The Bridge Beyond Her World (The Boy and the Beast Book 2)

by Brandon Barr

  Inside, she took the lift to the tenth floor where the living quarters were, and quickly discovered Rueik was not in his room.

  She took the lift up a floor and checked the recreation center. Empty. The kitchen. Dark.

  The lift took her to the twelfth floor. Where was everyone? In the training room?

  The lights clicked on as she jogged down the hall. The large glass windows of the training room were already lit. Someone was in there. The door silently opened for her.

  “Zoecara, you’re late to the festivities,” said Rueik. “We have a new Missionary.”

  Zoecara glanced at the faces. All the Missionaries were present, and the three new Emissaries. “What are you talking about?”

  “Winter is joining Arentiss and I,” said Rueik. “Karience is going to let her train for possible Missionary duty.”

  The way Rueik made the pronouncement with such exuberance gave Zoecara pause. Was he developing feelings for the farm girl?

  Zoecara put on a stupid look of a happy surprise. “And the Magnus agreed?!”

  “It’s pending,” said Hark. “We were just showing her the new vid from Hare 5.”

  “Welcome aboard, Winter,” said Zoecara with a smirk. “Don’t let the boys show you Hare 4. Hare 5 citizens breed like rabbits. Hare 4, they skin you like rabbits.”

  Winter raised her eyebrows. “Turn it on. I can handle it.”

  “Uggh, I can’t,” said Daeymara. “Way to kill the mood, Zoecara.” Daeymara threw something at Zoecara and she caught it. “Eat that. It’ll cheer you up.”

  Zoecara looked at the wrapped thing in her hands. “Chocolate Alenuts?” She threw the wrapped delicatessen at Rueik. “You eat them. My blood stream is already bubbling with aphrodisiac.”

  The other Missionaries laughed, while the Emissaries looked confused at first. She watched their VOKKs process the interchange. Slowly all three confused faces turned into forced, accommodating smiles.

  Prudes, she thought, just like Rueik. It was better that way. The prim, moralistic types were so much easier to influence, so much more predictable. For Zoecara, everything was coming together better than expected. It would be easy to get all three to the pick up location. They were rookies and unsuspecting. Even Pike. He was the one she was most concerned about. The Mind Scry on her homeworld had implanted the controller in his mind and swore she’d bypassed the commands of Pikes VOKK. If all was as the Scry had said, Pike would be a tool in her hands. Still his VOKK made her nervous.

  Zoecara managed to hack into Karience’s profiles, all but Winter’s. Judging by the way Pike’s cheeks flushed at her aphrodisiac joke, he clearly didn’t know that he used to tangle up with his daddy’s whores.

  And Winter. She seemed so uninteresting for someone who had a higher security profile. But, then again, why was she being allowed to join the Missionaries? That was very strange. There was something going on with her. On Bridge, she and Karience had disappeared for several hours. Something serious had happened, she’d read it on both their faces. Was it something she needed to worry about?

  Two more days, and the young woman wouldn’t be a problem. Two more days, and the entire facility would be a smoking hole in the ground.

  Everyone had turned back to watch a new vid. Mother 11, a favorite because of its beautiful landscape and welcoming people. It was a simple, ideal mission.

  Zoecara put her hand warmly on Rueik’s shoulder. “We need to talk,” she whispered.

  As soon as the door slid shut, and they were alone, Rueik leaned back against the hallway. “Cara, I think we’re wrong about them.”

  “You have no basis for that conclusion.”

  “Listen to me! They seem completely normal.”

  “Of course they do!” said Zoecara, “What do you expect Shadowmen to act like? Drooling? Mumbling death threats to those who oppose the Beast?”

  “Cara, I’m not convinced they are Shadowmen. And I have the means to prove it.”

  He held out his hand. In it was a small ring with a smooth silvery device no larger than a child’s fingernail.

  “It’s the mind probe,” he said. “I borrowed it from Alael.”

  Zoecara forced herself to put on a pleased face, but inside she was furious. He had never taken a risk like that for her. Was he that confident she was wrong? How did the documents she’d artfully doctored have so little effect on him now!?

  She closed the space between them with a step. “Wonderful, darling!” she said sweetly. “We can get Pike alone—look into his past and see if Aven and Winter are who they claim to be, if they are there at all. I’ll slip something in a drink that will put him out. Then you look into his memory and see for yourself. We can be sure that way.”

  When she had taken Pike to her world, the Mind Scries had sectioned his memories and created a third history. There now lived inside him three alternate selves. One Pike was the original, the one that Alael had locked away. The second was the Pike that Alael created. The one whose childhood remained intact but whose adolescence was erased and replaced so that he would not hate Aven and Winter. The third Pike was the Mind Scries’ creation. It was designated as the true but hidden self. It was a Pike who’d kill at the command of Zoecara’s voice, would in fact do anything and everything she told him to. If Rueik looked inside, he would see all three of these. He would then know that she was a Shadowman herself.

  This, she could not allow. She had to stay in control. Get him to agree to do it with her. She could buy time then.

  Rueik’s eyes avoided hers.

  “If I’m wrong, then I’m wrong,” said Zoecara, successfully bringing his gaze up to her face. Her eyes were sullen, as if saying, don’t be cross with me, and she pouted her lips to give her face a bit of playfulness. Normally it would have had a softening effect on him. It didn’t.

  She pressed her body against his, tenderly placing her hands on his chest. “Together, we can find out if I’m mistaken.”

  Rueik gently pushed her away. “We’ll do it. But right now, I need a little space, alright? I’ll prove to you they’re innocent, and then we can put this behind us.”

  “Alright,” she said. “Then we’ll know.”

  He turned and went back through the door without another word.

  Something had changed in him. He didn’t kiss her. Didn’t want her close. She looked through the observation window into the training room. Rueik had found a seat across from Aven and Winter. As he sat, he kept looking in their direction, as if to watch their expressions as they took in the vid for the first time.

  She was quite certain she knew what was happening. It wasn’t Aven’s face his eyes returned to again and again.

  Damn. Now she knew what he meant when he said Aven and Winter were innocent. He was drawn to them. Their simple morals and untainted minds were attractive to him. And Winter. She was so very unlike the persona Zoecara had chosen to pursue Rueik with. She had misjudged him. Most men would have been eating out of her hands, but not Rueik. The bastard wouldn’t even grope her breasts.

  He really did have her by the balls now. If he used the mind probe, he would know the truth. He’d come to realize the lies she’d told him. Without his devotion, everything she said to him could unravel.

  Two days, she consoled herself. Two days, then Rueik would be dead.

  CHAPTER 23

  AVEN

  The vid screen was showing an upworld called Breath 12. Its city spires reached up into the clouds and ships hovered in the sky like bees. It was their fourth clip of the night.

  There were so many worlds. Seeing the videos made what the Missionaries did so much more real. How was it possible for the Guardians to maintain control of such a vast number of worlds? Either their power was as complete—and perhaps as brutal—as he feared, or else they were more fragile than he’d first guessed.

  Either way, he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

  “I’m tired,” tapped Aven.

  “I’m staying,” tapped Wint
er.

  Aven laughed. A part of him was happy for her. This was what she wanted. To go off on her godquest…or whatever it was. Perhaps they could both be happy. Her living out and breathing the foreign air on some dangerous errand of the Makers, and him living here, at peace, working the land on his farm when he was able.

  He hadn’t told her about the farm yet. He hadn’t had a chance. And the way she was absorbed in the images on the screen, now was not the time. Nor was it the time to tell her about Arentiss’s friendly hand holding. Maybe that wouldn’t matter as much as he had earlier feared.

  Aven stood from the cushioned sofa. “Goodnight everyone.”

  A chorus of goodnights came back at him. Aven quietly went to leave when Daeymara came up alongside him.

  “Would you walk me back to my room?” she asked, her eyes soft and inviting.

  “Certainly,” said Aven. He glanced back at his sister, at the vid screen she was watching, then followed Daeymara through the oval doorway.

  As soon as the door shut, Daeymara grabbed his hand. A tingling heat rushed through her fingertips into his body. Then Daeymara spun with a laugh and took her hand from his, and placed it lightly on his chest.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, giggling, “I just couldn’t help myself. Arentiss is so awkward sometimes. I just wanted to see your reaction if I tried one of her hand grabs on you.”

  “Well,” said Aven, feeling flushed. “I hope I didn’t disappoint.”

  Daeymara looked at him with one eye, the other obscured by the straight cut hair that stopped at the side of her mouth. Her one eye was full of vigorous light. “No! It was perfect.”

  “So do the others know about her hand holding?” asked Aven.

  “Virtually nothing is unknown about Arentiss. The woman says exactly what she thinks. She tried to hold Rueik’s hand when she first arrived. Rueik had to tell her he was taken already. Poor woman is desperate, and now you’re the only single guy close to her age to go after. Has she tried anything else on you?”

  “No,” said Aven. “What do you mean, try anything else?”

  “I’ll leave that up to your imagination,” said Daeymara, with a stilted laugh. “Trust me, that girl’s as sexually pent-up as a corked bottle of wine. Vintage and unopened, if you know what I mean.”

  A picture of Arentiss stood in his mind. Her petite nose and mouth. Her sharp eyes, almost always so serious. But her face changed when she held his hand, the sharp edges dropping off. The thought of it made him smile.

  Daeymara pressed the button for the lift and the door swooshed up. He followed her inside and stopped just within the entrance. She stepped close to him, her shoulder touching slightly against his arm. Her fingers brushed against the side of his hand, then lingered so close he felt their warmth on his skin.

  Was Daeymara enticing him to hold her hand? No, that didn’t make sense. She had just been making light of Arentiss for this…or was her laughter only at Arentiss’s awkwardness?

  The lift door opened and Daeymara’s finger brushed against his as she exited. Aven felt desire well up inside him, but accompanying it was a cacophony of conflicting emotions. This was not how girls behaved where he came from. Daeymara barely knew him. How could she be so…confident about him? Was this how her culture initiated interest? By this physical touch? Perhaps she intended to talk to him about her feelings now that she had him alone.

  “So,” said Aven, coming beside her. “Which way to your room?”

  Daeymara smiled warmly. “Follow me.”

  Her quarters were just around a bend in the corridor. The door slid open and she whisked past him and spun. “Let me turn down these horrid room lights. Way too bright in here.”

  Aven hung by the door, watching Daeymara scurry to get something. To his surprise, Daeymara began lighting candles. The tiny flames springing to life called to him in so many ways. They reminded him of his family, and life in his old hovel. As Daeymara moved about the room, lighting more candles, he was warmed by thoughts of his new farm and hovel, and how superior the firelight would be to the bland glare of the lights in the Gaurdian Tower.

  But the lit candles called to him in other ways. He sensed the candlelight’s true purpose, amplified by the occasional glance from Daeymara, and the way her lips communicated her intentions, slanting upward at the left corner.

  She wanted kissed. He was almost certain of it.

  Again, an inner struggle warred within him. To give in would be awfully disrespectful to Winter. Usurping her role, as well as breaking the traditions of the farmers. But then, Winter was so consumed with her destiny, and eager to travel the stars, did she even intend to make time for matchmaking? But beyond that question was another. He barely knew Daeymara. Something about that felt improper. And…what of Arentiss?

  But the desire was there…to get to know Daeymara.

  And to kiss her.

  He felt frozen.

  “Room lights off,” said Daeymara.

  The entire room turned to soothing shadows.

  One side of Daeymara’s lips curved into a half smile. “So much better,” she said.

  “This feels like my old home,” said Aven, more at ease under the gentle glow “You’ll have to take me out to buy candles. I’ll need some for my new hovel.”

  “I’d love to take you. Maybe I could come over to see them lit.”

  “I would like that,” said Aven.

  Daeymara brushed the straight line of hair away from her eye and tucked it behind her ear. She leaned her hip against the footboard of her bed. “Aren’t you going to come in?”

  The hum of tension vibrated beneath Aven’s skin. His emotions fought in his chest.

  He feigned a look of confusion, as if he were so innocent as to not know what she wanted. But then, did he really know? Did she desire something more than a kiss? He knew so little of other worlds’ customs.

  He stepped in a few paces, and the door hatch he’d been standing by swooshed to a close.

  Daeymara was alluring. Beautiful. Her parted lips were full and expectant, silently promising things to him.

  “This button is so stubborn,” said Daeymara, her hand lamely tugging at a button on her white Guardian shirt while her eyes stayed on his. “Could you help me with it?”

  Aven breathed long and deep.

  “I should get going. It’s late,” said Aven.

  The spark in Daeymara’s eyes dimmed. “You don’t want to stay?”

  He hesitated. A part of him longed to stay. But if he did, he felt he would no longer be the same man, with the same goals. He wanted a wife to love. Not something lesser.

  “I should return to my room,” said Aven.

  Daeymara’s lips pinched together, and she forced a smile. “I think I understand. I have offended you, haven’t I?”

  Aven smiled. “No offense. It’s just…our cultures are just very different.”

  “How does one get here, uh, to the bedroom, on your world?”

  Aven drew his eyes up to the ceiling. “Oh, well…our parents choose a mate for us. But, in my case, my parents are gone, so it is the duty of my sister to find me a mate.”

  “So, if anyone wants you, they have to win her over first.”

  “Yes,” said Aven. “Winter would have to feel they were a good mate for me. A mate for life.”

  Daeymara eased away from the bed and came up to Aven. “You won’t stop speaking to me after this, will you?”

  “Of course not,” said Aven with a smile. “I like you.”

  She stepped close and looked up at him, the one eye partially obscured by the lock of hair fallen untucked again. “On my world, the idea of mating for life is laughed at, but hearing the concept from your lips helps me see it differently. There is something romantic about that kind of faithfulness. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around, though. What do you do when you want to be intimate with someone other than your mate?”

  Aven cleared his throat, the odd question banging around in his head. “W
e train our mind not to want that.”

  “So you just shut off that desire?”

  “We turn that intimacy toward our mate.”

  Daeymara’s lips spread playfully. “Your farm traditions are so mysterious to me, but also intriguing. Mysterious and intriguing, like you. You said you’re not going to ignore me now, right?”

  Aven laughed. “Why don’t we set a date to go buy candles? I’ll need lots for my hovel. And I’d like it if you could come over and help set them up.”

  “Damn, you’re sweet,” said Daeymara. “Maybe your sister can come, too. I mean, if I want to keep my options open with you, I’ve got to start with her, right? Flirting with you isn’t going to get me anywhere.” A saucy spark lit in her eye and curved the corners of her lips.

  “A good strategy,” said Aven. The awkwardness seemed gone now. He reached out and took her hand. “Goodnight, Daeymara.”

  “Goodnight, Aven.”

  CHAPTER 24

  KARIENCE

  Karience sat at her desk, a notice signed by Baron Rhaudius half-crushed in her hand. The fine calligraphy of the disturbing message only served to increase her fury. Nephitus stood quietly, waiting for her to speak. Beside him stood Hawth, the captain of the Royal Protectorate who had served five years heading the Guardian Tower post.

  “Their heads were found in the basket with the note.”

  She took a second glance at the faces wrapped in bloody cloths. It was Grey Bear and Rabbit, the two farmers she’d ordered the Baron to leave unharmed.

  Once this world was chartered, the gruesome act before her would be murder, but until then, it remained the foul justice that ruled the day. Accompanying the heads was the notice. Baron Rhaudius must have known how her blood would curdle at the list of names and signatures penned at the bottom of the paper.

  It was a short message. It detailed a grievance being filed against the Guardian order on Loam for her intrusion into the affairs of Baron Rhaudius, who had signed contracts with his farmers. Karience was being charged with breaking order eighteen of the charter.

  She glared up at Captain Hawth, “Is there no one amongst the Royals who would decry this? Is this not a violation of human dignity?”