Emerge: The Captive: (Book 3)(72)

“You should run,” Quinn said as he raised his sword.

But Sasha refused to leave him like this. No matter what life threw at them, she would always stand with him.

“And you should be afraid.” Sasha pointed her twin blades at him. She would not let the madness take him.

As Quinn charged her, she stood her ground, hating the thought of hurting him but determined to help him find his way back.

“Sasha, don’t do this!” Aidan cried from the darkness. “He is our friend.”

“Stay out of this, brother.” Sasha met Quinn’s attack, but it wasn’t Quinn.

She twisted her body into the defensive forms she couldn’t remember learning, but found herself with the upper hand against this faceless phantom that had worn Quinn’s face just a moment ago. She kept her head, letting her body respond to the fight as she studied the way the phantom moved. This was not Quinn. She’d sparred with him since she was a child and her father first put a bo staff in her hand. She knew how Quinn moved, and this was not him.

“I never loved you,” the phantom said, his voice full of loathing.

“You’re wrong. Quinn has always loved me. But it’s time for us both to move on,” Sasha replied in a level voice, thrusting her blade into his side. She let him drop to the ground without shedding a single tear.

Sasha turned in the grim darkness, seeing the others circling in the shadows of the temple wall.

Her mother and father, her brothers. Even Jayesh. They each taunted her with the most hateful lies, but it wasn’t them. Not really. These were her demons, wearing the faces of those she loved most. Saying the things she feared the most.

The worry that Quinn did not love her the way she loved him. That she was no longer certain how she felt about him.

That her brother resented her place within their family.

That her mother loved Aidan more because he was so special.

That her Scottish father would have preferred a daughter more like him physically rather than in personality alone.

That her friends only tolerated her because she was Aidan’s sister.

That Jayesh would leave and she would never see him again.

“I’m right here!” she screamed. “Come and fight me if you dare.” She pointed her blade at the ground, determined to conquer her demons once and for all.

She faced them each in turn, slaying the faceless phantoms. Quieting their hateful lies. Because they were lies. Her fears were unfounded but they were part of her. She had to accept that it was okay to have doubts about herself. That it was okay for her to not be perfect, because she wasn’t. Far from it. Sasha simply needed to do the best she could with the challenges life presented her.

As her brother Darius fell to join the others, the moon burst through the clouds, bathing the temple grounds in light. As the smoke cleared, Sasha turned toward the gates and walked all the way back to the temple on her own, shrugging off the effects of the wine that made her forget.

~~~

“You did it.” Imogen ran to meet Sasha along the path to the temple.

Sasha fell into her sister’s arms, exhausted from her final battle of ankathari.

“You are a rare person, Sasha El Sadawii.” Imogen guided her up the steps to join the mother at the temple entrance.

“Greetings, dear Sasha.” The mother bowed low when they joined her. “You have survived one hundred and sixty nights of sheer agony.” She took Sasha’s weapons from her. She didn’t need them for practice anymore. “But you have succeeded and earned the blades of the Chola for yourself.” The mother nodded at Jayesh, who stood by, waiting to honor his student with her reward.

“Thank you, Mother Raghavan.” Sasha bowed.

Turning to Jayesh, Sasha knelt before him, touching his feet with the deepest respect. She could not have survived this experience without him.

“Well done, Sasha,” Jayesh murmured as he pulled her to her feet. With a flick of each dagger, he sliced open her cheeks, bathing her new blades in her own blood. The ritual complete, Jayesh tucked the weapons of the Chola assassin into her belt.

The metal was milky white and the hilts were black obsidian, unlike anything Sasha had ever seen. She would wear them always. She’d earned those blades with a piece of her soul.

Jayesh gave her a level look to remind her they were not done yet. “We begin the final stage of verumkai tomorrow.”

~~~





CHAPTER

TWENTY-FIVE





Quinn: Fall


Atlanta, Georgia


“Dad, please … stop,” Quinn sobbed.

“How could you bring those people here, son?” Daniel’s voice rose in anger to match the crack of the whip against his son’s back. “How could you risk exposing your brother to Soma?”

“I’m sorry. I was just trying to get home. I needed help.” Quinn’s wrists ached from the shackles that bound him to his cell in the crypt.

“Well you’ve risked the safety of everyone we love. And we can’t allow that.” Daniel’s whip ripped across his back once more. “You’re going to have to go back.”

The disappointment in his father’s voice broke something inside him.

“You should have stayed in Atlanta,” Daniel said sadly as he released the chains holding his son suspended from the brick wall.