Kat fixed the brunette with a stare. “Go to hell.”
Vanessa narrowed her eyes. “I’d be careful if I were you. Just because he wants the child and won’t hurt you now, don’t think he won’t let me have my way when your job is done.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“No,” a male voice said from the door.
Kat spun around. She hadn’t heard the door open. A tall, blond man with almond-colored eyes and a handsome face stood in the frame, appraising her. He was wearing a black suit and silver tie.
“Hello, Kat. I’m Adam.” He looked beyond her at Vanessa. “Weren’t you leaving?”
“My job isn’t done,” Vanessa bit out.
“Oh, but I think it is. Besides, Father is waiting.”
Vanessa shot him a killer look before saying to Kat as she left the room, “See you around.”
When they were alone, Adam didn’t close the door.
“You won’t have to face her again until the birth,” he said as if he’d bitten into something distasteful. “This is your new habitat. You can move around freely, as long as you don’t try to do anything foolish. If you do, you’ll be locked up in here,” he motioned around the room, “for the next six months. You’ll find everything you need—clothes, toiletries, food. Anything you want, you just have to say the word.”
A bit of the fear that held her body in a tight coil started to give way. It didn’t sound as if they were going to hurt her, at least not straight away.
“If you’re hungry, there’s a warm meal in the oven,” he said. “I advise you to make it an early night. Tomorrow will be a long day. We’ll start working on you straight away.”
“Working on me?” she asked through dry lips.
“Saving you.” He lifted a brow. “Have you forgotten the reason you came?”
She could only stare at him.
“Margaret will take care of you. If you have any emergencies, her room is next door.”
Without offering a greeting, he left, and suddenly she was alone.
A door shut somewhere down the hall. She rushed to the bedroom door and looked around the frame. Big windows framed glass doors at the end of the hallway. She was just in time to see Adam walking outside down a path to a waiting car. Armed guards stood on either side of the front doors. The glass was tinted. She guessed it was the kind that allowed one to see out, but prevented people from looking in.
Left to her own devices, she explored her prison. There was only one level. The inside was stark and cold with white walls and floor tiles. There were no paintings or decorations. Everything seemed to serve a functional purpose only. She found the kitchen and a small lounge farther down the hall. The other four doors were locked. Infrared beams picked up her movement, the green lights on wall-mounted units turning red, and the beep of an alarm sounded in the acoustic space. There were ceiling cameras everywhere. She’d be sure to check her room and bathroom carefully. The only entrance was the one through which Adam had left. It was almost dark outside, but powerful spray lights illuminated a vast garden surrounded by a high wall topped with barbed wire.
Too distressed to think of food, she made her way back to the room. A built-in cupboard was stocked with shoes and maternity clothes ranging from blouses, pants, and skirts to sleepwear and underwear, everything in her size. The bathroom was stocked with her favorite toiletries. Who were these people? How could they know this much about her?
A search didn’t reveal any cameras in the bathroom or bedroom. She was hot and sticky with perspiration. She removed her coat and left it on a hanger in the closet. In the bathroom, she undressed and left her clothes in the hamper. After a quick shower, she put on the pajamas she found in a drawer. She executed the actions automatically, not allowing herself the luxury of thinking. The sheets were cold when she slipped into bed. Ironically, it was that coldness on the empty side of the bed that finally made the numbness fade in the dark, letting life flow back inside her. Hollowness settled in her stomach and a deep ache in her soul.
“Lann,” she whispered, testing the sound in the dark, strange room.
The only reply was her answering sob.
The sound of a man’s roar echoed through the library. Lann didn’t care that the voice belonged to him. He was beside himself with fury.
“She betrayed me,” he said, shaking as he faced Joss.
“Pull yourself together. Vanessa tricked you, but you’re still going to have proof that Kat is fine.”
“This is not what we agreed,” Lann said, stabbing his fingers into his hair. “We agreed to a weekly telephone conversation, not fucking video feeds.”
“It’s better than nothing.”
Lann tried to calm his breathing, but all he could think about was not being able to speak to Katherine for six months. Fifteen minutes ago, Vanessa had called and informed him Kat had arrived safely. She’d said they’d decided he wouldn’t be allowed telephone contact with Kat, but that they’d supply him on a weekly basis with dated video footage of his wife—selected clips—to ensure him of her wellbeing. It was more than what he could take.
“If they hurt her…” Lann said.
“We’ll kill them,” Joss replied.
The knowledge that his team wouldn’t let him down calmed Lann somewhat. The man could bide his time. The animal inside him was impatient for revenge.
Kat woke with the sun shining through the window into her room. Again, she had no idea of the time. The next six months stretched out in front of her like endless torture. Maybe she’d ask Adam for a watch so she could at least tell the time. She missed Lann so much the ache was unbearable.
Forcing herself to get a grip, she got up and selected an outfit from the closet without putting any thought into it. After dressing, she made her way to the kitchen. She was starving. As Eve had predicted, now that her nausea and the attacks had passed, her appetite was increasing.
In the doorframe of the kitchen, she stopped at the sight of an elderly lady making pancakes.
The woman looked up. “I’m Margaret.” She didn’t offer a smile. “Take a seat.” She waved the spatula at a chair by a small table. “They’re almost done.”
The aroma of coffee filled the room. Kat sniffed with appreciation.
Margaret dumped a pancake in a plate in front of Kat and pushed maple syrup across the table. “Coffee?”
She looked up with surprise. “I thought I wasn’t allowed any.”
“I know they didn’t want you to have any,” Adam said from the door, “but we’re not going to be quite so cruel.”
He wore jeans and a white golf shirt, which gave him a more relaxed air than the day before.
“Eve said it wasn’t good for the baby,” Kat said.
“Ah, Eve. Well, she’s a stick in the mud, isn’t she? Our philosophy is more relaxed. We tend to believe if the mother’s happy, the baby’s happy.”
Kat studied him. “Who are you?”
Margaret gave her a funny look.
“We’re the people who will give you back your life.” Adam walked to the coffee machine and poured two cups. “Eat. Your pancake is getting cold.”
He put a mug in front of Kat and took a seat opposite her. She cut into the pancake while he added two sugars and milk to her coffee. It brought back a painful memory of Lann preparing her coffee just the way she liked it. The sudden jab in her heart had fresh tears collecting in the corners of her eyes. To hide her emotions, she pulled the mug closer and brought it to her lips.
“What’s wrong?” Adam asked.
“Nothing.” She’d never speak about Lann to these people. She wouldn’t mention as much as his name. She wasn’t going to soil his memory with them. “Why did you do this?”
Adam feigned innocence. “Give you coffee?”
“Everything.”
“Everything?” He smiled. “Ask me one question at a time and I’ll do my best to answer it.”
“Why did you give me a scholarship?”
�
�For you to meet the aeromancist, of course.”
“Why?”
“We knew he’d be fertile with you.”
“How?”
“My father is a man of resources.”
His father. “Why do you want my baby?”
“Imagine what you can do if you can manipulate the weather.”
“Your father likes sunshine?” she asked with a raised brow.
He chuckled. “A man can bring the world to its knees with the threat of an ice age. Or how about just America with pending hurricanes? A man who rules the weather, rules the crops. Crops are food. Food is a very, very dangerous commodity, Katherine. You’d be surprised how much people with money will pay for food when they have none.”
It never dawned on her how powerful Lann was. The realization took her breath away. But Lann would never abuse his power in such a way. What they intended for her child filled her with horror.
“You want to turn my child into a monster,” she whispered.
“It all depends on how you look at it. Do I look like a monster?”
His words drove the awful truth deeper. His father was going to raise her child as his own. Her baby would be brought up as Adam’s brother. No. Lann would rescue their son. She hated Adam, and she hated his father.
“Who is your father?”
“You can call him Godfrey.”
Godfrey. The mention of that name was like being pushed under a cold shower. She stared at him in shock. “He sent David for me.”
“Eve took you to that clinic. She was going to abort your baby. David was supposed to pull you out before, but then you decided to run.”
The pieces suddenly came together. “When David tried to cut a deal with us, you terminated him.”
He only smiled as he sipped his coffee.
“So, it was your father who did experiments on David.”
His eyes tightened. “Why would you ask questions that endanger your life? If I tell you that, I can’t let you go. You know that.”
“But you just told me everything else.”
“We tell you what we want you to know.”
The coldness of his tone made her shiver. Yes, Adam was a monster. He seemed civil on the outside, but inside he was just as rotten as his father.
He motioned at the mug between her palms. “Your coffee’s getting cold too.”
She looked at the forbidden drink. Her appetite was gone again, but she wasn’t feeling sick. She’d skipped a meal last night. Her concern wasn’t for herself. It was for Thomas. She had to eat. She lifted the mug to her lips. The aroma filled her senses. She closed her eyes as she took the first sip. As the brew washed down her throat, her arms broke out in goosebumps.
“Mm.” She licked her lips.
It was good coffee—strong, just the way she liked it. She gulped the rest down greedily, her body soaking up the caffeine boost. When she looked up again, Adam was studying her with an amused expression, and something else that bothered her.
“Do you fuck like you drink coffee?” he asked.
She choked. Her cheeks turned hot from the crude remark. She glanced at Margaret, but the woman didn’t even blink.
“You do,” he said slowly, as if it surprised him. “I can see why the Weatherman is so taken with you.”
Anger surged through her. “Don’t insult me. I don’t—”
She bit off her words. There was a fluttering in her womb stronger than what she’d experienced before. She left the mug on the table and placed a palm over her stomach. Thomas was moving. Only, he wasn’t just kicking, he was doing summersaults.
“What is it, Kat?” Adam asked with a smirk.
“Thomas…”
He lifted a brow. “The baby?”
“Oh, my God.”
She didn’t even care that Adam was basking in her concern. Her baby was kicking like hell. The coffee. Her baby was kicking and it was the first time she felt it as more than a flutter. Wonder spread through her, evicting her earlier anger. A smile she couldn’t suppress split her face in two, and then laughter bubbled from her lips.
Adam’s expression turned from enjoying her anguish to something darker.
“So,” he said in a cold tone, “what they say about caffeine is true.” He turned to Margaret. “No more coffee for her.”
Kat looked at him in confusion. “You just said your philosophy was different.”
“Angel, you’ll soon learn that everything I do, I do for a reason. You’ve just passed your first experiment.” He paused for the effect of his words to sink in. “I only needed to test the effect of caffeine on the baby.”
He was a cruel bastard. She’d never forget that.
Thomas settled again, the jabs inside her body quieting.
Adam got up. “By the way, his name won’t be Thomas. Godfrey’s got something different in mind.”
If his words were meant to upset her, he’d succeeded. He left the kitchen without as much as a backward glance, making a point of showing her how little her feelings mattered. She didn’t have an appetite for pancakes anymore. She pushed the plate away and took an apple from the fruit bowl instead.
Kat had promised herself she wouldn’t ask Adam for anything, but already by noon, she contemplated breaking that promise. She wanted a watch to know the time. There was no television or computer in the building on which she could see the time or date, at least not in the rooms she had access to. After lunch—a cooked meal served in the kitchen—she was bored. She’d walked the corridor up and down after Margaret had cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed. There was nowhere else she could wander.
By late afternoon, she even tried to draw the housekeeper into a conversation, but Margaret ignored her.
Adam returned what felt like hours later.
“Come,” he said when he entered her room, “time for the lab.”
His earlier ire was gone, but after his morning performance, she knew never to trust him. Adam was a first-class manipulator. She didn’t need a psychology degree to figure that out.
She got up from the bed where she was resting, and followed him to the end of the corridor. They stopped in front of one of the locked doors. Adam pushed his thumb on a fingerprint scanner to unlock the door, and ushered her into a medical consultation room.
He motioned to the bed. “Lie down here.”
She did as she was told while he opened another door at the end of the room with a similar scanner. The door clicked open to expose a dark hallway. The part she lived in was only a portion of a larger building that extended to the back. When Adam disappeared down the hallway, she lifted herself on her elbows to glimpse down the corridor, but she couldn’t see anything other than the darkness that stretched to the end.
A few seconds later, Adam manifested from the shadows with two people. From their build, she made out a man and a woman. The man, a head shorter than Adam, was limping. As they entered the light, she prevented herself just in time from gasping out loud.
A man with a deformed face entered the room. One side of his body seemed larger than the other, his left arm and leg longer. That explained the limp. He seemed to have no neck, his head connecting to his shoulders, and his skin was indented with crevices. One brown eye was drawn down and watery, while the other studied her with a crisp expression. His mouth drooped on one side. Thin, blond hair covered his scalp in uneven patches. Clutching a black notebook under his arm, he advanced slowly.
When he reached for her, she had a hard time to stay put, not certain what they had planned for her, but the man only took her hand and gave her a smile that made drool run down the side of his mouth.
“Nicolasj,” he said.
He spoke with difficulty, and it took her a moment to figure out what he’d said. Nicolas. His name was Nicolas.
“Kat,” she said, returning his handshake.
“I’m Gerda,” the woman said.
Kat turned her attention to the blond woman. She was short and delicate, and her accent sounded German.
> “Gerda is going to administer the treatment,” Adam said. “She’s a doctor, one of the best, so you needn’t worry.”
In contrast to this morning’s harsh deliverance, his soothing words confused her.
Gerda conducted all the checks Eve used to run while Nicolas seemed content to hover in the background, eagerly taking in Gerda’s actions. Kat wanted to ask what his role was, but after Adam’s warning that morning, she let it slide. She’d bide her time. In five months’ time, one could learn a lot.
Nicolas hobbled forward when Gerda took a vial from a refrigerator and filled a hypodermic needle. He took the needle and held it to the light. Whatever he’d checked, he seemed content, because he handed it back to Gerda.
“I’m going to inject you with an antiserum that will start preparing your body for the birth,” Gerda said.
Nervousness overcame Kat. “This has never been done before, right?”
Gerda gave a tight nod.
“So we don’t know if it’s going to work or not, or if it will have any ill effects on the baby.”
Gerda pursed her lips and glanced at Adam, but Nicolas stepped forward and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Looking closer, she noticed the self-assurance in his eyes. The message he gave her was one of confidence and hope. It was so unexpected that it immobilized her for a second, and Gerda made use of the moment to push the needle into her arm. Kat flinched. Nicolas stared at the emptying syringe with another emotion Kat could clearly identify. Pride.
“We’re done,” Adam said.
Kat looked between the three people. She itched to know how they connected to Godfrey, and what their relationship was to each other, but she kept her questions to herself and followed Adam back to her room. Once inside, he turned up the AC.
“How do you feel?” he asked with so much warmth she almost believed he cared.
“Vanessa said I could call home once a week,” she started uncertainly. She wanted to ask when she could speak to Lann.
“About that.”
His smile was grim, but she had a feeling it was all show.
“We’ve decided to change that allowance,” he said.
Aeromancist (SECOND EDITION): Art of Air (7 Forbidden Arts Book 3) Page 23