I tried to move, but the pain in my side stopped me. I did a quick inspection of my body using biokinesis and saw that I had only a bullet graze, nothing to worry about, I would be as good as new in a few days. I was tired though and I knew that the IV in my arm had something to do with it, it wasn’t a natural tiredness, it was the drugs that were affecting me and I didn’t like it. Using my mind, I took the IV off and tried to get up.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Kimball asked and I could hear he was mad.
“That thing makes me feel groggy” I said, but my voice sounded weird and my words sounded funny.
“That’s medicine, you need it, it will help you get better.” Kimball grabbed my arm and I knew he was going to put it back.
“No, I don’t want it, I don’t like it.” My voice was still weird, but my mind was getting clear, and I used it to create a barrier around my skin to prevent him from putting the IV back.
“Kaiserin, stop! We don’t have time for this. I need you to be sedated while I run some studies. I need to make sure that you are ok, and so is our baby.”
“No,” I protested, but it was weak. I knew that I was fine, and so was my baby, and I didn’t want to feel drugged. “Everything is fine!”
“Let me make sure of that.” Kimball tried again to put the IV in.
“I don’t like feeling like this… I feel vulnerable.” I said.
“No reason for that, I’m here to protect you.” He was right, wasn’t he? He wouldn’t hurt me or let anyone hurt me, I relaxed and he put the IV.
By the time I woke up I was alone and my head was clear, the IV was still in my arm, but the drugs they were giving me weren’t as strong. After taking the IV off I put my clothes on and left the room. I went looking for Kimball, but I wasn’t familiar with the place so I wasn’t sure where to look for him. We weren’t at the base, that’s all I knew.
“What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting.” I haven’t noticed that Kimball was behind me.
“How long was I asleep? I can’t continue to be on that bed, I need to move, I’m tired of being in bed for so long. Where are we?”
“It’s been almost a week, and you are tired because you were hurt. This is one of my family’s Villas, you will stay here until you recover.”
“I don’t need to stay here, I’m not that hurt, the only reason I didn’t react sooner was because the drugs you gave me. I know what I’m capable of, an injury like that doesn’t affect me, a day was all I needed, not a week. I’m ready to go back, there’s a war to fight, in case you forgot.”
“I don’t care about the past, right now you have to be careful, it’s not only yourself you are risking, you have a baby inside you. What if the bullet had hit you lower? You could have lost it. I don’t know what you were thinking going into battle like that.” Kimball was angry, but I was getting angry too, he had no right to treat me like that.
“I know what I’m doing, I was distracted because of a vision, but it won’t happen again, I’ll be careful.”
“You’re right, it won’t happen again because you won’t be doing any fighting. I won’t let you put our baby in danger.”
“You talk as if I didn’t care about our baby, I do. Do you think I planned the attack? That I let the enemy hurt me on purpose? Are you crazy? I would never do anything to hurt my baby, I love this baby as much as you do. You have to remember that this is not my first time, I know what I’m doing, or have you forgotten I was pregnant the first time we fought? Do you think I was risking my baby that time? No, I knew what I was doing and I did my best to protect her, just like I do right now.”
“But there is no reason for you to risk it, you don’t need to fight. There is no reason you can’t stay here where it’s safe, no reason you can’t stay here until our baby is born. Kaiserin, that would be best for everyone.”
“This is not your decision, I want to go back and keep doing my job, and if you don’t want me with you, then maybe I will go to Zola, I’m sure she could use a new bodyguard and an advisor.”
“I won’t let you Kaiserin. You will stay here, and that’s all.”
“That’s not for you to decide!” Using my mind, I pushed Kimball out of my way. I wouldn’t mind staying behind, if he had asked in a different way, but I hated that he was pushing me away and leaving me outside of the decision making. I had decided a long time ago that I wouldn’t let anyone control me, not even Kimball.
I turned around and walked back to the room, I needed to gather my things and find a way back to the border. I felt Kimball behind me, but I didn’t mind, I had made my decision and I would show him that nothing he could do or say would change my mind. I opened the door and entered the room, but I wasn’t in the room I had just left, I was in the middle of a field, looking at a person running in the distance. I turned around and found my brother and his guards. I didn’t need to hear his words or see more to know that my brother was hunting, and the person running didn’t have a chance.
The vision stopped as suddenly as it had appeared, but something wasn’t right, I felt sick, incomplete… It took me just a second to realize my powers were gone. I was moving, Kimball was holding me, and I didn’t understand what was happening.
“Kimball?”
“I told you, you will stay here, there’s no other choice.” Kimball let me down gently, in the middle of the bed.
“Something happened to my powers.” There had to be a mistake, it couldn’t be happening again, it was worse than last time, I had nothing, I hadn’t forgotten how to use them, they were completely gone.
“I had to make sure you wouldn’t try anything, I need you to stay here for as long as I want.”
“You can’t do this to me!” The surprise that had held me immobile was gone, I tried to get up but before I had the chance Kimball took my hands in one of his and held them against the bed, above my head, his other hand went to my neck, holding me down.
“I can and I will, I won’t lose another child because of you.” I was taken back by the force of his words, I couldn’t believe the rage behind his words, what the hell was happening?
“I would never…” I couldn’t finish my thought, his hand contracted, holding me tighter and cutting my words. For the first time in years I was really afraid for my life, I was defenseless and I wasn’t sure that Kimball wouldn’t hurt me.
“No, you won’t, because I won’t let you. You will stay here, where you and the baby are safe, you won’t be making more mistakes. Once the baby is born you can be as crazy and irresponsible as you want, not before.” Kimball let me go and moved out of the room before I could react.
I heard the door’s lock and knew he had trapped me inside, but I had to try, I got up and tried to open the door, but it didn’t work. I grabbed the collar on my neck, trying to get rid of the power suppressor, but it was too strong for me to break. I started kicking the door, but it was pointless, I wasn’t strong enough to break it. I was feeling claustrophobic, I felt the world collapsing on me. Angry and afraid I started trashing the place, breaking everything I could find, but there wasn’t a lot and soon there was nothing left to break. I was tired, and desperate, I sat on the mattress that had ended in the middle of the room.
After what felt like hours, the door opened, but it wasn’t Kimball, but a young soldier who entered. I saw his surprise when he saw what I had done to the room, but he didn’t say anything. He had a tray with food in his hands, he moved closer and put it in front of me. His eyes never left me, expecting me to react. Moving slowly, not to alarm him, I took the tray and pulled it closer to me. The young man relaxed and started walking back, satisfied that I wasn’t going to do anything, he turned his back on me, prepared to leave. In one smooth movement I took the tray and swung it, he looked at me when he heard the plates breaking, but I was already moving and I hit him in the head. The hit wasn’t enough to make him fall, but he was temporarily stunned, and it was enough to get past him and out of the room. I closed the door, but I didn’t know the code for the lock, so I knew he was going to be coming after me soon, so I ran.
I had to get out of that place, as fast as possible, but I didn’t know where the exit was. I chose a direction and moved as fast as I could, but as I was turning a corner strong arms held me and stopped my escape.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Kimball asked, and I could feel his anger by the tone of his voice.
“Away from you.” I tried to kick him, but it was like kicking a wall, nothing I tried was working.
“You won’t go anywhere as long as you’re carrying my son,” he said as he started dragging me to another room, “and if you think I will let you harm him, you are mistaken.” By the time we arrived in the new room, two people were already waiting for us, a tough looking man, and a woman with a kind face, but with obvious scars that showed she could be as tough as anyone. “Now, let me introduce you to Dalitso, she will take care of you and the baby and will make sure that you eat properly, Darakai will make sure you don’t try to leave again.”
“You can’t do this. You can’t do this to me!” Kimball let me go in the center of the room, and I stood there, with Dalitso on one side, Darakai on the other, and Kimball in front of me. I knew there was nothing I could do against them, I was powerless against them, I couldn’t even fight one of them, let alone the three of them. “You will regret this.”
“I doubt it. Now, I will leave you, I have a war to fight, but you better behave while I’m gone.”
“Don’t worry, everything will be alright.” Dalitso said in a motherly tone. “Now, lets eat something, it’s not good for the baby is you start skipping meals.”
No matter what Kimball thought of me, the last thing I wanted was to hurt my baby, besides, I needed to keep my strength if I wanted to escape my jailors. I ate, while they watched me, I wasn’t sure what their orders were, but it was clear they weren’t going to leave me alone for a moment. Dalitso tried to talk to me, but I ignored her, she wasn’t my friend and I wasn’t going to make things easier on her. I kept thinking of what had happened, it had to be a nightmare. Kimball couldn’t be acting like that, he was my friend, my champion, there was nothing that could have made me think he could act like that, right? But as I thought of the last years I started wondering. Maybe the stress of being in charge of so many people had changed him? But it was unlikely, he knew of my fears, about everything I had survived and was too scared to repeat, he wouldn’t do something knowing how much it would hurt me. I had told him that the worst thing that could happen to me was to lose my freedom, to lose my powers, to be under other people’s power. He wouldn’t deliberately hurt me, would he?
The first day I was too tired after my failed escape attempt and my fight with Kimball to do anything else, so after eating, and under my jailers watchful eyes, I went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep, I kept feeling as if the walls were closing over me, my breath wasn’t enough, and I was too afraid of what could happen if I closed my eyes. I wanted to believe that Kimball wasn’t capable of hurting me, but I didn’t know the people watching me, I didn’t know what they were capable of.
The second day I was too tired after my sleepless night to resist Dalitso’s suggestions, so I ate, and I did some exercise that was supposed to be good for my baby, but her presence wasn’t helping me, I wasn’t relaxed, my body was tense and my heart rate was too high, my fear was too high. By the third day I felt a little stronger and was already planning my escape. I made it to the hall, but Dakarai was ready to stop me and was too fast and too strong for me. While he dragged me back, I was assaulted by memories of the time I had tried to escape Vasuman and Boyar had caught me, I was terrified by the time we arrived to the room, but all he did was drop me back in the room and leave me there.
Despite my fear I had no choice but to keep trying, but by the second week I was desperate for any kind of escape. They weren’t physically abusive with me, they kept saying they were watching me for my own good, but their constant vigilance and orders were hurting my mind and I almost wished they would hurt my body so I would have something to show. Without my powers I felt incomplete, vulnerable, worthless. The memories and nightmares were driving me crazy. When I felt like I was going mad I had to do go with the only escape that was available to me with the suppressor around my neck, I left my body behind and escaped to the astral planes.
Kaiserin Novel 