RED HORIZON (Heliocite Saga #1)

𝕋𝔼ℕ

Seri woke up late the next morning feeling like she had been run over by a dunerider. Her head pounded, her body tremored, and dear God was she thirsty. Dragging herself out of bed, she slowly dressed and pulled her hair back. She didn't even want to brave a mirror. 

She stumbled downstairs and maneuvered her way around the maze of corridors to the kitchen hall, where she saw only a few Helis were still milling about from breakfast. It was almost noon, so it wouldn't be long before people started arriving for lunch. Hopefully she could get her food and be out before then. If Naomi saw her like this, she'd probably get a lecture. Actually, scratch that, Naomi had definitely seen her at the party last night and from what little Seri could remember, there would definitely be a lecture.

Wallowing in her hangover and a healthy dose of self-pity, she grabbed a bowl of oatmeal and a mug of coffee to nurse her throbbing temples. Normally she would find an occupied table and make small talk, but she wasn't in the mood. Instead, she slumped down at an empty one, her head bent over the bowl as she tried to recount what had happened last night. If she found out that she had broken another table she was going to impale herself on a scimitar.

A shadow looming over the table a few minutes later made her look up.

"Oh-- hey, Az," she mumbled.

He looked as banged up as she felt. His hair had fallen out of its bun with strands sticking out and falling to frame his face, which was gaunt and dejected. Seri frowned.

"What happened to you?" she asked, sipping her coffee.

He plopped himself down across from her and glared down at the table, one fingernail tracing invisible, agitated lines into the wood. What could have possibly happened in the last twelve hours for him to make a face like that?

Moments dragged by without an answer. The din of the kitchen hall filled up his silence with hushed conversations and the clink of silverware on dishes. He was expertly avoiding her gaze, seeming to find endless fascination with the table. As her concern rapidly mounted and her patience just as swiftly depleted, she cleared her throat. Azariah tensed, his finger halting in its movement.

"Did you have fun at the bonfire last night?" he finally asked.

"Azariah." She warned gently. She wasn't going to let him change the subject so easily. Clearly something was wrong.

His eyes finally lifted to hers, their brown depths stormy. He scrutinized her for a moment, looking for some evidence she might let him off the hook. When he found none, he sighed, looking away again to absently watch the other Heli's milling about. "Elijah and I went to see one of the prisoners we captured last night."

"And?"

"And he was from my Colony."

Seri's eyes widened and she put her coffee down. Oh. Azariah talked very little about his life before coming to the Heli sanctuaries. She didn't even think Elijah knew much about where he came from, and what he did know he kept to himself. 

"He knew my name. And my mother." He sat back in his chair. "He said she overdosed. She's dead."

"Oh, Azariah..." Seri gasped. She hadn't even known he had any family alive. "Are you... okay?" she asked.

The hand on the table tightened into a fist. "I'm fine. I mean, I know I was better off here, I just feel..."

He went silent, trying to find the words.

"Guilty?" Seri carefully supplied. He pressed his lips together and nodded, pain flashing across his features before he could mask it. Seri's heart bled for him.