Chapter 15

Chapter

Fifteen

Ibarely slept. I woke up every hour, peering at the door and wondering if someone was going to come in and slit my throat in my sleep. I slept with a small dagger Elaine gave me, that the Fleet approved of, under my pillow with my fingers clutched tightly around it. I was still processing what I'd heard and hadn't yet told Tetra about the possible plot to kill me. I had bigger things to worry about. Like the power display we were about to be forced to go through. Every cadet would have to stand before the Imperial Fleet admirals and give a display of power to be recorded in their file for future job assignments. This would also match you with which base you would be stationed at, and I was gunning for Sky Reach. It was the most notorious for attacks, but you learned the most there as well. The most powerful soldiers in my father's fleet served at Sky Reach, and I wanted to be one of them.

It was barely light out, but I couldn't sleep so I snuck out of our room and went down the hall to the girls' bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. I showered with my dagger. The solid gold one-piece had an engraving along the entire blade that was reminiscent of the Cedar Creek countryside where Elaine was from. It was very special to me and it was very sharp, so I was keeping it with me at all times.

After lacing up my boots and tucking my cotton shirt into my Fleet-issued belt, I slicked my hair into a bun, still shocked at the red and black contrasting sides. Sometimes the bond between creature and human left a physical mark like a birthmark or scar, but I'd never seen hair change color.

I headed outside to look for Liana and found her in the woods behind a practice field. Something within me just guided me to look there. I assumed it was our bond. Some soldiers were out jogging, but otherwise the campus was pretty dead.

"Hey," I greeted her, stepping over some fallen logs to walk up and stroke her neck. She leaned into my touch, using my fingers almost as a scratching post.

"Where's Onyx?" I asked. She and the dragon were pretty inseparable.

She looked up at me with her purple eyes and I felt nervousness rush through me. As if she was preparing to tell me something I wouldn't like.

‘I sent him away for the day,' she said.

Sent him away? Did Kohen know?

"Why? Today is really important. We need to show the admirals our powers so that we will be given important jobs within the Fleet and be stationed at good bases," I told her.

She nodded. ‘I know what today is. I overheard the lieutenants talking about it yesterday.'

I sighed. "If you know it's important, why would you send Onyx away? Kohen is going to look like a fool."

Not that I cared. Okay, I sort of did.

She nuzzled her head into my stomach, ‘If they know the power that Onyx has given Kohen, they will likely kill him where he stands.'

Chills ran the length of my entire back. ‘What power?' I asked into her mind.

She was silent.

My eyebrows arched. ‘The fire and healing? Or something else? What power did he give him?'

‘That's not my information to share, Aisling. I'm sorry.' She sounded genuinely sad, and I respected her for keeping a close friend's secret, but damn I wanted to know. Clearly Kohen had manifested another power besides the healing from burns and conjuring flames into his hand, which he'd shown me in the barn.

I nodded.

‘I am leaving too,' she said and my gut sank. ‘But only because it is in your best interest. If they learn you could escape death and whatever other powers may manifest through our bond, it may bring negative attention. There are some things humans are not ready to know, and the full extent of a Talanagi's powers is one of them.'

I didn't like it one bit. I was going to look like a total asshat up there with no powers to display, but her warning scared me. Especially since Kohen seemed to have manifested some big dark power.

I stroked her neck feathers. ‘So you're leaving?'

She nodded, ‘I'll be back tonight, after Sahiri is gone.'

My eyes widened. ‘You know about Sahiri?'

Sahiri was one of the admiral's creatures, a giant silverback gorilla who had the power to force another creature or human to display their power.

Liana dipped her head up and down. ‘Sahiri was well known in The Wilds, a formidable creature with a rare talent. Do not allow her to cast her power over either you or Kohen.'

I frowned. ‘I know you and Onyx are like family, but Kohen is my family's sworn enemy. I can't be doing favors for him.'

She sighed. ‘Understood. Do not allow Sahiri to reveal your power. Kohen is on his own I guess.' She shrugged her winged shoulders nonchalantly, but I felt bad. What the hell was I supposed to do if some three-hundred-pound gorilla came up to me and tried to use her power on me? Knock her out?

I actually burst out laughing at the thought, and Liana cocked her head to the side in interest.

This was a good time to shift the conversation to what happened yesterday when the three soldiers said I wouldn't be their future empress if they took me out.

I told Liana what had happened, and when I was done telling her the story, a fine tendril of smoke came off of her skin. Her eyes flashed orange; she looked ready to burst into flames.

‘Aisling, if that ever happens again, you run up to them and slit their throats. Do you understand me?'

Whoa. That was hardcore. ‘Umm, you can't exactly kill a superior officer in boot camp for making a veiled verbal threat.'

She huffed, smoke leaving her nostrils. ‘Then send them outside where I can take care of them.'

Okay… she was not going to see reason. Most creatures were very protective, and Liana was no different.

‘I guess. I'll see you tomorrow, then?' I asked her.

She nodded and then took off like a rocket, shooting up from the forest floor and into the tree line.

A twig snapped behind me. I yanked my dagger from my waistband and spun, ready to throw. The blade nearly left my fingertips until I recognized Kohen.

"I almost took your eye! Don't sneak up on me," I snapped.

He held up his hands, peering up to where Liana had just flown off. "I'm just looking for Onyx. Everyone is lining up with their creatures for the revealing."

Crap.

"He's not coming. Neither is Liana. They don't want the admirals—or any other humans for that matter—knowing the extent of their powers. Or ours," I told him plainly.

He looked relieved, actually exhaling and slumping.

My gaze narrowed. "Why, what power are you hiding?"

He looked up at me then and there was a vulnerability in his gaze. He seemed like he wanted to tell me, to confide in whatever gift his bonding had brought about. "A horrible burden," he said instead, and then walked away, giving me his back.

A horrible burden?

I walked five paces behind him, my mind spinning with how to handle this situation. I was the emperor's daughter, yes, but I couldn't pull rank during an official ceremony like this—could I? Tell the admirals that our powers were secret?

No way, we'd be court-martialed.

Liana had no idea the bind she'd put me in by doing this.

Twelve admirals sat at the back of the auditorium. Eight men and four women. All of whom I'd seen on occasion with my father but had barely exchanged more than a few words with. I only knew half by name. All the lieutenants were fanned out along the walls of the arena with their creatures in tow, and we, the cadets, stood in the middle with our creatures behind.

The arena was giant, four times a normal human sized one, so that it could fit our creatures comfortably.

Drill Instructor Ashendell walked over to me, and with every footstep I dreaded the conversation we were about to have.

"Where is your creature, Cadet?" she shouted.

"Gone, ma'am!" I shouted back.

Murmurs rose up around the hall and another instructor asked Kohen the same thing. We were the only two who had arrived creatureless. He was a few paces away from me.

"Gone as well, sir!"

"Have you informed them that they needed to be here?" Instructor Ashendell asked.

"Yes, ma'am." My heart felt like it might burst out of my chest at any moment.

"Then go get her!" Ashendell grabbed the hem of my collar and lowered her voice. "You will not embarrass me in front of the admirals," she growled.

I gave her a pleading look, lowering my voice as well. "You don't force a Talanagi to do anything. She left. I cannot make her be here."

Her eyes widened. "If you can't control your creature, you're not bonded."

It was true. I could have taken over Liana's will—well, in theory, she was a Talanagi so I wasn't one hundred percent sure on that, but I would never do that. Most humans wouldn't.

"I won't," I told her.

She let go of my shirt just as one of the admirals stood from his chair on the platform.

Admiral Blade.

Bonded to Sahiri.

I was so screwed.

The admiral walked down the long empty space between us, his silverback gorilla creature following closely beside him. The gorilla was huge, with glowing green ember marks along her back.

Kill me now.

Lieutenant Ashendell stood at attention, looking away from me, and I flicked a panicked expression towards Kohen. He looked cool as a cucumber.

Awesome.

"At ease. What's the problem, Lieutenant?" the admiral asked.

Lieutenant Ashendell relaxed a little. "Two of the cadets' creatures didn't show up, sir."

She answered just as Sahiri dropped on all fours and walked over to me, sniffing my boot. A wave of dizziness washed over me. I felt so exposed, so fragile. Her magic was terrifying.

"And why is that, Aisling Everhart?" He directed his next question to me and I felt the color leach from my cheeks.

"I informed her she needed to be here, sir. She chose not to," I told him, looking straight ahead. No way would I look him in the eye if I didn't have to. This man was in my father's monthly war council meetings and he scared the life out of me.

"Your creature suggested it but you had to have agreed with her. Otherwise, you would have just forced her to be here."

I felt physically nauseated from being interrogated like this. Maybe if I threw up they would send me to the infirmary. I said nothing, hoping he would drop it and just test everyone else here.

"What are you hiding?" he then asked.

Don't embarrass me. My father's words flushed through me and I knew whatever I did now would get back to him.

No human should know what the Talanagi can do. Liana's words rushed over me as well.

I said nothing. I had nothing to say.

"Sahiri, reveal her power," Admiral Blade ordered his creature.

Panic rose up inside of me. Would I burst into flames and wake up in a body bag again? Or worse, not at all? Or did I have some other power yet to be uncovered? Something like what Kohen was hiding.

"No," I said as sharp intakes of breath came from all around me.

"Excuse me, Cadet?" The admiral got up in my face, and this time I did look at him, regretting it instantly. He was in his late forties with a black buzzcut and an absolutely feral gaze. There was something inherently evil about him and it gave me the chills.

"No," I repeated. "I do not consent to having my powers forced on display, SIR!" I screamed in his face. He reached up then, lightning-quick, and grabbed my lower jaw, hard, surprising me, and that's when chaos erupted. I hissed at the pain his forceful grip had caused, and then Tetra stepped forward, holding her cane up in the air like she was going to strike the admiral. He looked over at her and burst out laughing. That's when there was a blur of tan skin and black hair. Kohen came out of nowhere and cracked the admiral in the side of the temple, knocking him out cold.

Holy crap.

Just when I thought I had a moment to process what the hell was going on… Sahiri attacked. She stood on her hind legs and barreled over to Kohen, taking him down to the ground with one yank of her meaty hands. She was pummeling him, her fists smashing into his face and arms as he brought them up to protect himself.

It felt like time had stopped. My breathing came out in ragged waves as I reacted without thinking. Grabbing my dagger from my boot, I threw myself onto Sahiri's back, holding the blade to her throat.

She froze.

"I will bleed you out right here and now if you don't get off of him," I told her.

The whole room was in an uproar.

Lieutenant Ashendell was trying to rouse the admiral. The soldiers flanking the walls stepped closer but were waiting for commands. The other admirals who had been sitting on the dais were now rushing towards us with angry strides.

This entire thing had gone to crap.

‘You have no idea how bad this is.' I reached for Liana with my mental communication and felt her close by.

‘Not as bad as it would be if they knew what you both were capable of. Some people are too powerful to be kept alive.'

Her words sent chills down my arms. What was Kohen hiding? What did she know about me?

‘What do I do?' I asked Liana.

‘You are the future empress. Handle it.'

I wasn't empress here though. I was a cadet like everyone else.

"Stand down, Cadet!" an admiral barked from behind me, and realizing I still had my blade to Sahiri's throat, I slid off her back.

Kohen was covered in blood, his nose having exploded onto his lip and chest, but he looked alive and conscious, which was miraculous considering a giant gorilla had just pounded him in his beautiful face.

Sahiri spun, glaring at me with a menacing gaze, and all I could think was that my father was going to kill me when he heard of this.

One of the admirals, a female, walked right up to me, jaw set and eyes blazing. Her tawny wolf creature stalked around us in a slow circle, and I prepared for her to do her worst.

This was Admiral Caruso. Her gift was being able to tell if you lied.

Some said she smelled it, others that she heard the lie, but either way I was so screwed if she was about to interrogate me in front of everyone.

"Throw them both in the brig!" she snapped, and I sagged in relief.

The next thing I knew, Kohen and I were being hauled by the armpits and dragged out of the room. The last thing I saw was the terrified look on Tetra's face.