by AR Colbert
“I’d like to call Ms. Georgia Hines to the stage.” I glanced up to spot Justice Hines, Georgia’s mom, standing proudly on the platform with a microphone in her hand. I turned back to Georgia, whose smug smile made me want to crack her nose as she passed me on her way to the front. The point of her heel crushed down on the top of my foot as she stepped by me, nearly knocking me off balance.
Georgia Hines was one person I definitely did not miss in Classen City.
Felix stood off to the side of the platform, staring at an invisible spot on the wall. His mind was anywhere but here, and despite my many attempts to get his attention, he never looked my way again.
Justice Hines prattled on about her daughter’s many accomplishments in an over-the-top birthday speech, but I was only focused on Felix. What was wrong with him? Had he been hurt? The grimace on his face definitely had me wondering.
“So join me in a round of applause to celebrate the most accomplished twenty-year-old woman Classen City has ever seen.” Justice Hines beamed as the audience roared with applause all around us.
“Thank you, thank you. Happy Birthday, sweetheart.” She kissed Georgia on the temple. It looked so unnatural, I wondered if she’d ever shown her daughter affection before or if this was completely for show. I was leaning toward the latter.
“And now, I promised I wouldn’t embarrass her on her birthday, but I know you will all be just as excited as I am about one more new development here in Classen City. Would Senator Walsh please join us on the stage?”
Felix forced a smile as he stepped up to join them. He wore his politician’s mask—the look of a true professional. But he was completely broken inside. Couldn’t anyone else see that? Georgia and her mother especially should have been able to notice it with their Empathic skills.
He stepped up beside Georgia and took her hand into his. I felt like I might be sick as his tan fingers twisted loosely around her pale flesh.
“Now that my dearest daughter has reached the official age of adulthood, it is time for me to say goodbye as her mother so she can go and begin a new family of her own. And while this is a difficult moment for any parent, her spouse match is a man anyone would be proud to call her son. Felix Walsh and Georgia Hines, I suppose it’s official now. You have been matched. Welcome to the family, son.”
CHAPTER 25
Matched. Felix was matched with Georgia. A gasp lodged in my chest like a boulder. My sweet, tender Felix was assigned to spend the rest of his life with a loud, abrasive, self-centered girl who would no doubt leave him miserable. Her painted little pout that spewed nothing but negativity would press against the lips that once kissed mine.
But then again, why didn’t he stop it? He was the Senator! The most powerful man in all of Classen City.
Seeing him up there on the stage with that horrible girl and her beast of a mother almost made me feel sorry for him. Almost. He should have been able to stop the match. There was no reason for him to stand there beside her... unless a part of him actually wanted it. She may have had a rotten personality, but she was beautiful—in a vindictive kind of way. Maybe looks mattered to Felix more than I thought. They certainly mattered to Everett, and you know what they say—the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Suddenly overwhelmed with all the emotion in the room, I twisted around to locate an exit and caught Edgar’s eye again. The way he watched me was almost incriminating. His small eyes were round with remorse, and as they locked onto mine I felt as though I’d been punched in the gut. The ache of betrayal flexed in my core, and I needed to get out of there.
Edgar moved as well, picking up his pace as I did and angling himself toward my path. He caught me by the arm just before I made it to the back exit and pulled me to the side near a table full of cheese cubes.
“I’m sorry.”
I yanked my arm loose. “What did you do?”
Edgar looked down to his toes before finding his resolve and meeting my eyes again. Then he glanced toward Felix and Georgia up on the stage. “I didn’t think it would go this far.” His eyes were glassy as he fixed them back on me. “I was only trying to help you.”
His sincerity struck me. I would hear what he had to say, but I knew it was going to hurt. “Start at the beginning, Edgar.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “After you left, Justice Hines made it her mission to have Georgia replace you. She saw an opening, and she pushed her daughter toward it as hard as she could. Georgia was working nearly non-stop, trying to prove her worth to the Leaders—specifically the Supreme Leadership. But something went wrong.”
“The attacks. And the consultant she was working with disappeared, along with Milo.”
Edgar nodded. “Justice Hines swore you had something to do with it. She thought maybe you fed weapons into the Outside camps. She suspected they broke in to free Milo and killed Conrad in the process. Then she believed they turned on each other.”
“I would never—” I stammered.
“I know. But she went mad with the idea. So she took matters into her own hands. That night you hosted her in Louisburg, she placed an amplifier in your room.”
My hand flew to my mouth. She’d been listening to me? Reading my thoughts? The room spun in my periphery, making me sick. There was no way I would be able to explain my way out of the information they must have heard over the last two weeks.
“It’s okay. You don’t spend much time in your room. But unfortunately, she put Georgia in charge of the monitoring. Georgia has always had a harder time interpreting you. It’s more difficult to interpret the thoughts of Empaths in general, but you’re a particularly complex puzzle. Even so, Georgia was determined to catch you plotting something against us. When you were preparing to make the first call to Felix, I knew I had to step in and do something. So I distracted her.”
There was so much more going on behind the scenes than I could’ve ever imagined. But I still didn’t understand why Edgar was suffering from the heavy guilt that hung between us. They made him listen in. I knew it wasn’t his choice. By all accounts, he had been more helpful than harmful.
“What kind of distraction did you use?” I asked hesitantly.
“Felix.” His cheeks reddened. “I assumed her mother had been pushing her toward Felix based on interactions I’d seen between them. But Felix made it clear he wasn’t interested. So I uh...” He shifted on his feet, avoiding eye contact with me. “I might have manipulated things a little bit. I told her how much I thought Felix was interested in her. I’ve gotten really good at projecting, too. And when you and Felix would talk, I would focus her attention on Felix’s sour mood. I made her believe he didn’t want to talk to you. I convinced Georgia that he only had eyes for her.”
“And that worked?”
“Better than I could have imagined. She was blinded by her narcissism. She became just as obsessed with snagging Felix as her mother. And she must have fed my lies up the chain, because Justice Hines is the one who petitioned for their match.”
“But Felix is the Senator. Doesn’t he get a say in the matter?”
Edgar shook his head. “Apparently their genetics are a strong match. And politically speaking, they make a powerful couple. It was easy for Justice Hines to convince the rest of the Leadership to make it official.”
I looked behind me again and caught Felix’s eye for a fraction of a second before he looked away. Shame was written all over his face. It was a relief to know this wasn’t his fault. And it wasn’t permanent. We’d find a way to break the match. It would just take some time to get proof that it wasn’t ideal.
“Thank you, Edgar. And for what it’s worth, I’m not angry with you.”
His face brightened. “You’re not?”
“No. Felix is strong. If he knew what Georgia was about to discover through our conversations, I’m certain he would have offered to match with her himself. And it’s not forever.”
“I know. But given your feelings for him—”
My bro
ws pulled together. “I don’t have any feelings for Felix.”
Edgar’s pink cheeks grew even redder. His mouth parted, but nothing came out at first. Several different reactions flashed across his face before he finally said, “Okay.”
He didn’t believe me. As one of the stronger Empaths in our training class, I would have expected him to be a little more perceptive.
“Anyway,” I said with a little too much force, “I need to step out for a minute. I appreciate you letting me know what happened.” I started to turn away.
“Wait.” He reached for my hand again and stepped in a little closer, dropping his voice. “Georgia might have been too distracted to realize what was going on, but I wasn’t.” His expression grew serious. “I know about the Embers. And the weapons. And I want you to know you can count on me. Anything you need, I’m here for you. No matter what. And whatever it is you’re planning to do to get more information about the Supreme Leadership... well, just be careful, okay?”
I held his knowing gaze for a few heartbeats before squeezing his hand. As frustrated as I was that he was listening in on my thoughts and conversations without my permission, I was more grateful than angry. He was doing his job—keeping up the ruse. And he was on our side. I didn’t doubt it. “Thank you,” I whispered. Then I turned toward the exit, wiping the moisture from my eyes as I went.
Unsurprisingly, I found Everett propped up on the bar outside of the ballroom, glassy-eyed with a sloppy grin. His careful control had been slipping more and more as of late, revealing the untamed version of himself behind the politician’s mask.
“Congratulations,” I said, sliding up on a barstool beside him. “Your future daughter-in-law is lovely.”
A muscle twitched in his cheek and something vile tinged the air. Everett wasn’t happy about the match either. But why?
“It was an interesting choice,” he slurred. “But now any other prospects my son may have had in mind are back on the market. Free for the taking.”
He held up two fingers for the bartender before settling his eyes back on me, allowing their burning gaze to slide up and down my body. My nerves screamed at me to get away. He was a predator. But this was the moment I’d been waiting for. A drunken worn-down Everett was the most likely to spill what he knew about the Supreme Leadership. I would get my information, and then I’d be on my way.
I’d planned every detail of this, after all. The scarlet dress I wore was chosen with him in mind. The neckline dipped down between my breasts and the skirt was sheer enough to tease onlookers with the silhouette of my legs. He drank in every bit of me, as I resisted the urge to cross my arms and swallowed down the bile rising in the back of my throat.
I’ll keep this quick, I promised myself. I’ll be finished before he can lay a finger on me.
The bartender slid two crystal glasses filled with a deep amber liquid across the lacquered wood we leaned against. Everett palmed each glass and nodded at the young man who served him. The man looked warily at me as Everett gestured for me to follow him to a doorway just beyond the bar.
“Now where are you taking me?” My giggle was supposed to sound playful and flirty, but it came out a bit more strangled. I cleared my throat.
“We’re going on a little adventure.” He winked and allowed his gaze to linger a little longer below my shoulders. Chill bumps dotted my arms—another warning from my body to run. But I couldn’t. Not yet.
I instinctively scanned the ballroom again as we passed it by, searching for Rider or Aiden or even Edgar—anyone who might be able to put eyes on me. I didn’t want to follow Everett, but it was the only way he’d let down his guard enough to reveal what he knew. I would have felt a lot better about it if someone else knew where I was going, but they were all lost in the crowd.
The doorway led to a back set of stairs, and alcohol sloshed over the edges of the glasses as Everett stumbled his way up the steps.
“Would you like me to carry those?”
“I think I can handle this, if nothing else.” His tone dripped with bitter resentment. Everett was in full force tonight. The landing at the top of the stairs opened into a wide hallway full of offices. Everett tucked one glass in the crook of his left arm as he wiggled a doorknob beside us.
“Is there anything you can’t handle? I’ve been very impressed with you in Louisburg.”
He tried another door handle, then paused. “Oh yeah? How so?”
“You just... exude Leadership from your pores. You’re a natural.” Oh goodness, I was horrible at this. But Everett looked like he was drinking my words in, so I continued. “I mean, even the Supreme Leadership has taken notice of your abilities.” I bit my lower lip, trying to think of a segue into the real line of questioning I wanted him to answer. But that may have been a bad idea. Everett’s chest rose and fell heavily with deep breaths as he dropped his eyes to my mouth. The predatorial tilt of his head caused me to retreat another step.
He moved quickly to close the gap, but I stayed one step ahead.
“The only bad side of it is they have you wrapped up all the time. You’re always in meetings or on the phone. I never get to see you around the house anymore.” I pushed my lips into a pout again, knowing the effect it had on him. My feet continued to move me in the opposite direction, and he twisted and yanked on another office doorknob before prowling along after me.
“What are you all talking about in those meetings anyway?”
After the third or fourth locked door, Everett slammed his free hand against the frame, and the unsecured glass of alcohol slipped through his opposite arm, shattering on the floor. The scent of whiskey stung the back of my nose, and I watched as the golden liquid spread slowly across the tile floor, channeling in the grout like a tiny stream.
Everett cursed loudly.
“Let me help you,” I said. For the first time, I wondered if Everett was maybe too far gone. Was he even coherent enough to hold a real conversation?
I dropped down to pick up the broken pieces when Everett’s previously polished, now sticky dress shoe crunched a shard of glass in front of me. “No. Get up.”
I squeezed my hand into a fist to prevent it from shaking as I stood. Everett was too close. His breath was hot on my face, the pungent fumes of the liquor burning my eyes and toying with my gag reflex as he leaned in.
“Leaders don’t clean floors. I won’t have my companion reduced to the work of a maid. If you’re going to be working at all, it’s going to be for me.” His eyes shot down to my lips again, which were trembling at the raw desire I saw barely contained behind his shattered facade.
I tried to step away again, but I was too slow. He slammed his face into mine, knocking our foreheads together as he moved his mouth hungrily against mine. My body revolted at his touch, but he overpowered me. As I struggled to push him away, he pushed back, slamming our bodies into the door behind me.
His chin was wet with sweat or dribble maybe—spilled alcohol? And his whiskers scraped roughly against my chin and cheeks as he continued to smother me with his lips. I felt like I was drowning. I didn’t even have room to scream for help. I knew Everett had the worst kind of intentions, but I never expected him to act so brazenly without warning. My well-laid plan had turned into my worst nightmare.
Then we were moving again, backwards into a dark office. My hands gripped desperately at the door frame, holding tight with all my strength to prevent him from pulling me further away from help. But it was no use. Without the door behind me, I fell backwards onto the cold floor, looking up into the eyes of a lunatic.
Something was off. Everett looked frantic, but his eyes weren’t crazy with lust or rage. He was terrified. I scrambled backward, rising to my feet before I saw the source of his terror. The dark silhouette of another person emerged from the shadows behind Everett. And in the person’s outstretched hands, light glinted off of a metal gun, pointed directly at Everett’s head.
My body went cold and I tried to scream again, but no noise came
out. I didn’t think the night could get any worse, but it was full of surprises.
We were only just getting started.
CHAPTER 26
“My, my, Everett. What a surprise.” The syrupy sweet tone of Emmaline’s voice didn’t match the fury evident on her face as she flicked on the lights. A fluorescent bulb blinked rapidly overhead, causing greenish reflections to dance awkwardly across her petite face.
Her gun hand never moved. The steel of the barrel pushed into Everett’s temple, stretching the skin around his horrified eye toward the ceiling.
“It’s been a long time since I last saw you creeping around these halls late at night with frightened young women. Couldn’t get enough back in Louisburg? Had to come back to Classen City?” Emmaline pushed the gun harder against his head, knocking it into a strange angle.
I backed up toward the desk, watching slack-jawed as the scene unfolded before me. I’d seen Emmaline angry before, but this was different. She’d snapped. And honestly, I kind of liked the unleashed Emmaline. That was, until she cut her icy glare back over in my direction.
“What are you doing up here with him, Claren?” Her question was accusing, but I didn’t feel attacked. She was almost afraid.
“She’s digging for information. And if she’s gonna play with the big boys, she’s gotta learn that information isn’t free.”
Emmaline shoved his head with the barrel again, and Everett grimaced. “What kind of information are you after?” she asked me.
“She wants to know about the Supreme Leadership.”
Emmaline slapped Everett across the cheek with her pistol before immediately pointing it at him again. “Let the woman speak for herself.”