Free Ouroboros 4: End by Odette C. Bell

you, it took us back to Vex, and now it wants to sacrifice everyone we care about, too. We can’t let it. It can’t fix Vex’s timeline—it broke it, and it’s been making everyone else pay since.’
    Carson spoke so quickly, his words streamed out like gunfire.
    Yet, they still glanced off her.
    Even his passion couldn’t touch her heart right now. In fact, she brought up a hand and pressed her fingers hard into her breastbone.
    Carson watched in alarmed interest. ‘You can’t feel the entity again, right?’
    She shook her head, swallowing hard. ‘It’s . . .’ she couldn’t speak. She could barely formulate her thoughts, let alone share them.
    ‘Hey,’ he ducked his head down until he was staring directly into her eyes, ‘you don’t need to feel guilty. You’ve done all you can. Nida, none of this is your fault.’
    His words grabbed her and held her to the spot. She felt them like hooks locking into her stomach, chest, and arms. With a trembling top lip, she started to shake her head. ‘I am guilty. I could have done more. I should never have touched that statue . . . . And the entity . . . I . . . .’
    ‘Nida,’ Carson spoke loudly, his voice echoing through her cavernous room. ‘Stop blaming yourself; that’s the entity speaking,’ he said, a serious expression shadowing his face. ‘Don’t give into it,’ he warned once more, picking up her hands and lacing his fingers through them.
    She tried to listen, she honestly tried to be convinced by his words. It was impossible. No matter what he said and no matter how hard she tried to reason through her guilt, it remained.
    The entity would not let her forget. It whispered, hissed, and screamed in her ear. If she did nothing to help the Vex, she condemned them.
    The entity’s guilt would transfer to her.
    Perhaps Carson reasoned he couldn’t get through to her yet, as he sighed deeply, his uniformed chest punching out an inch. ‘Look, I’ll be here,’ he whispered simply.
    She stared at him, lost for words as her thoughts tumbled like an avalanche through her mind.
    ‘But we’ve got to go now,’ he managed as he half turned towards the door, letting a powerful blast of air through his locked teeth as he did.
    Silently, she followed.
    She wanted to reach out to him and tell him she was fine.
    She couldn’t.
    She wasn’t.
    The more this situation continued, the more she questioned.
    Was there something she could do to save the Vex?
    Should she try?
     

Chapter 13
    Carson Blake
    He could see the guilt was eating her, and it was killing him. Her usual cheerful resilience was gone to be replaced by a heavy, somber silence.
    She still walked with him, though, as he led her up, out of the medical bay and towards the Command building.
    Thank god Harrington wasn’t here to bully and cajole her—Admiral Forest trusted Carson to deliver Nida to the meeting without incident.
    In fact, Carson had been the one to convince the Admiral that Nida was no threat. The modified TI could hold the entity at bay.
    Now he wasn’t so sure. As she walked silently beside him, he occasionally stole a glance at her face and body.
    Her movements were stiff, her hands locked firmly in front of her as she directed her head to the ground.
    Maybe she didn’t want to face any of the gawkers that stared at her as she passed. Maybe she was tired and stressed out.
    Or maybe . . . the entity was back. Perhaps a fraction of its insidious control filtered past the TI, and now poisoned her mind.
    He felt itchy as he walked. Discomfort rose through him steadily, making his limbs heavy and hot.
    Scratching at the skin under his collar, he searched for something to say.
    He wanted to pull her out of her funk, wanted to reassure her it would all be okay in the end.
    She wouldn’t look at him though. In fact, there was such a detached edge to her gaze as she seemingly stared at her feet, he wondered whether she was seeing anything at all. Her mind was clearly miles away. Or light