“Remind me not to get you mad at me. I didn’t realize I was putting my life at risk by arming you.” He laughed once more and decided to test the waters—to see what she would share about Colin once they shared a laugh. “I’m almost afraid to ask—what did he do?”
Freya’s expression changed and her jaw tightened as she looked back at the target. “He left.”
He had to keep her talking. He was so close, he could feel it. “I don’t get it. How could he leave? You can’t leave a coupling.”
“You can. If there’s a spacecraft you can hitch a ride on.”
She slammed her clip into her handgun and shot off the entire round.
“Shit, are you kidding me? He left—like he actually left you and the planet. I can’t believe the State would separate a couple like that.”
Freya reloaded and took aim. “He wanted to leave me. That was how he could get out of our coupling.”
They told her he wanted to leave?
His stomach churned at the memory of Colin’s desperation to be reunited with her. He forced himself to shake it off.
It’s probably for the best. She deserved better than Colin. I bet hating him will help her heal faster.
“I can’t believe it. What an idiot.”
He looked down, waiting to see if she took the bait. She reloaded.
“Freya, can I ask you something?”
She took a deep breath and answered rapid fire. “Yes, I thought he was happy; yes, I thought he loved me; no, I had no idea he had been lying to me the entire time we were together.”
She fired off another round. This time her demeanor changed from being on the verge of tears to something more powerful. To him, she appeared too young and innocent to have already endured so much.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that, but that wasn’t what I was going to ask you.”
She lowered her gun and turned to look at him for the first time since she’d opened up to him.
“I was going to ask you how old you are.”
Her gaze quickly dropped back to the ground. “Seventeen, I’ll be eighteen in a few months.”
“Well, you are the oldest seventeen-year-old I’ve ever met.” He paused. “I thought when I first met you that you were older, closer to my age, but the more I look at you, I can see your youth. I’ve been wondering for a while how you became such an old soul. I kinda thought maybe that’s what working at the State House does to you.”
Part of him wanted to press further, but he decided he had pushed her far enough for one night. “You look like you’re done for the night. I’m sorry, Freya. I shouldn’t have brought it up or asked anything personal.”
She placed the handgun down on the ledge in front of her. “Yes, you should have. You were told to analyze me due to the attack. It wasn’t your mistake that you didn’t know that I was recovering from something much worse when the attack happened. Perhaps if they expected you to properly do your job, they should have told you that.”
He nearly flinched. She believed him. Him. A nobody.
What if this is my only chance to get her talking? I have to keep going.
“Yeah, they should have, you’re right about that,” he said. “So, what happens to you now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m sorry.” He took a step back, hoping she would persist. “It’s really none of my business. I shouldn’t have said anything. I guess I’m still in shock about what happened. Please forgive me.”
“What did you mean?”
He rubbed his jaw. “Well, I just mean, do you get coupled again? Where do you go? Where do you live?”
Freya shrugged and leaned against the wall. “I’m not entirely sure, to be honest. I definitely don’t want to be coupled ever again, and I think Victor will protect me from that.”
He nearly flinched at hearing her refer to the Head of State so casually. Even when Dr. Rhetta addressed him as Victor, it felt odd to Lewis. Freya seemed to think she had sway with him, but, then again, maybe she did. Maybe she was so much more than a gardener, especially if he wanted her to become a spy.
“How do you mean, he will protect you?”
She crossed her arms. “I’m not like most people—others need a place to fit into society. I don’t. I can live at the State House, and so I don’t need a Security officer to protect me as a partner either. This is the only place I go.”
Why wasn’t she chosen for the military then? She’s so compliant and doesn’t give in to regular social norms. What makes this girl so special?
“He was a Security officer?”
“Yes. The women who work at the State House are coupled with Security officers. I think the State feels it will help keep us safe or something. Chastity is a widow, and so the both of us live in apartment’s inside the State House. I think if I had a different civil duty, they might try to couple me again, or maybe they wouldn’t—I don’t know. But I think I’m allowed to keep living here, single.”
It was becoming clear to him why the Head of State was bringing them together. She was a proper candidate for the military, but she was entering at a different time in her life. Where did that leave him? Were they to work together long term? Or was he only there for her training?
“You are so young—you have your entire life ahead of you. Who knows, you might want to move out of the State House some day.”
She grimaced. “Not if I have to get coupled again to leave.”
His pulse quickened as a nervous energy manifested in his core. How could he make her fall in love with him when she didn’t want love in her life? He glanced at her target, attempting to find a topic change. The paper was completely shredded.
“Well, I think you got him.”
“Yeah, I guess I did.” Freya coyly smiled. “Same time tomorrow?”
“Yep, and tomorrow we’ll go through more self defense.”
She headed toward the door.
“Freya,” he called out to her back. “Thank you for being honest with me today. I don’t imagine all that stuff is easy to talk about.”
She turned and looked back and held his gaze before she nodded and left.
He flopped down in his chair and let his head hang between his legs. He needed some time to clear his head before he filled out his report.
Even through the stress, he could see the wisdom in Dr. Rhetta’s words. Under different circumstances, they would be an excellent match. Now that he knew a little more about her, he could see it. Regardless of his mission, he knew deep in his core that Freya was the first woman he’d found that he could fall for.
This could complicate things for me.
Chapter 11
Chastity
Her fingers struck her tablet rhythmically as she forced her mind to stay focused on the task at hand. Something was going on. Something was off. There were too many details that didn’t add up. Nothing made sense to her, which felt all too familiar.
Nothing would have pleased her more than to work alone in her apartment today. There was so much information to process, something she would rather do alone—and especially not with Victor in the room beside her. She sat on the hardwood chair across from him on the opposing side of his desk.
She had only recently freed herself of caring for Freya. Alone time had been sparse at best. She adored Freya and was happy to help, but she hadn’t had the time or opportunity to let her mind absorb the implication of colonization nor who was aboard the spacecraft.
So much had happened, and so quickly. What she couldn’t figure out was why or how. It made little sense.
How could Ursa’s son be selected for the colonization project? And to be re-coupled? Chastity, a State House worker, only escaped her coupling with an abusive partner through his death. But all Colin had to do was catch a ride to the new world. And all because he loved another woman more than Freya? Freya was madly in love with Colin and they appeared to be happy. At least she was. Why would the State do such a thing?
Chastity d
ared not speak a word of her questions to Freya. That poor girl was in too much pain, too broken. She knew Victor was lying to Freya, just as he had done to her when she was coupled with Lance. He acted sympathetic to her face and conspired with Dr. Rhetta behind her back. He was doing the same thing with Freya, but why?
“Chastity, is everything all right?”
The sound of Victor’s voice grounded her back to reality. “Yes, Victor?”
He wrinkled his nose. “You look like you have something on your mind. Anything we need to discuss?”
She gave a tense nod and looked away. “I’m sorry if I lost my focus. I’m just worried about Freya, is all.”
Victor looked away, remorse filled his eyes. “Chastity, I can’t thank you enough for what you have done for that girl. I can’t even imagine what she’s going through. I was never coupled. I’ve never lost someone I loved. I’m so grateful you have been there for her. I don’t know what she would do without you.”
Bile rose in her throat, and she swallowed hard. It amazed her that he could look so genuine, so concerned about Freya’s well being when it was all some plot between him and Dr. Rhetta.
She knew she should steer clear of the subject, but her own bitterness over Victor’s past misdeeds forced words into her mouth.
“I can’t imagine either. I mean, I was never enthralled with Lance, but Freya, she was head over heels in love with Colin. And to find out he didn’t love her and was having an affair the entire time?”
Victor nodded gravely. “I know. It’s incomprehensible.”
Chasity narrowed her eyes. “It really is. I mean, how did he get away with it? How does he have an affair right under the State’s nose? Shouldn’t someone in Security catch him? Where would they have even gone to spend time together?”
Victor shrugged. “You know Security can’t see everything.”
She leaned forward in her seat. “But wouldn’t Security notice if he waltzed into another coupled woman’s bedroom? You would think even with rotational monitoring, someone would have seen that.”
“Chastity, just because something is reported, doesn’t mean it results in action. I’m sure that was flagged and reported, but his plans for departure were already set.”
She kept her eyes locked on his. “Did you see any surveillance footage of him visiting this woman? Was that a part of your investigation?”
“No, I don’t have time for that level of detail. I trust those who pass the information to me after their careful examination.”
She marveled at how he could keep intense eye contact and lie right to her face without flinching. His expression didn’t even shift or change as he spoke.
Chastity shook her head. “It’s all just such a shock. I mean, I couldn’t leave Lance when he was abusive. The State values keeping couples together. I don’t understand why him leaving for the new world would change that.”
Victor looked away from her briefly, the first crack she saw in his armor. “Well, technically, Colin will still be coupled.”
“But what about Freya?”
He gave a quick shrug. “Dr. Rhetta felt that much like you, Freya would do better living at the State House, uncoupled.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m surprised she was coupled to begin with.”
Victor nodded. “Me too, actually. You blazed the trail for State House workers to live inside these walls. I’m uncertain of why they didn’t just let her start here. She should have been selected for independent living. This was clear about her from the start. Maybe they thought she would mature and grow into her coupling, which she did. Maybe she will want to be coupled again some day.”
Chasity couldn’t contain her bitter, sarcastic laugh. “I doubt that very much.”
He tucked his chin and looked up at her. “She was very happy for a time in her coupling. You never had that kind of experience. You and Freya are similar in many ways, but your experiences have been different. Independent living is a preference, not an iron-clad sentence. Sometimes someone independent can be quite happy in a coupling, at least in the short-term. Had you enjoyed your pairing more, you may have desired to do it again. We find that in time, you could have settled into a relationship, although you would never mold into it like others.”
Chastity repressed a soft grin. She wanted information, and now she definitely had it, although it wasn’t the information she had been after.
The coupling system was a sham.
Victor could talk in circles all he wanted, but there was no purpose in continuing. He had just admitted that if she had been paired with the right person—something the State’s coupling system was meant to ensure—she would have eventually been happy in her relationship.
Freya was happy with Colin. Chastity knew Colin was raised in a loving home with two parents who would have taught him to treat his partner better. There was no way her sister could have raised such a jerk.
The State did this to Freya, intentionally. There was a reason they stuck Freya with Colin only to take him away. There was a reason they placed Chastity with an abusive partner. There was a connection, and she was determined to find it.
She may not have all the answers now, but she had over twenty years before that spacecraft touched down to figure it out. Their fates were connected, and not simply through a shared living and working space.
Finding the answers to Colin’s departure could be the key to understanding the treacheries of her past.
Chapter 12
Lewis
He hammered the clip back into his handgun, ready to take aim until he heard an alert chime on his tablet. As he was only receiving communications regarding his current mission, he treated each notification as an emergency. The Head of State was requesting his immediate presence in a meeting room in the military underground. As usual, there was no information listed in the request which gave his imagination plenty of room to create several scenarios, all detrimental.
He felt he was making progress with Freya, slowly, but still progress. Although he could see the mission was coming along, he didn’t suppose the Head of State would be lenient. He wanted results.
Lewis scurried down the hall but chose not to run. If he were to be reprimanded, he wanted to at least arrive in an orderly fashion, not winded and covered in sweat.
He arrived at the designated meeting area and gave a curt knock on the door. Once again, the Head of State called to him through a closed door. Lewis stepped inside and saw Dr. Rhetta joining them once again.
Lewis saluted the Head of State and did his best to give a respectful nod to Dr. Rhetta. There was something about her that made his skin crawl. He wished he could just meet with the Head of State as he couldn’t imagine what value a psychologist could bring to these meetings. Surely, she could send in a report of her assessments.
“Lewis, you got here fast.”
Lewis nodded and gave a polite smile. “Nothing is as important as a summons from the Head of State.”
The Head of State pursed his lips. “I recognize that you are working diligently, yet I am growing frustrated at the pace of this mission.”
Lewis felt his core seize. He couldn’t begrudge the Head of State if they removed him from this mission, but he also felt it would be unjust. Freya was difficult. Maybe someone else could have produced faster results, but maybe he was producing the best results as could be expected from Freya.
Lewis nodded, and his jaw clenched. “Of course, sir.”
“Lewis,” Dr. Rhetta’s voice snaked into his ears, “we need to get some results with Freya quickly.”
Lewis was about to respond, but the Head of State cut in. “This meeting is to give you information, not to reprimand you. Freya is a tough nut to crack; I know from experience—I’ve worked with her long enough to know just how stubborn she is.”
“Lewis,” Dr. Rhetta had a way of slowly articulating every word. It felt like pinpricks under his skin. “We are taking an action today and wanted to ensure you are prepared.”
Lewis didn’t know what to think. What did they hope she would spontaneously discover on her tablet that would speed things along?
“You see, Lewis,” Dr. Rhetta said, “Freya has taken the departure of her former partner rather hard. It is a shame, really, as he was neither loyal nor the kind of man worthy of her grief. We need her to figure that out. Hopefully, she’ll listen to you today, as she wouldn’t listen to Victor when he tried to tell her previously.”
Conspired: A Young Adult Dystopian Romance (The State Series Book 6) Page 7