A Narrow Escape

**Shaira’s POV**

My heart pounded painfully in my chest as I stared at the charred bones scattered among the ashes. They were unmistakably human. Xandria’s eyes were fixed on the remains, her expression cold and calculating. I stood frozen, trying to control the rising wave of panic within me. I knew exactly who those bones belonged to. The sargeant, the corporal, the soldier—the ones Angro had killed to save me.

“Get those bones out,” Xandria ordered, her voice sharp, snapping me out of my thoughts. The soldiers obeyed, pulling the remains from the soot while Xandria turned to me. “Shaira, go arrest the doctor. He’ll have a lot to explain.”

I swallowed hard, nodding silently. My legs felt heavy as I started walking back toward the doctor’s house. Each step was weighed down by the realization that this was my last chance. If the doctor talked, if he so much as hinted at the truth, everything would unravel. The truth about Assu, Angro, and me—it would all come out.

I reached the doctor’s door and knocked, trying to steady my breath. The door opened, and the doctor’s eyes met mine, a flicker of recognition and dread passing between us. He stepped aside, and I entered the house, closing the door behind me.

“They found the bones,” I said quietly, cutting straight to the point.

The doctor’s face drained of color. He turned away, rubbing his hands together nervously. “I tried to get rid of the bodies,” he muttered, his voice trembling. “But the bones… they’re the hardest to dispose of. I needed a chemical solution to dissolve them, but I couldn’t get it without raising suspicion at the fort.”

I felt a surge of anger. “You should have been more careful! Now Xandria knows something is wrong.”

He spun to face me, his eyes wide with desperation. “Careful? Do you think I didn’t try? But it’s too late now, Shaira. If I go down, you’re coming with me.”

His words hung in the air like a blade poised over my head. He was right. If he was arrested, if he spoke about Assu, about the transfusion that saved him, about me being the opranchi’s wife, it would all be over. And worse—if he revealed the truth about Angro and Zania’s involvement in the deaths of the three soldiers, it wouldn’t be just my life at stake.

“You know what will happen,” the doctor continued, his voice growing more insistent. “They’ll interrogate me. And I’ll have no choice but to tell them everything. You, the merchant, your friends. You’ll all be caught in this.”

I clenched my fists, my mind racing. There was only one way to keep him quiet. One way to make sure the truth never came out.

I had to kill him.

My hand twitched toward my holster, fingers brushing the cold metal of the pistol. The thought of pulling the trigger, of silencing him for good, filled me with a cold sense of dread. But if I didn’t, everything would be lost. The doctor’s eyes flickered with fear as he saw the resolve hardening in my gaze. He knew what I was considering.

Before I could decide, he bolted for the back door.

“Stop!” I shouted, drawing my weapon, but just then, the door flew open, and Xandria entered with the soldiers.

“The doctor’s running!” one of the soldiers shouted, and they all rushed out in pursuit. For a moment, I stood frozen, watching them disappear into the jungle. This was my chance. I could escape into the jungle too, disappear, find my way back to Angro. But as I glanced at the sky, the weight of the implant in my head pressed against my thoughts.

The translator. It tracked my every movement. If I tried to run to Zuwua or Sagoria, they’d trace me. They’d know I was a traitor.

Running wasn’t an option. Not until I found a way to get that thing out of my head.

I forced myself to follow the soldiers, racing into the jungle. The doctor was ahead, stumbling through the thick underbrush. My mind whirled with possibilities, each one more dangerous than the last. If they caught him, if they brought him back alive, he would talk. There was no way out of this. No way to save myself.

I pushed harder, my feet pounding against the forest floor, leaves and branches whipping against my skin. The doctor was slowing, his breath ragged. I was catching up. I had to stop him. I had to do something before he—

Suddenly, the ground beneath him gave way. The doctor let out a terrified scream as he fell into a hidden pit, disappearing from sight.

I skidded to a halt, breathless, staring down at the gruesome scene below. The doctor’s body was sprawled at the bottom of the pit, impaled on sharpened stakes. Blood pooled around him as he gasped for breath, his chest heaving with shallow, desperate attempts to cling to life.

I stepped back, my heart pounding in my chest. That could have been me.

Xandria and the soldiers caught up seconds later, peering over the edge of the pit. One of the soldiers muttered a curse under his breath. Xandria knelt down, looking over the body.

“He’s gone,” she said coldly, standing up straight. “Nothing we can do now.”

I felt a wave of relief wash over me, followed immediately by guilt. With the doctor’s death, the threat of my involvement in the soldiers’ deaths had vanished. He wouldn’t be able to speak, and I was safe. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had just narrowly escaped a fate far worse than death.

We returned to the fort in silence. The journey back felt longer than before, the weight of everything that had happened pressing down on me like a heavy fog. When we arrived, Xandria pulled me aside.

“Shaira,” she said, her voice softer now. “Why would a doctor, someone with his skills, kill three soldiers? What could his motive have been?”

I hesitated, my mind still spinning from the terror of the jungle, the sight of the doctor’s body skewered on those stakes. But I couldn’t afford to seem unsure. I had to be convincing.

“Probably debts,” I said after a moment. “Gambling, maybe. The soldiers must have come to collect what he owed, and he panicked. Maybe he poisoned them, or drugged them somehow, and then tried to burn the bodies before anyone could find out.”

Xandria studied me for a moment, then nodded, as if the explanation satisfied her. “Makes sense. I’ll include that in my report.”

I let out a slow breath, relieved that she had accepted my lie. The truth was far more dangerous, and for now, it was buried with the doctor in that pit.

As I walked back to my quarters, my mind buzzed with the weight of everything that had happened. The danger wasn’t over yet. I still had the translator in my head, and the clock was ticking. If I didn’t figure out how to get it out soon, my chances of survival would disappear just as quickly as those bones in the ashes.

For now, I was safe. But deep down, I knew it was only a matter of time before my lies caught up to me.