Page 53 of Broken Triad
“Whether we believe it or not does not matter,” growls Bolden. “Every day, more Aurelians join our ranks. The youngest. Some not even finished Academy, deserting despite every attempt to rein them in. Fresh faces, devotion in their eyes. They believe in the living god of war, a deity who commands them, shadow-wolves at his side. Obsidian’s words ring of truth, truth you feel in your bones. If we do not win this war, every life on this planet, every sentient creature from a gnat to a human, will be snuffed out. The universe will be an empty tomb. If we do not fight for Obsidian, the darkness will take everything.”
“What darkness?” I feel the deepest, clawing horror growing in my belly, and I pull Khra’s robe tighter around me.
“I don’t know its shape, but I know it. When I Orb-Shifted, I felt it.”
“What is it?” The sunny day is ice-cold.
“It hungers. It wants to eat the stars.”
“Dinner is served,” comes Krazak’s voice from behind us, as if breaking the spell. Bolden clears his throat, shaking his body, almost like a dog shaking off water. I quickly pull on clothes, and Bolden and Khra put on their robes.
Bolden extends his arm, and I take it, pressing against his strength as he walks me into the main area of the ship. No matter what darkness is out there, if he is by my side, I can face it. With these three around me, nothing could hurt me, not even some dark monster living deep inside the Rift.
My stomach growls embarrassingly loud as I walk into the dining hall. The table is huge, and laden with food. There is a plate of sandwiches, cold fish, smoked salmon, a bowl of yogurt, and a copious amount of cakes and sweets. Jars of pickled vegetables are placed at random, some filled with beets, others with mushrooms, a winter store plundered by the triad, probably bought at a hundred times their value. It’s like when they stuffed a bag full of evening gowns, throwing in everything that looked feminine. There’s also a huge prime rib, still hot, that they must have bought from a restaurant nearby, which they beeline towards.
“You have not been eating enough, so we got some of everything, so you have no excuse,” says Khra, his voice lighter again.
I take my seat, and Krazak cuts me a giant piece of meat, loading it up on my plate, before laughing to himself. “I gave you an Aurelian-sized piece.”
I look at all the food in front of me. “Let me guess, you guys wanted meat, then you threw in everything else hoping I’d like it.”
“You know us already,” says Krazak, sitting down across the table in front of me.
I try a little of everything, until I’m so stuffed my stomach is like a ball. “Am I going to have to lift you to the bedroom?” asks Bolden.
“I don’t think you could,” I joke, rubbing my stomach. I feel so relaxed around the three of them. I don’t know when it happened, but it’s just started to feelrightto be with them.
Khra smiles, and leads me down the hallway, to the captain’s room. There’s only one king-sized bed. The Aurelians lie on it, making it small, and I nestle myself between their huge bodies. Krazak pulls me tight against him, his cock surging up, huge and powerful, aching for me.
“Can we…can we just lie here, tonight?” I ask.
“Of course,” he says. His cock is throbbing, but he just scoops me up tight, wrapping me in his arms, holding me as I let myself rest.
I’m asleep as quick as I close my eyes, and I wake up in his arms, the sun burning above the horizon through the huge glass windows.
Krazak, Bolden and Khra are still deep in dreams. I watch the red ember of the sun slowly rising, then look at the three men I feel linked to.
I stare at them, each line of their faces, each scar on their bodies, and etch the details of them in my being, cementing them in my memories and my present moment.
I slip out of Krazak’s huge arms and run my hand over his bicep, then sneak out the room, my steps light so as not to wake them. They’ve been spending their days in the mines, grueling battles with the Scorp that hid down there, and they deserve a rest.
I grab one of their robes, draping it over me, and walk out to the back of the boat to watch the sun rising. I hear one of them coming—Krazak, I can just sense it—and he wraps his arms around me.
He lets me enjoy the moment for long minutes before he tenses up, and I know something is wrong.
“We must return.”
“You have another day off?”
“The call has come.”
“The call?”
“Obsidian. We ship out in two days. Into the Aurelian Empire.”
I shiver in his arms, leaning back against his strength.
“The war begins. But tomorrow we will take a double patrol, and search the final cave system.”
