Out of the Ashes (Maji 1)

I shook my head. “I don’t believe a word you say or have ever said to me!”

A wave of helpless expressions crossed over Kol’s face, but anger was the one to settle when I made a move to turn and walk away from him. He shot forward, grabbed hold of my arms, and held me tightly. He was shaking, I could feel his body tremble against mine, but I didn’t allow myself to be concerned for him. I wanted to get away from him. Far away as Ezah could get me.

To Terra.

“Let me go!” I demanded.

“I need to be away from you right now; I need to think without looking at you, without feeling you or fucking hearing you.”

“No,” Kol growled, his hold tightening.

I struggled harder. “I’m not Maji. You can’t just dominate me and expect me to heel to you.”

“Shiva—”

“Just stop!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “If you don’t let me go, I swear I’ll hate you for as long as I live!”

More sharp intakes of breath filled the room.

Kol instantly released me, and when I moved towards the doorway, I said, “Do not come near me. Give me the space I deserve.”

I turned and fled the room before he could speak or do anything about it. I heard him roar, and then there was loud commotion and a hell of a lot of growling and snarling, but I blocked it all out and ran. I ran all the way back to Ezah and found him leaning against the wall next to the staircase, right where I left him.

“You were right,” I blurted, my hands wrapped around myself. “About everything.”

I expected to see a satisfied grin on Ezah’s face, but I didn’t. What I saw looked an awful lot like … pity.

“Maybe you should—”

“You said you could get me to Terra,” I cut him off, panicked he changed his mind.

He licked his lower lip. “I can.”

“Then I want to go,” I said, hugging myself tighter. “I want to go right now.”

“Nova—”

“Please, Ezah,” I pleaded, helplessness consuming me. “Please, take me away from here.”

He regarded me with a look that was definitely one of pity, but when he jerked his head in a nod, I knew he was agreeing to do what he offered, and what I pleaded for. He would take me away from Kol, the people, Ealra … and he would bring me to Terra and back to my people. For once in my entire life, the knowledge that I was purposely going somewhere to be surrounded by humans didn’t scare me. I felt nothing other than the pain that Kol’s lies and deceit had inflicted.

Seven days … That was all it took for him to break me.

Once Ezah agreed to help me escape to Terra, he turned into a fierce male on a mission. He decided that right then and there was when we would leave while his family was distracted with Kol in his father’s living area. He didn’t allow me to bring a single thing with me, and all this suited me fine. I didn’t need anything. I wanted to be gone from Ealra, and I wanted it immediately.

We exited the palace a hell of a lot quicker than I thought possible, but as Ezah had grown up within the solid gold walls, he knew every shortcut imaginable, and he used that to our advantage.

“We have minutes,” he muttered lowly as we briskly walked by two guards who were bowing to either Ezah or both of us. “Once Kol realises you’re gone, and I am nowhere to be found, an alarm will sound and every patrolling warrior will be on high alert and searching for us. He will try to reach you mentally, but block him out.”

I gaped at him. “He never taught me how.”

“My father said he imagines a wall, and that puts a blockage from my mother hearing his thoughts, or projecting hers to him.”

I felt sick to my stomach with worry in case I failed with the blocking thing, but I imagined a large wall in my mind, and tried to focus on it. I felt even sicker as we neared a death vehicle. I didn’t hesitate like I thought I would have. Instead, I jumped into the front passenger seat and remained still as Ezah climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. I held my breath as the seat closed in around me, but when I realised it wasn’t going to crush me, I relaxed.

Ezah pulled out of the vehicle’s parking space, and within seconds, we were driving so fast, it made my stomach lurch in what felt like slow motion. We left the palace, and everyone in it, behind in a matter of seconds. I flung my hand over my eyes and wished for the journey to get wherever we were going to end.

Three or so minutes after entering the vehicle, it returned to sitting idle, and I was stumbling out of it, clutching my stomach before I vomited up my its contents. Ezah didn’t give me a moment to gather my bearings; he came to my side, gripped my arm, and pulled me towards a … spacecraft. A small spacecraft but definitely one that could do the job and get me to Terra.

“Move quicker,” he scowled.

I threw a glance over my shoulder and saw the lit-up palace off in the distance.

“I have been moving quicker,” I snapped at him, with my mouth with the back of my hand. “I’m lightheaded and feel like I’m going to be sick again. You drove too fast, and my body cannot handle it.”

“Because you’re weak!” he growled.

I surprised us both when I smacked him as hard as I could across his chest with my free hand, and for a moment, he paused mid stride, looked down at his chest then at me, and he did something that astonished me. He smiled and followed it up with a gruff laugh. Two things I would never have thought him capable of.

“I cannot believe you just struck me,” he said, shaking his head in clear amusement.

I didn’t get a chance to reply before he had us both moving towards the spacecraft once again. I came to a stop when he released me and jogged over to a closed control panel at the base of the craft’s hull. He placed his palm on the panel cover, and I wasn’t surprised to see that it opened. Ezah was a prince; he probably has clearance for everything. I stared at the craft when a hissing noise sounded just before a ramp lowered.

“Get aboard,” Ezah ordered. “I can hear guards approach on their patrol.”

I hustled forward.

“This is so unreal,” I said as I ushered up the ramp and came to a stop in the middle of the craft’s small bridge. “This is seriously crazy, Ezah. Are you sure you can fly this thing?”

I knew engines, not pilot controls, so if anything went wrong, I would be absolutely no use to Ezah. He grunted as he jogged up the ramp, and cleared it just before it closed behind him. It clicked shut with a bang, and it made me feel like what was happening was very final.

“Who do you think taught Kol how to pilot?” Ezah asked me, distracting me from the doubt that slithered into my mind. “He is not the only prince who holds the rank of shipmaster. He just won father’s favour to lead the mission to Earth on the Ebony to retrieve your females.”

I stood idle as Ezah moved about the narrow bridge—flipping switches, pressing buttons, and turning dials—before he sat on one of two large seats in front of a huge control panel. He nodded at the spare seat, so I moved forward and took it without hesitation. As soon as I sat down, the seat moulded to my body shape and locked me in place. The same thing happened to Ezah; only his chair moved with him as he tapped on a clear screen next to him. I gasped when writing I had never seen before filled the screen, along with diagrams showing different levels of what I assumed could be fuel for the craft.

I had no idea; I was just guessing about what Ezah was doing because if I didn’t think about what he was doing, I’d think about what I was doing, and I couldn’t allow myself to give in to doubt. Kol lied to me one too many times, and this final lie, about him being promised to another, was my tipping point. I wasn’t meant to be loved or to love in return. I was meant to be on my own … nothing could truly hurt me when I had no one to care about.

“Hold on,” Ezah suddenly said as the craft roared to life. “Ascent is green.”

I frantically looked left to right for handles, but there was nothing for me to grab.

“Hold fucking what?” I screeched.

Ezah laughed. “The rest of your stomach contents.”

I was sucked backward against my seat as the craft suddenly lurched forward and flew down what looked like a wasteland through the viewing pane, but Ezah quickly pulled on a control handle that lifted the nose of the craft and took us up into the air. It was only then, as we ascended towards the heavens, that I realised I wasn’t breathing. I greedily sucked air into my lungs and groaned when a dizzy spell struck and caused my eyes to roll back.

“Nearly th

ere,” I heard Ezah say, his voice rough. “One more minute until we leave atmo.”

Ezah’s voice fell away, and I felt like my body was swaying from left to right, but when I lazily blinked open my eyes, I saw that while my chair was perfectly still, it was the craft that was moving left to right. I gasped when the view through the viewing pane changed, and I was not looking up at space; I was now entering it.

I jerked my gaze to Ezah.

“Did I pass out?” I asked him, my breathing laboured as I took slow, deep breaths.

“Yes,” he griped. “You missed a transmission from Kol.”

I froze. “He knows?”

“He knows.” Ezah confirmed. “He is also coming after us.”

I felt like I would be sick.

“Ezah, I don’t want to go back.”

“I know,” he growled. “I told him that, but he was not rational enough to do much more than tell me, in detail, how he would kill me.”

I stayed mute, my throat suddenly unable to form words.

“He has reached the edge,” Ezah continued. “My father informed me I was to be withheld for severe judgment when we are apprehended.”

When we were apprehended.

“What do we do?” I asked him, my eyes wide. “Did you lie when you said you could get me to Terra?”

The muscle in Ezah’s jaw rolled back and forth as he tensed.

“I can get you there … I just can’t outrun my brother and the Ebony. This craft is just a maintenance shuttle used to bring our miners to and from nearby planets when they go to harvest minerals.”

I was at a loss for words.

“I … I did not think this through, Nova.”

I looked at him. “Yeah, Ezah. That makes two of us.”

I was so fucked.

Kol would catch us and then take me back to the palace and probably put me under house arrest. I would probably face charges of some sort with the Revered Father and Hailed Mother. I technically aided Ezah in stealing a shuttle craft and left their planet without their permission … not to mention bailing on their son and leaving him to reach the edge over my decision.

“This is so fucked,” I said, and not a second later, I burst into tears.