Beth somehow managed to shove to her feet, clutching the table with both hands for support. “I don’t like the way you treat my husband. It’s disrespectful, not funny! You have no right to use people just because you can! ilu forbid someone use you someday. Then you’ll know how it feels!”
Delphine’s mouth dropped open and Kahtar rose beside Beth to gently force her to sit. She tried to resist him, shaking with fury, but didn’t have enough strength to hold out. No sooner had Beth taken her seat then Delphine lashed out at her.
“You think I don’t know how it feels to be used? I thought you knew the truth!” To Kahtar’s surprise tears spilled out of the little brunette’s eyes. “You think I’m having fun kissing men who have no interest in me? Let me tell you something, Beth Constantine, I’m just trying to find a reason to live. There’s only one man I’ve ever wanted, and I think you know who that is. But even if he doesn’t want me I know that if he can do good in this world, so can I. I might not anchor him, but everything about him anchors me!” Delphine stomped across the floor, somehow making every footstep count despite her small size.
Kahtar let out a breath as Delphine slammed the door behind her. “Whew. What on earth was that about?”
“Don’t you know?” said Beth.
“I have no clue. Why is she trying to find a reason to live kissing men who don’t like her? And what does anchoring him and anchoring me mean?”
“Kahtar, you don’t know what anchoring means? Isn’t that a Covenant Keeper term?”
“No. I’ve never even heard of it.”
Beth shot to her feet and Kahtar followed suit.
“Stop her, Kahtar! Hurry!”
“Why?”
“Kahtar, just do it! Hurry! She can make tesseracts! She’ll be gone.”
Kahtar almost denied it, but Beth couldn’t lie. “Old Guard!” he shouted.
One of the giant men shimmered into being. “Warrior Chief?”
“Get Delphine Green and bring her here now.”
The man vanished.
Beth collapsed into her chair. “Oh, please! Oh, no!”
“He’ll get her. Calm down and tell me what this is about.”
Smacking her fingertips rhythmically against her forehead, she shook her head. “No! No! He might not be able to. Not only can she make tesseracts, but I’m pretty sure she can divert Old Guard.”
Kahtar moved his chair to go after Delphine himself.
“No, don’t go yourself. She can divert you too. She was doing it the whole time she was in here. That stupid soup is so cold it’s practically one solid lump of slime, but you actually burned your finger on it because she told you it was hot! She lied and you believed it that much!”
Peering at the steaming soup, Kahtar glanced doubtfully at Beth. “Are you certain you’re not imagining these things?”
“Good lord, Kahtar! Anchor, she said anchor! He wanted me in his heart so I could anchor him! She’s your duplicate’s anchor. He was looking for her! Why didn’t I see who he meant? She’s kissing everyone trying to find a way to break his hold on her! How did I not see that? It’s probably why she’s such a pain in the ass too!” Beth started to cry, horrible, dry sobs. “Oh, my heart, what if he finds her, Kahtar? Sooner or later he will, won’t he? He’s following her! She’s probably drawn to him too whether she likes it or not! That poor woman!”
“Are you drawn to go to him?” Jealousy scorched Kahtar’s heart at the thought that not only had Beth touched another man’s heart like his, but she wanted to do it again.
“No, never! But he just used me like his anchor, she’s his actual anchor! I’m—” Beth stopped speaking and her mouth dropped open.
“What?”
“I’m your anchor. He said I’m your anchor. He said he’d heal Dianta if I let him use me like I let you—as an anchor. Kahtar! That’s why you’re not immortal anymore. Maybe you are contagious. I mean look at me, look at Dianta, and I’m sure our unborn baby is the same way. We have your eyes, and we all died, but none of us repeated. We came right back here. To each other. Kahtar, you’re not going to repeat anymore, not like you used to! If you do die, you’ll do what the rest of us did. Don’t you see? We’re anchoring each other, right here.”
UGLY TRUTH—MID-NOVEMBER
“OF COURSE RETURNING to your veil isn’t an option. It’s obviously not safe. Unless you’re accompanied by several Old Guard and investigating, I don’t want you to go back there again.”
Kahtar replayed The Mother’s orders in his mind as he stood inside his veil, unaccompanied by a single Old Guard.
“But she said I don’t want you to go back there again. She didn’t order me not to, or say I forbid,” he said to himself.
Really? You’ve sunk to searching for loopholes like a lawyer? Where is the honor in this?
Kahtar threaded his hands behind his head and paced beneath the pine trees. Yesterday at this time, Old Guard had come to him and reported that a giraffe had to be transported out of his veil. That meant the man who’d left Beth for dead had been inside the veil not twenty-four hours ago. That also meant Delphine—who’d been missing two weeks now—was still being pursued by the same man. Kahtar had no doubt that the young woman was also still tessering from inside his veil. Heaven knew what she was up to.
Apparently both of them can slip under the Old Guard’s radar. “And apparently Delphine Green has an even bigger penchant for trouble than I ever suspected,” he whispered into the darkening forest. Clad in his warm hunting tunic and heavy leggings, Kahtar had his bow slung over his back and his police pistol jammed into his belt. He wasn’t taking any chances.
A gust of wind from the north stirred leaves over the forest floor, but a distinct line down the middle of them moved in the wrong direction. Kahtar froze and scanned, sensing her. Delphine Green—five foot one inch, one-hundred eleven pounds, appeared out of nowhere and moved along the path.
Kahtar backed against a bare maple tree and waited. She moved fast, wearing a bright red cloak like a naughty Red Riding Hood. Kahtar was tempted to follow her unawares, but had a bad feeling she’d vanish into a tesseract and leave him behind.
“Doing recon?” he said.
She screamed and he stepped into her path. Clutching her chest with both hands she gasped, “God, Kahtar! I nearly pissed myself! I thought you were—I thought you were—someone else!”
“If you hang around long enough, he might show up too.”
“I don’t know who you mean.”
Living with Beth had certainly sensitized Kahtar to lies, but this one of Delphine’s had as much finesse as a child with their hand in the cookie jar.
“He, or as you call him someone else, came through here last night right after you did.”
Delphine’s eyes were huge in her pale face. “You saw him?”
“No, but the Old Guard saw the giraffe he left behind.”
“He’s mad,” she whispered. “He doesn’t know how to tesser right and he’s going to end up killing someone.”
“Hate to bring this up, Delphine. But he already has killed people. Remember? A couple of innocent seekers, a father and son, according to my wife. Not to mention that technically he killed my daughter and my wife, too. So, if you could fit it into your busy schedule, I’d like to meet him. We have some things to go over.”
“Oh, Kahtar! I didn’t forget, and I was going to explain it all to you, I just had to do some… stuff…first.”
“Hey! I assumed you’re a busy woman. Is that seeker perfume you’re wearing? Smells expensive.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “My reasons aren’t trivial.”
“I’m sure they’re more important than protecting your clan from a heartless killer.”
Delphine shot him a dirty look. “I assumed you could take care of the clan for a few days!”
“I assumed you would follow the laws of being your whole life.”
“I have never broken a single law of being!”
Na
rrowing his eyes at her, Kahtar said, “Is that because the truth is you’ve broken more than a single one? It seems to me you have a way with words and the ability to do whatever pops into your head, without ever getting caught.”
“I have never broken any laws of being! If I had the ability to avoid being caught we wouldn’t be having this conversation, and I wouldn’t have a stalker attaching garbage tesseracts to mine and making a mess in my wake.”
“Beth says you’re his anchor.”
Delphine gasped, not in surprise, but as though struggling to take air into her lungs. In the dim light of the forest he couldn’t see tears in her eyes, but sensed they were there. It surprised him when she pulled herself up to full height and said, “When do you want to go after him?”
“Now’s good.”
“Now?” Her voice sounded hollow.
“Yes, now. Beth’s at her parents, so she’ll be safe. She’s had a couple weeks to recover, but if she has any trouble the Old Guard are watching her. I want to go now. Before that monster hurts someone else, or you use your gifting to divert me and slip away again.”
A tremble rippled through Delphine from head to foot, but she nodded. “All right. Now. I’m ready, but it’d probably be a good idea if you changed into seeker clothes first.”
TED WHITE HAD transformed a storage room into a baby girl wonderland with fairy lights and giant flowers painted on the walls. Dianta slept sprawled in a white iron crib on her stomach, her feet in casts Welcome had insisted would help lessen the limp she’d surely have. They stretched her legs into an uncomfortable Y-shape and forced her full lips into a permanent frown. Carole White stood beside Beth, fingering Dianta’s miniscule brown toes.
“Car wreck?” she asked.
Beth nodded. Kahtar and Honor Monroe had staged the accident to ensure she could tell the lie. They’d rear ended Beth’s Saab with a Hummer, with Beth and Dianta buckled into the vehicle full of padding, and demanded she make sure it rolled forward from the gentle tap and into the side of a brand new Challenger. All she’d done was dent a door and leave a yellow scratch in the black paint, yet it allowed her to explain her and Dianta’s condition to her parents. A huge black Hummer rear ended my car and I rolled right into a brand new Challenger!
Ted had a fit, and Carole had wrapped Dianta into her arms and held her for the past three hours. Moving from the baby’s toes, Carole smoothed her blanket of dark hair and turned to look into her daughter’s eyes, putting her hand on Beth’s protruding stomach. “What really happened, Beth?”
Oh no! Eyes darting to the window, Beth searched for the sparkle of Old Guard in the darkness outside but saw none. It didn’t matter; she had to answer the question and struggled to find a safe way to word it.
“I-I was attacked and Dianta got hurt. Don’t tell Dad! He’ll have a heart attack.”
“I thought your husband could keep you safe,” said Carole, her green eyes searching Beth’s face. “Do we need to worry you’ll be attacked again? Or someone else?”
In that moment Beth wanted more than ever to ask how much her mother knew. She had the distinct impression her mom was asking if someone might hurt her dad. She shook her head, sticking to the bare minimum. “No. You don’t need to worry that they’ll hurt anyone again.”
“Good,” Carole growled, dropping her hand from Beth’s stomach. Suddenly she straightened, grabbed the crib railing and squeezed, her eyes focused on a wall of pink decorations. Abruptly she turned and left the room.
No sooner did Beth hear Carole’s footsteps on the stairs than Kahtar entered the room in his police uniform.
“I didn’t hear your car!”
“I didn’t bring it.” Kahtar bent over Dianta, running his fingers gently over her. “I think I startled your mother. I’m sure she heard me appear in the back hallway.”
“Well, she knows stuff she shouldn’t. I can tell.”
Kahtar looked down at her, fighting a smile. “You showed up with new eyes, she could hardly miss that.”
“My father noticed too.”
“Of course he did.”
“He cried.”
Kahtar stopped smiling. “I’m sorry, Beth. I never knew any of this could happen.”
“I know you didn’t, but I’d have gone with you anyway. I have no regrets about you, Kahtar, and Dad was great. He just kept asking if I was okay and I talked about contact lenses like you said to and he pretended to buy it, but I know he knows I don’t have contact lenses.”
“Of course he does. Beth, they both know just enough to know not to push for more information. This is as good as your relationship can be with them. I’m sorry for that.”
“I think my mom can scan.”
“She can,” said Kahtar. “That’s why I didn’t bother trying to hide dropping out of thin air. I figured she wouldn’t say a word. Your mother’s a champ. She really loves you.”
“Wait. Why are you here? I thought you said you weren’t going to come.”
“I finally caught up with Delphine, and we’re going after him.”
“No, Kahtar!”
“Shhh. Your dad won’t take my appearing from thin air nearly as well as your mom.”
“You did this on purpose! You got me here where I can’t argue! You planned it right down to Dianta sleeping in the crib!”
“I’m sorry.”
“You say that a lot. How about being up front with me instead of manipulating and having to apologize so much?”
“I have to know that monster isn’t going to come back, and I need to know what I am. How many times have you told me to ask Old Guard? For what he’s worth, apparently I have a brother I can ask. Maybe he’ll answer.”
“You haven’t felt his heart. I don’t want you near him. Please.”
“We need to know if you and Dianta and this one,” he said as he placed a hand on her belly, “are immortal like me.”
“You’re not immortal anymore. I told you,” Beth insisted as he drew her close.
“I’d like to know what you’d call it then, Beth. You came back from the dead—rigor mortis, decomposing dead. I don’t know what that means if it’s not immortal. I’d like to know what we’re going to face and if we’re going to stay like this for the next century or two, or forever, because if I get killed in the line of duty and come back at my funeral, Cultuelle Khristos is going to have questions we’d better be able to answer. We need to know what we’re up against so we can make long-term plans.”
Beth couldn’t argue. She had no insight into the details of what had happened to her and her daughters, both born and unborn.
“No good can come of you seeking him. You can’t trust him.”
Kahtar kissed her forehead. “It’s better I seek him than he continues to seek Delphine here. That’s what’s been wrong with the veil all along. It explains the monkeys and the bird you saw. Apparently he creates tesseracts that move through space, but pull from where he’s leaving. Delphine thinks he can sense hers and piggybacks onto them, but she never realized he’d been tracking her until you were attacked. The Old Guard said a giraffe showed up last night. That means he came back again still seeking Delphine, despite the fact that Old Guard are watching. What if he gets out of the veil and into the village?”
“Do you think you can convince him to leave Delphine alone? Because you can’t. He needs her.”
“I can be very convincing.”
“He’ll keep Delphine!” In her crib Dianta whimpered, and Beth lowered her voice to a whisper-shout, “Who knows what he’ll do to you! Don’t go Kahtar, and don’t let Delphine go either!”
“I’m going, and she has to go too. I can’t find him otherwise. You already said it; he’ll find her eventually. At least I’ll be with her.”
“Promise me you won’t leave her with him!” Beth grabbed the collar of his shirt. “I don’t care if she took a blood oath to stay with him. You can’t believe she’s with him of her own free will!”
“I agree. But the only way sh
e’ll be free of him is if he’s dead.”
“I don’t think he can be killed! He’ll probably just come back like I did.”
Kahtar raised a brow. “That remains to be seen.”
“Take me with you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s bad enough I’ll have Delphine to protect. You’ll be safe here. There are warriors and Old Guard watching the veil if he goes there. I don’t want you anywhere near where he might find you.”
Beth clutched at him, stress causing her hands to go numb so her fingers wouldn’t obey. Kahtar lifted them to his lips and kissed them.
“I’m afraid,” she said.
Kahtar wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. “Don’t worry. I’ve been going into battle for a very long time.”
“Not with him,” she whispered into his shirt, fear filling her entire being. “Please let me come, I might be able to help you!”
Kahtar looked from her belly to Dianta sleeping in the crib. “You’ll help me best by staying safe right here.” He kissed her with meaning, his heart twining through hers, and in the crib beside them Dianta sighed happily in her sleep, the frown smoothing out as her baby heart bubbled with contentment at the edges of theirs.
After long moments Beth pulled away. “Nobody can lie to you if I’m there. Please, Kahtar.”
Kahtar kissed the tip of her nose and tucked her hair behind an ear. “Nobody can hurt me if you’re here. I’ll be back, sooner or later.” He untangled her hands from his shirt, winked, and left the room.
Beth heard the creak of floorboards and felt the strong touch of Kahtar’s heart caressing hers for several seconds, making unspoken promises tinged with the faintest touch of regret. Then it vanished.
Blinking, Beth wondered why she hadn’t seen the sparkle of Old Guard. It hit her then that although Kahtar never lied to her, he also didn’t tell her everything.
DELPHINE WAITED FOR Kahtar at the edge of the woods near the White’s house. “You should bring Beth with us.”
FOREVER The Constantines' Secret: A Covenant Keeper Novel Page 21