No way. I can’t. I won’t.
On the Unbroken, she truly would be in a cage. It was Faren’s ship, and everyone aboard was Faren’s. No one would help her there, that was for sure. She had to use the last option given to her. Right now, they were on her turf, her home. She knew the park, she knew all the crooks, and small streets, and all the hiding places. A childhood memory came back to her, of games they’d used to play with her friends.
Yes. The only place she could lose Faren.
She looked at him, hoping that nothing in her eyes gave her away. It would be risky. Warriors were built for combat, and chase was a part of it. Faren was bound to be faster than her, and not a little. She’d seen some footage of him in action – not in battle of course, civilians rarely saw what the galactic wars were like. But simple duels or training footage was sometimes shown. Faren was a general. He hadn’t gotten to his position by chance.
In her heart, Leiya knew it was a stupid idea. It didn’t matter, though. The alternative was worse. She wasn’t just going to lie down and – well, lie down for Faren. Not without a fight. A real fight, not like the gesha tradition.
She thought of Diego Grothan's new human fated Isolde and felt a kinship she'd never felt before. She had not liked the idea of belonging to someone without question either. Why didn't anyone else understand the absurdity of that concept?
She waited. He was faster and stronger than her, better suited for a chase in every aspect that counted. Her only allies were surprise, knowledge of the hiding places and –
The narrow air duct was used to air out the underground arenas. They were all over the capital, which had grown so huge that a part of it resided underground. It wasn’t as vast as the city above ground, but there were many compounds and facilities there. They all needed air and in certain places, the air ducts were fairly close to the ground.
As a child, Leiya and her friends had played in them. They liked the way the air rushed past them when they climbed deep enough for there to be wind tunnels. It was a dangerous game, but Brion children played such often.
She ducked into one of them as fast as she possibly could, feeling like a silly child running away from her parents. That was what she’d been reduced to. However! It was perfectly calculated; she slid in without hitting her head on anything.#p#分页标题#e#
She scrambled away, breathing heavily. That was the only advantage she had – Faren truly was a giant and couldn’t possibly fit into the tunnel. All she had to do was climb to the other exit nearby and lose herself in the capital. She just needed a breather to figure out where she could go.
After a minute, she dared to peek outside to see what the general had made of her escape, but he was no longer there. Leiya shuddered, wondering if she had just done something really foolish. Would Faren forgive her this escape, when he’d trusted her to go along with him?
For a moment, she considered going out of the same duct she had entered, seeing as Faren was no longer there. But she discarded that idea quickly – she couldn’t see everything from the duct and he might be just outside, waiting for her. It was a safer bet to go out of the other exit as she’d planned.
Leiya crawled, the wind picking up as she went, but it didn’t bother her. She knew this place, remembered the layout. She began to breathe more easily. Even if Faren was looking for her, which he undoubtedly was, there was no way he’d figure out where she was. The ducts went everywhere.
But it really was tight there, even for her and she was fairly small. There were parts that required her to drop to her stomach and just slide further, inch by inch.
Finally, she saw the other exit. The light coming from outside was bright in her eyes, so she gave herself a moment to get used to it. She had to be absolutely sure Faren wouldn’t, by some magic trick, be waiting for her there. Leiya thought she’d played it pretty safe, but she wanted to be even safer. The other exit was still close to the park, because she simply couldn’t go further.
The air in the ducts got too strong there, she would still have had to come out at some point. In the park, she at least had a good idea of where to hide. It was risky, with Faren’s shuttle still there, but she thought it might be the last place he’d search, right under his nose.
She lay in wait for another full minute, watching people walking in the distance. Then she hesitantly crawled out. It turned some heads, but she’d expected that. People always recognized her. She smiled and waved as if it was nothing. They’d think she was a bit eccentric, but that was a price she was willing to pay.
Faren was nowhere to be seen. What was more important, no one seemed to be staring in any direction either and the horrible general would have drawn looks for sure. Leiya dared to breathe out properly. If anything, they were looking at the shuttle, which couldn’t be hidden in any way, standing peacefully at the landing platform.
Keeping to the shadows, Leiya slowly approached the park. There was the danger of Faren’s crew recognizing her, but no one seemed to move there. Possibly catching his gesha for him would have been an insult to the general. Frowning, Leiya thought people had probably died for a lesser offense by Faren’s hand.
The place she was searching for was a pond. It was an artificial construction, made for the pleasure of the Brions who enjoyed the greenery. Next to it stood a waterfall, her true destination. Not everyone knew about the cave behind it, but Leiya’s father had shown her when she was little. It was a sort of a secret. There she could wait out Faren, safe behind the noise and the water.
It was almost like running from an animal, but that wasn’t an unfair comparison. When dealing with Brion warriors and Brion generals in particular, one couldn’t be too careful. Their senses were so sharp Leiya was almost certain Faren could track her by smell. Better very safe than sorry.
She didn’t make it even halfway.
Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw Faren walking towards her. For the life of her, Leiya couldn’t understand where he’d come from. One moment he was just there, almost appearing bored. He didn’t run, just walked towards her with a confident stride. And now people stared.
Gods, you have got to be kidding me. Can he turn invisible?
That was all Leiya had time to think before her legs started running, knowing it was hopeless. She dashed over the ground back towards the buildings, hoping to lose him there. There were quite a few people in the park that day, surely that would slow Faren down… No.
He had disappeared again. Leiya stopped. Running just didn’t seem worth it suddenly. She looked around, but people were going on about their daily business again. So they had lost sight of him too. Her heart in her throat, Leiya edged forward, trying to hide herself in the protective shadow of a huge tower. He was somewhere, looking at her. She was sure of it.
No way to go but forward. She kept going by little narrow streets to somehow make it back to the ducts unseen. She got so close she could already feel the air moving faster when Faren landed before her feet with a thunderous thump she could swear she felt. He’d jumped.#p#分页标题#e#
He’d been on the roof above her, and he’d jumped three floors to land straight before her. And then that bastard had the gall to just straighten himself and walk – not run – to her, standing there stunned.
Fury rose within her heart again. He didn’t need to tell her how futile her little run had been. He was showing it clearly enough. No running, not even breaking a sweat. There was no escape from him and –
And he was suddenly very close to her, and Leiya found herself pinned against the wall. Her breath caught. His body was strong and hot against hers, and she shivered despite herself.
That was from a draft, she tried to assure her mind. What draft? asked the despicably honest part of her that had noticed the perfectly calm weather around her.
“Had your fun?” Faren asked.
The fact that his voice almost sounded amused infuriated Leiya to no end, but she didn’t get the moment to express that. It seemed Faren’s patience with her was at an end. Back on the shoulder she went.
The general’s mighty shoulders felt better under her body than she would have liked. Carried back to the shuttle with every person in the park staring, Leiya sighed.
Oh, fuck me.
CHAPTER TEN
Faren
She had spirit, Faren had to give her that.
Not much appreciation for warriors, though. That was hardly surprising, especially for a human. For one, she was known for disliking them. And secondly, not being a warrior herself, the little starlet clearly lacked insight into what they were capable of. Now that he knew she wasn't blessed with the keen senses all Brions were, it made more sense that she didn't seem to have a proper idea of what he was capable of.
He didn’t take offense. On the contrary, it had been fairly amusing.
Her body had given her away first. Of course, she had tried hard to hide it, but to a warrior of Faren’s skill, it was laughably easy to see. Tense shoulders, fidgety hands – he’d barely needed to see her eyes, but Leiya had told him everything he needed to know when she had looked at him. Her eyes had been terrified in many ways – of him, of her future with him, of the prospect of being caught. He’d almost felt sorry for her.