Punished, Tana Stone [top reads .txt] 📗

a roll, slashing at one of their legs as I came up. The soldier collapsed to the ground, clutching his legs which were spewing blood.

“Attack!” I bellowed to my fighters, as the other imperial soldier fumbled for his blaster, his gaze transfixed on his compatriot bleeding out beside him.

Bringing my axe up, I knocked the blaster from his hand, taking the tips of his fingers with it. He screamed in agony, grasping his amputated fingers slick with in bright, red blood.

I stole a glance at my fighting unit. Instead of surging forward, they’d fanned out and splintered. Some backed away while others walked tentatively forward with their shield over their faces, so they stumbled into each other. Even Donal, who constantly bragged about his bravery, remained at the back.

Leaping to my feet, I lopped off the head of the soldier clutching his hand—much easier now that helmets didn’t protect their heads—pivoting and burying the blade of my axe into the other man’s chest.

Turning back to my wretched fighters, I held up my arms. “It’s over.”

Shields dropped and furtive gazes peered over the tops. When I glanced back at Donal to reprimand him for not joining the fight, his blackened eyes widened, and he backed away so quickly that he stumbled over his own feet.

That was when the blaster fire exploded across my shoulder. I whirled as I fell, heaving my axe in the direction of the attack and not knowing if my weapon had found its target before pain enveloped me and my world went black.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ch 22

Sienna

I woke to a violent shaking, blinking up at my sister as she leaned over me and jostled my arm.

“Sienna!” More rough prodding of my shoulder. “You have to wake up!”

I attempted to roll away from her. If this was another drama about our father, I didn’t want to hear about it. From the soft light sifting in through my window, I could tell it was still early morning. Time for her to be up due to her baking, but I still had plenty of time until I was due at work. If I went.

I flashed back to the scene with Corvak the night before and humiliation filled me, just as fresh and painful as when I’d been standing before him, and he’d rejected me. I groaned and squeezed my eyes together tighter, hoping to block out the memories and the light. Maybe I’d stay in bed all day. The last thing I wanted was to bump into him.

“Go away,” I mumbled, flapping a hand at her and trying to get her insistent shaking to stop. “I’m sleeping.”

She paused in her jostling. “You’re really going to sleep through the arrival of the imperial soldiers? What happened to you wanting to learn to fight to defend our planet? Or was that all a lie?”

I rolled over to face her, sitting up so fast she nearly stumbled back. “What?”

Juliette stood beside my bed, her arms crossed and her usually placid blue eyes narrowed at me. Her cheeks were flushed from exertion, and strands of her pale hair fell into her face. “You heard me. The Zagrath ship arrived, and the fighters are assembling outside the village square.”

I swung my feet over the side of the bed as I rubbed sleep from my eyes. Although I hadn’t allowed myself to cry last night, my eyes still felt puffy and raw. “I don’t understand. Were the Zagrath supposed to arrive so soon?”

Juliette huffed out an impatient breath. This time she sounded like me instead of our mother, and the rapid tapping of her toes as she watched me only made the similarity more disturbing.

“Am I truly like this?” I asked her.

“Like what?” Her tapping toe paused for a moment.

I fluttered a hand at her. “Do I really act this impatient when I want something?”

“Yes, you do.” She grabbed my hand and tugged me to my feet. “Now are you coming, or what?”

I shook my hand from her grip. “You said the fighters are assembling right? Well, I have news for you, sister, I’m not one of those fighters.” As Corvak had made abundantly clear the night before.

Juliette groaned. “Now you decide to play by the rules? I know about your secret training sessions, remember? I also know that you’re an excellent fighter, so stop being a stubborn jackass and go do your thing.”

I eyed her. It was odd to hear my favorite slang—and curse words--coming from my sister’s lips. I also wasn’t used to my baby sister being so assertive with me or anyone. The way her eyes flashed and her lips pressed together in determination gave me hope that maybe Juliette wasn’t the fragile girl I always thought she was. Maybe she’d be able to make it without me someday.

“Sienna! Are you even listening to me?”

“I’m listening.” I spotted my boots kicked off in two different spots on the floor and snatched them up, jamming my feet into them as I hopped toward the doorway. “But I’m not used to you yelling at me.”

“Well,” she said, her voice lowered, “I’m not used to imperial ships making unexpected visits to our planet. Or a Vandar leading a bunch of fighters out to meet it.”

I hesitated in the doorway, shoving my last foot into the boot. “Corvak is down there? You saw him?”

She nodded, biting her lower lip. “He’s the one who asked Kerl to assemble all the fighters. The Zagrath ship landed on the other side of the shallows, because it didn’t get authorization to land on our landing pad.”

“How do you know so much?”

She picked up her basket, which had been sitting on the floor. “Early-morning deliveries to the square.”

I noticed that the cloth still billowed high above mounds of rolls I could smell from steps away. “Which you didn’t make.”

She shrugged. “It seemed more important to come get you and tell you what’s happening.”

“I don’t know why.” Doubt crept into my mind again, along with embarrassment about how far things had gone