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“You can’t.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Myah, you can’t give up.” His voice moved closer. “You need to make it. We came this far. I refuse to let you give up. I will fight our way out of here, but you are coming with me. You can even fight me, but you will still come.” His breath touched my face.
I opened my eyes to find his face inches from mine. Determined eyes bore into mine. Desperation swirled in their depths.
“Why?”
“We are a mated pair. Without you, I am not whole.”
I forgot to breathe. I coughed. He withdrew.
“I knew it. Too soon. He told me to wait. Wait until after.” He paced and muttered. Agitation apparent in every line of his tense back and moving hands.
I took a deep cleansing lungful of air before asking, “How long?”
He stopped and looked down at me. “How long have we been mates? How long have you been here? How long will it take to get us out?”
I almost laughed. He was more disconcerted than I at his revelation. “All of the above.”
“Seven blessed years.” He reached out to touch me, but dropped his hand a moment later. “You disappeared twelve Minora Moon cycles ago. I gained no information about how you came here, but I do know you have been in this facility for three cycles.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “I hope to free you within a seventh night.”
“Why me?” The question, which burned in my soul as long as my short memory recalled, crossed my lips for the first time.
Because we can do this.
The words slipped into my thoughts as though my own, yet they were not. Thankfully, I wasn’t standing. I stared up at the stranger in shock. I hadn’t dreamed it. He had spoken into my mind days ago. The time muddled together so I couldn’t recall if three days or twenty had passed since I first saw him. However, I would never forget the emotion behind his words.
“You did that the first day.”
He nodded.
You are capable of it too. It might take you longer to regain the knowledge, though. This type of communication has always been more difficult for you.
“So, our ability is why they chose me.”
Yes.
The alarm signaled the end of the exercise time and our conversation.
Don’t tell anyone anything.
He turned away, proceeding toward his own designated treatment.
I followed my android keeper along sterile halls to the cold room and the waiting punctpro.