Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)(67)

“Please, Quinn? It’s me. It’s Sasha.” She reached for him again but the scent of first blood seemed to energize him and he brought his weapon down on her again. Sasha reacted quickly, blocking his aggressive strike with her blades.

“Why do you push so hard, Sasha?” Quinn growled. “I don’t love you.”

“Quinn, please. Don’t do this,” she cried as she fought him off, trying not to let him corner her against the wall.

She had to save him from this madness. Her mind was a whirl of confusion, but her body fell into the kalari forms seamlessly. She moved with instinct, twisting her body into the familiar defensive movements. As the minutes dragged into hours and still he pursued her, Sasha’s limbs grew heavy and weak. I’m running out of time. She couldn’t remember why, but an overwhelming sense of urgency filled her. She had to get out of this place. Now.

“Snap out of it!” She ducked his sword and rushed to his side, hoping her touch or the sound of her voice could bring him back to himself. “This isn’t you. We’ve loved each other our whole lives!” But Quinn didn’t care anymore. His blade sliced through her robes, connecting with her flesh. The action shattered something inside her.

It took her far too long to realize the only way out of this nightmare was to kill the boy she loved. He was too far gone. He was going kill her. I can’t let that happen. I have an important job to do. Although she couldn’t remember what that job was.

With a heartbroken sob, Sasha stopped fighting defensively and began pushing her attack.

“Don’t make me do this,” she begged when she had him cornered, but he wouldn’t back down. He never spoke. He just continued his single-minded pursuit.

Sasha’s cries bounced off the temple walls, the echoes filling the night as she brought her blades to his throat.

“Sasha?” Quinn finally looked at her in confusion. His blue eyes warmed with recognition and she hesitated.

But his smile was one of triumph and not the smile she remembered from the boy she was once convinced was her Complement.

“No!” Sasha’s voice broke in anguish as she screamed and brought her blade across his throat. The dagger he was about to plant in her side clattered to the ground. The spurt of his warm blood sprayed her face and covered the front of her robes.

Sasha stumbled back, dropping her weapons, letting Quinn’s lifeless body slump forward.

“I killed him!” she shrieked into the swirling clouds of smoke.

She stared down at her bloody hands, wondering how they could betray her. Violent tremors racked her body as she backed away from Quinn’s still form. “I killed him,” she whispered, dropping to her knees.

“What have you done?” Aidan’s shadow loomed over her.

“I had to do it, Aidan.” She scrambled through the dirt as he closed in on her. “No. Please. Don’t.” She cringed as he pulled his sword from the sheath at his back. A dagger in one hand and his favorite sword in the other, her brother—her best friend—stalked her. His eyes glowed in fury.

“How could you do it, Sash? You’re supposed to love him. What’s wrong with you?” Aidan hauled her up from the ground and had his dagger at her throat before she could blink.

Once again, her body reacted in a way that defied what her mind wanted. Her bloodied blades glinted in the moonlight as she twisted out of his grip and turned them on her brother. She danced on silent feet, never letting her opponent touch her. It was easier this time, moving through the motions of the fight as her mind disconnected from her body until she felt like a spectator—a soldier following orders they didn’t understand.

“No, Aidan. Leave, please just leave,” she begged.

“You killed my best friend!” His accusing stare cut her to the core.

“He was going to kill me.”

“Then you should have died! You obviously deserve it. While he’s been out there fighting for his life, what have you been doing, Sasha?”

“I, I don’t know! I can’t remember!” she sobbed.

“You’ve been off flirting with your trainer while the boy you profess to love has been tortured and enslaved. You were supposed to be helping him escape!”

“I know. I know—that’s why I have to get out of here. It’s important, Aidan.”

“It’s too late, Sasha. You killed him.” Aidan’s eyes blazed in fury. “There is nothing more for you to do. I wish Mom had left you to rot in that orphanage where she found you.” He raised his sword to run her through.

She couldn’t look into those eyes anymore. She flew into a whirling kick to disarm him. Sasha raised her daggers for the killing blow, plunging both blades through her brother’s chest.

Sasha threw her head back and a scream like a wounded animal ripped from her throat.

“You killed my son?” Their mother drifted through the smoke, staring at Aidan’s still form, blood pooling beneath him. “He was right. I should have left you in that orphanage the day I found you. It should be you dead on the cold ground. Not him. He was my favorite. My precious son.”

“No. Mom. Please. I’m so sorry,” Sasha wailed, but Naeemah lunged at her with a knife.

“Momma, please don’t.” Sasha dropped her weapons to the ground, too heartbroken to fight her own mother. “Mom!” Sasha’s voice shook as she raised her arms, deflecting Naeemah’s blade with her bare fingers. “Please,” Sasha whimpered, her arms a bloody mess from her mother’s knife.