True North (The Complex Book 0)

by Elizabeth Burgess

  “What’s this?”

  “Evidence that Gideon communicated with your mother every single year after his capture.”

  “Okay?” Aldous was confused. “I don’t like that he talked to her, but what does that have to do with Rath or anyone else being sick?”

  Torrun clicked a few keys and several pictures popped up. He touched the first one and enlarged it. “This is why. Tell me you don’t think it’s a coincidence. Gideon and several of his Human friends on Famiil after his release. He returned, Aldous. Several times. Why the hell would he come back. Unless…” He flipped the next few in rapid succession: Gideon stepping in a stream, lowering a flask, lifting the flask, and finally leaving the area.

  “What is he doing?”

  “You tell me.”

  “Looks like he’s collecting a sample of our water.”

  “Or…” Torrun offered, “Contaminating it. What if he’s the reason Rath is sick in the first place? What if when he and Lake went to the Fresh Smoker lake, he released a toxin into the water supply? That Human could be responsible for everything.”

  Aldous wasn’t one to jump to conclusions, but Gideon had no reason to be on Famiil, especially after he was threatened with the promise of death if he returned. Also noteworthy was his communication with Lake. What if that was a ploy, too? What if he’d kept in contact with her to discover more about their family, find out their weaknesses as a people? Hurt his son.

  Filled with a rage he’d never known, Aldous looked to his friend. “Stay with Rath. I’m taking this information to the authorities.”

  “I live for these mornings with you, love,” Gideon said as he caressed Lake’s bare shoulder. “The only way this could be better is if you’d stayed the night.”

  “I can fix that. I’ll just stay tonight and we can repeat this morning tomorrow.”

  Gideon rolled her to her back, lingering kisses on her neck and further down. “How long will a Mage live naturally?”

  “Indefinitely.”

  “So after I die, you’ll move on to some sexy young stud?”

  “I’ll probably wait a few hundred years.” She pinched his arm. “But Gideon, you will only die if you want to. I can sustain your life if you choose.”

  “You would do that for me?” He drew back to look in her eyes. “Will it affect you?”

  She shook her head. “I’ll lose a measure of my power, but to have you at my side is a small price to pay.”

  “I love you. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, to be by your side and to—”

  The sound of a small explosion, then a crash, cut short their conversation. Gideon had just enough time to put on a pair of pants before the Climintra filled his room, Aldous following closely behind. “What the hell?” He glanced back at Lake, wide-eyed and huddled beneath the covers.

  “Gideon Stone, you’re under arrest for suspension of terrorist acts against the inhabitants of the Complex,” a man said. “You’ll have to come with us.”

  “Terrorist acts?”

  “Gideon?” Lake grabbed onto his arm. “No.”

  An officer attempted to pull her from him. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, you’ll have to let him go.”

  Relying on impulse, she opened her hand and exhaled, blowing cerulean dust into his face.

  “Restrain her,” another officer said, but Gideon rotated, covering Lake’s body with his own.

  “No. No. Her son’s here. It’s not necessary. Aldous?” he called out. “Come get your mother.”

  Aldous parted the group, avoiding Gideon’s gaze. His focus was on Lake as he draped a robe around her shoulders.

  “Tell me what’s going on,” she cried. “Stop them. Please. Gideon, I won’t let this happen.”

  As the Climintra led Gideon away in handcuffs, Aldous held his mother tight. She was distraught now, but she would heal, and in time, she’d forget about Gideon Stone. Aldous would make certain.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Why didn’t you stop them?” Lake jerked from Aldous’ grasp, hands flailing in the air. He’d managed to get her from Gideon’s apartment up to his suite with little protest, but now that they were in private, she wouldn’t control her temper or her emotions. “What were you doing with them? What’s going on?”

  “Mother, take a breath. Calm down.”

  “Calm down? The man I love has been arrested. How can I be calm? Did you have something to do with this? You must have. Why else would you be there?” she charged, her words full of venom. “You’ve overstepped your bounds.”

  “I’m trying to protect you,” he said. “Will you listen to me?”

  “You’re trying to control me.”

  Aldous clicked on Torrun’s mini-tab. All the evidence against Gideon materialized before them. “Gideon isn’t who he says he is. He never has been. Did you know he’d been to Famiil no less than five times in the years since his release? There’s speculation that he contaminated our water supply there, and here at the Complex.”

  Exasperated, Lake turned from Aldous and whatever nonsense he’d put before her.

  “Are you hearing me? This Human scum could be responsible for your grandson’s illness!”

  “Gideon loves Rath and he loves me,” she managed to say through her tears. “He would never. Also, why would he come to Famiil and not tell me?”

  “Those are questions you need to be asking yourself.” He slid the mini-tab in her line of vision again to show her more pictures of Gideon. “I’ll bet during your yearly conversations with him, you innocently told him things about Rath, me, our people. It wasn’t by coincidence that his trips to our planet were a few weeks after talking with you. Nor was it by chance that he wanted to go with you into the Fresh Smoker lake and help you get Rath from the surface of Lorn. He was probably the reason you couldn’t access my and Torrun’s powers that day. Remember? And last night, when True wanted to talk about it, he pretended to be sick because of his guilty conscience.”

  Lake’s head pounded nearly as hard as her heart. Studying the pictures and their dates, she couldn’t deny the correlation or what they revealed. It did appear as if Gideon placed something in the water. Her Gideon. The man who’d saved her. How could he be evil? How could he want to harm Rath? Aldous had to be wrong. Gideon didn’t have a malicious bone in his body. “I can see his thoughts, Aldous. He is part of me. Wouldn’t I have sensed it? Seen it?”

  “Sometimes that kind of evil can hide itself so well that you don’t notice it until it’s infiltrated everything. I’m so sorry, Mother. Truly, I am. I do want your happiness and I had resolved myself that if it was with Gideon, I could accept it. But not like this. He’s a master manipulator and you were his victim.”

  “Aldous, Lady Ravenwood, I’m sorry to cut in,” Torrun said, peering from behind the bedroom door, “but Rath isn’t feeling well. I think he has a fever.”

  “I’ll call True,” Lake said, sobering.

  Ten minutes later, True arrived to assess the situation. Not wanting to take any chances, she thought it was best to move Rath to the clinic for monitoring. Aldous agreed wholeheartedly, especially since he had already informed the powers that be that he’d smuggled his son inside the Complex. Surprisingly, they weren’t upset. Aldous had valuable information regarding the illness wreaking havoc inside.

  Downstairs in True’s clinic, at least fifty Metas waited to be seen, all reporting symptoms of the water sickness. Over the entire Complex, at least two hundred people were sick with more coming in every minute. Doctors, nurses, and researchers were working around the clock with the information True had discovered, with the hopes of finding a cure.

  Despite the business of the clinic, True took extra time with Rath, explaining each test to Aldous and Lake. Rath’s face illuminated each time she visited. He even drew a picture of her with Sammy, and Aldous assured True she’d become a preferred friend if she made it into a picture with the dolphin. Later in the evening, instead of going home to sleep, True came to Rath’s room, practically collap
sing on the tiny couch inside.

  Realizing Aldous and True needed some time alone and so did she, Lake excused herself. Outside the clinic, she focused her mind, acquiring Gideon’s location. She’d not have access to him, but she could follow those who did and slip inside. It took longer than she expected, but within half an hour, Lake waited outside the prison. With a wave of her hand, she disabled the cameras near where Gideon slept. There were no bars, only a force field that prevented them from crossing over. As she watched his slow and steady respirations, she saw the dried blood caked around his neck and the green and blue bruising to his back and shoulders. He cradled his left arm as if broken. One eye was so swollen that she doubted he could open it if he tried. They’d beaten him.

  “Gideon?” she said.

  Immediately, he awakened and tried to stand. “Lake?” His voice was raspy. “What are you doing here?”

  “I had to see you. I need the truth. Please tell me all this is a lie, what Aldous has said about you. Please tell me that you didn’t come to Famiil within weeks of our conversations and didn’t tell me. Tell me the images Aldous showed me are fabricated and I will believe you.”

  “I… can’t. I did come to Famiil, but not for the reasons I’ve been accused. I love you. I love Rath. I would never harm—”

  “But you came to Famiil and didn’t tell me.”

  “Lake, I had a job.”

  She pointed a finger at him. “Enough. If you lied to me about one thing, you could lie to me about another.”

  “I didn’t lie to you. We’ve never talked about what I did in the military, so how could I have possibly lied to you?” Gideon held his side as he tried for a deep breath.

  “A lie by omission is still a lie.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way. My job was classified and I’m bound to the vows I made as a member of the armed forces, but you need to hear one thing, Lake.” He stood, hobbling to her. “I would never hurt you or your family. Never. Hell, I wouldn’t hurt anyone intentionally. This crap about me being a terrorist and trying to poison the Complex is bullshit. I understand if you need to walk away from me, but I love you with a fierceness I’ve never known. I will always love you.”

  Lake searched his heart and hers for any doubts or fears residing in either and found none. Gideon told the truth. She wasn’t mistaken before. She knew this man like she knew herself. Entirely. Completely. And she wasn’t about to let him take the fall for something he didn’t do. “I believe you. I’m sorry for what I said about the lie by omission. You’ve always taken confidential jobs and it was wrong to bring it up.”

  “It’s okay. The evidence against me is pretty iron-clad, because the research I was doing in Famiil wasn’t exactly on the up-and-up. The Human government will probably deny I had authorization because a lot of it was done after the end of P-Extinction. I may not be getting out of this one, love.”

  “No. You can’t talk like that. You will. We’ll figure out something.” Lake lifted her hand to the invisible panel between them and sliced a hole. She reached through and pressed her palm to his chest, healing him. “You can’t let them know I did this.”

  “Thank you. I love you.”

  “I love you, Gideon.”

  True’s eyes fluttered open to see Aldous sitting with a sandwich and a bowl of fruit in his lap. One blanket draped across her legs and another rested underneath her head. She smiled and glanced up at Rath.

  “How is he?”

  “Same. How are you?”

  “Not as tired as before. Thank you for the blankets and the food. I assume that’s for me?” She pointed to his lap.

  “You’d be correct.” He rose and sat everything in front of her, then took a seat next to her. Leaning in, he pecked her cheek. The action was awkward but genuine. “I know we need to talk about last night, but we’re mentally and physically exhausted. So maybe after things settle down we can go on a—what is it you Humans say? A date?”

  “I’d like that.” She nudged his leg. “Just so you know, I left this morning because I knew Lake would be arriving with Rath. I figured you didn’t want to explain why I was in your bed.”

  Aldous patted his chest. “Rath did see the scratches you left. The little buzzard wasted no time telling his grandmother about it either.” They chuckled together, then grew quiet, both fixated on the little boy’s breathing. “True, will he make it through this? There’s no cure on the horizon and he’s not getting any better.”

  “Tomorrow’s another day. And we’ve got some of the best minds in the galaxy working on it. I’m not giving up and neither should you.”

  “Dr. Mathieu?” A nurse stopped at the open door. “The man next door has asked to see both of you.”

  “Both of us,” she repeated, exchanging glances with Aldous.

  “He’s a Mage.”

  “Can you watch my son for a moment?” Aldous asked.

  She nodded. “Of course.”

  Hands entwined, they stepped into the next room. The man in the bed was surrounded by his family. Several were crying, but most were quiet, reverent. At the sight of Aldous, all of them bowed their head.

  “Caium.” Aldous’ voice was a barely-heard whisper. “I’m sorry. Oh, I’m so sorry.”

  “I thought I heard a rumor you were here with the little prince,” Caium said. “How is he?”

  With True in tow, Aldous moved closer, shaking hands with each person in the room. “He’s stable. Thank you for asking. True, Caium and his family have been longtime friends of the Ravenwoods. He remembers my parents when they were children.”

  “And could tell…” He coughed into a tissue. “… you stories about all the trouble little Barnum and Lake got into.”

  “I might take you up on that for insurance,” Aldous said as he leaned to embrace the man. “Seriously, what can I do for you? Anything?”

  “Nothing at all. I just wanted to tell you it’s been an honor to have served underneath your grandfather, your father, and now, you. They would be proud of the leader you’ve become.”

  Aldous choked back his emotions. “Thank you. Other than my son, leading our people has been the joy of my life. I’m just so sorry about this, Caium.”

  “Don’t be. I’ve had a wonderful life…” With the aid of his wife, Caium slowed his breathing. “A loving family and a far-reaching legacy. I couldn’t ask for anything more… except maybe a pint of Licasa ale and a pan of Barden wings with Goshem potatoes.”

  Aldous’ face brightened. “Give me thirty minutes.”

  After a call to Lake and a quick trip to a bar half a mile away, Aldous walked in with the feast for the dying Mage. Caium was only able to take one bite of the Barden wings and Goshem potatoes, but drank the Licasa ale well into the night.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sleeping after such an emotional evening was an impossibility for True. She glanced at Aldous and Lake—who were both sound asleep—and wondered if it was a special ability they had as Mages or if they simply had the gift of being able to rest in stressful situations. Whatever it was, she wished she had it. Careful not to disturb them, she tiptoed to the bathroom and took a quick shower. As she lathered her hair, she was surprised to feel hands at her waist and a hardness at her back.

  “I didn’t mean to wake you.” True bent over and allowed Aldous better access to her sex.

  “This woke me,” he said as he entered her from behind. “My cock must’ve known how wet you were.”

  “Yes… God… it did. Aldous, harder.”

  Aldous obliged and pulled her hips closer, lifting as he thrusted. “Like that?

  “Yes… yes. More. Don’t stop.”

  Intentionally, he slowed his pace, pulling out—slowly, leisurely—until she cried, incapable of bearing the pleasure of their lovemaking.

  “Aldous? Don’t stop.”

  “Beg.”

  “Please, Aldous, fuck me. Fuck me hard. I need you.”

  He did as she asked, palming her ass and fucking her until the w
orld around them disappeared.

  Ten minutes later, True made her rounds to the critical patients, beginning with Caium. She expected to find him worse than last night, but was pleasantly surprised to see him sitting up in bed.

  “How are you feeling?” she whispered, careful not to wake his family.

  “Better than I have in the past two days.”

  “That’s good news,” True said, her tone even. Most patients experienced a few good hours before passing on. However, with this illness, it was so sudden and violent that the patient barely had time to adjust to being sick before they were dead. “May I take some blood to monitor your progress?”

  He smiled and extended his arm. “Of course.”

  True took the blood to her office and placed it under the microscope. Did this sample look better than yesterday? Blinking, she rubbed her eyes and took another look. Impossible. He’d not received anything but the broad-spectrum antibiotic, breathing treatments, and fluids to keep him hydrated. They didn’t have anything else to give him. The only difference was the food and beverage Caium consumed: Licasa ale, Barden wings, and Goshem potatoes. True wasn’t sure if she could get her hands on the food, but she knew for sure she had an almost-full bottle in Rath’s room.

  She made a face as she poured the ale into canister for easier collection. How anyone could find this appealing was a mystery to her. One drink of the vile liquid and she was nauseous. Using samples from the sickest of her patients, she put several drops inside. Miraculously, there was improvement. Not a lot, but some. Whatever was in the Licasa ale fought against the toxin. Could it be the Raunevene, the bitter herb Torrun had high concentrations of in his blood? She pulled his vial from the cabinet and inundated his specimen with the toxin. Ten minutes later, there had been no change in his sample. True paused and realized what she’d discovered.