“I’ve had you by my side. My brain functions better, you know that. It helped me come up with a solution. A preemptive one, anyway. There’s no guarantee that Ta’Zan has any means to listen in on any conversations, but I’m inclined to think he would have.”
“It’s brilliant, if you ask me,” I said, looking at the scrambler. “If he does have a listening device in the dome, and it doesn’t work because of this little thing, he won’t be able to come in and ask us why his spying gadget doesn’t work. It would give him away.”
Amal grinned. “Exactly. No way that he’d allow himself to come across as a bumbling, incompetent inventor in front of Derek. Especially Derek. He’s so determined to prove his superiority. It’ll be his undoing someday.”
“Hopefully, that day is soon…”
A few minutes passed in silence.
“This isn’t how I’d planned it,” Amal finally murmured, staring blankly ahead.
“I thought we were over this,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “You should’ve told me.”
Amal sighed. “Can I be honest?”
“It’s what I’ve always expected of you.”
“I wanted you to have total deniability, in case it went wrong,” Amal murmured. “Getting close enough to kill Ta’Zan is extremely dangerous. I think I’ve already explained why—”
“He’s been modifying his own genes, gradually,” I replied, nodding. “He’s become nearly as invincible as the Perfects, only he’s more cunning than all of them put together. His self-preservation instinct makes him virtually undefeatable.”
“Yes. We need to chip away at his confidence, piece by piece. Once we go back in there, we have to play our parts flawlessly. We cannot make a single mistake,” Amal said. “This plan of yours… Well, it’s crazy, but it could work.”
I gave her a sly grin. “A few minutes ago, you weren’t really on board with it.”
She chuckled. “Hey, I’d rather go with the crowd than ruin all the work I’ve put in so far. I am so close to finding the right attack angle, you have no idea.”
“How’ve you been, though?” I asked, changing the subject. We’d talked about what we were going to do, already. We knew how we’d proceed through every step, until we got it right. Revisiting the plan wasn’t helping, not this far in the game. “In my absence, and with everything that happened in there…”
“As well as I can be. I have the blood of my brethren on my hands,” Amal answered, her voice uneven.
“You’re talking about Monos and the other rebels.”
She nodded. “I could’ve let them go ahead with it, you know. They could’ve taken Sofia’s group out. But Ta’Zan would’ve been on to them in minutes. They were all going to be back in the dome before the next midnight. His comms blockers were still up. His mind was still too clear for a bunch of prisoners escaping to get the better of him. Like I said, we need to break his psyche before he can make a potentially fatal mistake. It’s the only way to stop Ta’Zan.”
“Why didn’t you speak to Monos and his people about it?” I asked.
“Everyone knows I’m loyal to Ta’Zan. I had to keep up appearances. It’s the only thing that has helped me save more lives than the few we lost the other day. Monos’s sacrifice won’t be in vain. As cruel as it may sound, those deaths fortified Ta’Zan’s trust in me. I have him right where I want him. I mean, why do you think he started killing prisoners and giving you ultimatums? He’s scared he’ll lose me. He knows he’s weak without me. Without us, Amane. He hasn’t been the same since you left.”
“I’m sorry you had to do what you did,” I mumbled. “I wasn’t even sure I could trust these outsiders when I saw them. Then the dragon took a nose dive, and I found myself swimming after him, saving his life.”
“You did right by him. And they sure did right by you,” Amal replied, smiling. “I see the way they look at you, Sister. They respect you. They value your opinion. They rely on you. They’re everything our so-called father never was to us.”
“If only he’d been less of a murderer, right? Then he wouldn’t have been half bad,” I replied with a chuckle.
“And I see how the dragon looks at you, too,” Amal said. “He loves you. And you… Sister, I think you love him, too.”
I took a deep breath, wondering if what she said was true. It felt right. It felt so damn right.
“Ta’Zan never told us about love,” I whispered.
“Nope. He said it’s useless. A romantic concept that the Draenir couldn’t let go of.”
“It’s everything,” I said. “Everything matters more, now that I know where Ridan and I stand. And you’re right. The way he looks at me. It’s mesmerizing. It makes my heart race. My stomach churns whenever we’re apart. And I know, I know that I would never be bored with him. You’ve seen him in his dragon form, right?”
Amal nodded, her eyes wide as she remembered the flight back.
“I’m in awe of him,” she replied.
“That, alone, was enough to make my chest tighten. And when he’s just himself, he’s so… quiet and patient. You should see him fight, too. He is as fierce as the dragon inside him. But he’s also tender, and sweet. And he makes me laugh, even though I don’t always get his jokes. It’s the way he smiles to let me know he’s joking. That cracks me up.”
Amal giggled. “Good grief, Sister, you’re in so much trouble.”
“I know. I have to make sure he lives through all this,” I said, stifling a chuckle. “What about you and Athos, huh? That poor soul has been pining over you for years, now.”
“I’m aware. But I don’t feel the same,” Amal replied. “I value him. I care about him. After all, I convinced Ta’Zan to put him on the cleaning crew, instead of kicking him out like the other rogues. But I could never give him what he wants.”
“He’ll find someone, eventually.”
“Your optimism could be infectious.” She laughed. “That’s assuming we survive what comes next!” she added, then suddenly turned serious. “We helped this murderer become who he is today. Don’t think we’re forgiven for our past sins.”
“So, what, we don’t deserve a second chance?” I sighed. “We didn’t know any better. It wasn’t until I spent time with Ridan and his crew that I realized what the real world was like. It’s the complete opposite of what Ta’Zan taught us and wanted us to do. You know that as well as I do, since you’ve been working to destroy him already.”
Amal let a deep breath out. A few seconds passed in silence as she formulated a reply. I knew she wasn’t done with the guilt trip. I’d already gone through those motions, shortly after we discovered the surviving Draenir. I would’ve gone to my grave with the secret about the plague, had it not been for Rakkhan. In hindsight, it was better this way. My moral compass had clearly been in need of adjustment.
“I don’t know, Sister. I feel guilty. I live with it every day, like a disease festering in my chest,” Amal finally said. “Sometimes, I think we don’t deserve any kind of happiness or forgiveness. We helped him kill millions of Draenir.”
“We did. And, if we break free of his reign, we will have a whole life ahead of us to make amends, to fix it as best as we can, to help the Draenir resettle and thrive again. It’s what gives me hope. Well, that and the fact that I have Ridan in my life. I’ve been tempted to punish myself by running away from him, but I can’t. I’ve thought about it. But love’s funny like that.”
