me.
‘Larina.’
The name sat between us like a physical weight, dragging us beneath the depth of our shared trauma.
It also eased the fury, snuffing it out until it was nothing but smoke drifting in the recesses of our past.
‘Love.
Present tense,’ I said, catching onto what he was trying to tell me.
‘She was never meant to be yours.’
I couldn’t look at him.
I knew he was right.
The love between Larina and me had long since died before Foryk had even set eyes on her.
His betrayal wasn’t that he loved her, however.
‘She was my true mate.
My soul match,’ he kept going.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ I told him.
‘It matters,’ he argued through clenched teeth.
‘No. It doesn’t.
Because you broke the one rule our people demanded to be respected.
And now she’s dead.’
His bottom lip wobbled as he fought back his emotions.
‘She was never even meant to be yours.’
‘And yet, she was, regardless of our feelings.’
‘Why did you fight so hard for her?’ he asked, shoulders slumped as we watched our mother pace back and forth, shoulders straining against the straitjacket as she tried to break free.
‘Our union was already locked in,’ I admitted.
‘You slept with her?’ he asked, rearing back in shock.
‘She was my fiancé, Foryk.
There was never any doubt in my mind that we would end up together, nor in hers.
Not until you came along.’
‘I… I didn’t know,’ he stammered, his expression twisted in agony.
That was what made me finally make the confession I‘d never thought I’d speak aloud.
‘You weren’t the only one that fucked up, Foryk.
We got caught up in the moment and started the bonding process.
Our union was already halfway complete. If I hadn’t been so stupid, so reckless, I would have let her go.’
‘How could you...?’ he accused, the pain of our past mistakes creating an even greater chasm between us.
‘I didn’t know.’ The admission was wrenched from my chest, but my body fought back so hard that it only came out as the softest of whispers.
‘I thought she was mine.’
‘You thought wrong.’
‘I know.’ Then I turned to him, forcing myself to look him in the eye for my next confession.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘It’s not fair,’ he snapped.
‘I lost everything.
I lost her.
And yet you get a second chance?’
‘Don’t place all the blame on me, brother.
If it weren’t for you, she would still be alive.’
His knees collapsed at the truth of my words, and I fell down beside him.
I kept my distance, not wanting to touch the man who had once meant the world to me before our combined actions toppled it all to the ground.
‘We were both selfish.
And she’s the one who paid the price,’ I whispered into the space between us, cutting that last threat that held us together despite it all.
We took our moment of silence, basking in the shame and misery of all we had lost, because we’d been stupid and young.
When more footsteps thundered past the room, it brought us back to the present, forcing us to our feet.
Foryk’s eyes were blank, his pain crushing him from the inside out, but he was pushing it to the side to be strong for the people who needed him right now.
I didn’t think there was any chance of us mending our relationship, but there was an understanding between us that, for now, seemed to surpass our other issues.
Enough for us to work together for Mother’s sake, at least.
He approached her first, his movements slow so as not to startle her.
She didn’t acknowledge him, like he wasn’t even in the room.
‘Mother,’ he called out to her softly.
‘Mother, can you hear me?’
No reaction.
She continued to pace and mutter nonsensically.
He tried again while I crept forward.
‘Mother, we need to go somewhere else.’
Still, she didn’t react.
‘Mother,’ I tried, stepping up beside Foryk and blocking her path in case she spooked and tried to bolt.
‘Foryk’s right.
We need to move you somewhere safe.’
‘Need to stay.
He needs to find me.
Stay.
Stay. Stay…’
Well, at least we knew she was listening.
‘He’s not coming, Mother.
Father’s dead.
You know this,’ Foryk said, his voice soft but his tone firm.
Wrong choice.
She whipped around and screamed in his face, spittle flying in every direction.
‘He’s not dead!’
‘Mother…’ I tried to calm her, but she wasn’t having it.
She’d already been set off, and there was no soothing her now.
There never would be again, not after losing a piece of her very soul.
She reared back and slammed her head against Foryk’s, making him stumble with a curse as he cupped his bleeding nose.
She used the opening to shoulder past us, racing into the hallway.
I was too slow, my movements too sluggish, like I was moving through wet sand, and I tried to swallow down the panic that tried to rise.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
I shook it off and rushed after her.
We’d wanted her to leave the room, but this wasn’t how we’d planned it.
The itchiness spread, starting from the cut and moving to my wrist, and up my arm, persistent and overwhelming.
Another wave of wooziness hit, and I stumbled over my own feet as I tried to catch up to Mother.
Foryk had recovered faster than I had and was racing after with much more speed and precision than I was capable of in that moment, because I could no longer see straight.
The room began to spin, single objects splitting into two, then three.
Blackness drifted at the edges of my vision, but I forced it back.
Bending so my head was between my knees, I took a few deep breaths to ground myself and push away the sudden onslaught of dizziness and nausea.
When I felt like the world was right again and my stomach had settled, I straightened to find Foryk had tackled Mother. She was writhing beneath him, screaming obscenities while attempting to buck him off. He was managing to hold her down, but he was struggling. He needed help.
Scratching at my wrist, I took one step forward and had to stop, the world beginning to fade into black as everything began to undulate, like a reflection off a watery surface.
Distantly, like my ears were clogged, I heard Foryk calling my name, but I couldn’t reply.
My tongue had gone numb.
In fact, all of me had gone numb except for that fucking itch. It had spread to my shoulder now, demanding all of my attention.
I couldn’t even focus on the fact that my senses were fading. My hearing diminished even further, my vision faded to black, and even my nose was dulled until all I could feel was something scratching at my insides. It was in my bloodstream, scraping against my veins, bursting blood vessels and shredding me apart from the inside out.
I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out.
At least, I didn’t think it did.
I couldn’t even tell if my mouth had opened, nor could I feel the vibration in my throat that the scream would have created.
It was as if I had been sucked into a vacuum devoid of any and all senses.
I didn’t know which way was up, which way was down.
I couldn’t tell if I was still standing or if I was floating off into the abyss.
That was when the acceptance hit.
Karma had finally caught up to me, and I was dying.