House of Silence (Poisoned Houses Book 3)

by Lyn Forester

  Reaching down, I grab his earlobe and twist hard.

  He lurches upright with a shout, the comforter falling to the floor.

  Across the room, Connor bolts upright while Nikola slips from his precarious perch on the edge of the bed to land on his hands and knees with a crash.

  Cupping the side of his head, Felix blinks down at me in confusion. “Why’d you do that?”

  Quickly, I pull my clothes back into place. “You were sleepwalking.”

  He glances to either side. “But I’m still in bed.”

  “Caitlyn, are you all right?” A hard edge fills Nikola’s voice as he rights himself, his focus fixed on Felix.

  Connor swings his legs out of bed and stands, worry and concern clear on his face.

  Felix glances from them back down to me. For the first time, he notices how he kneels between my legs and my fast motions to re-knot the drawstring on my sweats.

  He blanches. “Did I—”

  “It’s fine. You’re fine. We’re fine.” I sit up, rearranging my legs until I feel less exposed in front of the others. “You were having a bad dream.”

  He scratches the side of his head, further mussing his hair. “I don’t remember.”

  “We’re swapping beds,” Nikola growls as he rises and stalks to his side of the room. “I don’t trust you to keep your hands to yourself.”

  “Like fuck you’re climbing in with Sparks.” Felix throws an arm across my body to bar me from Nikola. “I don’t trust you not to take advantage.”

  Nikola moves closer to Felix, using his advantage to stare down at the other man. “You’ve just proven you can’t be trusted.”

  Felix juts his chin out, refusing to be intimidated. “I don’t know what happened.”

  “That’s even worse.” Nikola slashes a hand through the air. “You’re not in control of your own actions.”

  “No one is taking advantage of me,” I say, but they ignore me, too focused on glaring at each other.

  Resigned, I crawl behind Felix toward the foot of the bed. Too much arguing so soon after waking makes me grumpy. Nikola’s not exactly wrong, but I handled myself just fine. Felix stopped as soon as he was fully awake. What happened tonight doesn’t make me distrust sleeping next to him, but it does make me more aware of the circumstances I put us in.

  As Nikola pointed out before, Felix is used to having Declan around to...work off excess energy. Combined with the high emotions of the day, it’s no wonder Felix’s dreams took him down a dark path.

  The hard dresser presses against my knees as I scramble over it, and warm hands catch me on the other side. Calm slips through me, and I sigh with relief as Connor helps me to my feet.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I should have done better to warn you.”

  “You warned me to be careful.” I lean against his solid strength. “I just didn’t take your advice.”

  His cheek rests against the top of my head, arms a comfortable weight around my waist. “I thought he stopped having those dreams. Things were improving.”

  “Because he had Declan.” I rub my nose against Connor’s chest. “And I don’t think our arguing made things better.”

  “No,” he agrees. “I imagine it triggered his abandonment issues.”

  Pain knifes through me. “That’s my fault.”

  “No.” Connor pulls back to stare down at me. “You can’t take the blame for what happened in the past.”

  “But I knew and pushed, anyway.” My throat tightens around a hard lump. “How can this work? All of us together? Without Declan here, everything’s falling apart. And now Nikola...”

  Connor cups the back of my head. “You have to be firm in what you want. Be the strong woman you’ve shown yourself capable of being.”

  My breath catches. “Felix doesn’t like me being strong.”

  “Felix is stupid,” Felix says from right behind me.

  A moment later, his warm length presses to my back, bringing with it a rush of familiar electricity, and I relax between the twins.

  “I’m forever grateful you’re so damn forgiving.” Felix’s lips brush my temple. “I’m sorry, Sprinkles. I don’t know what I did in my sleep, but if I scared you, I’m so sorry. You can punch me, kick me, whatever you need to do to make yourself feel better.”

  “You didn’t scare me.” My voice comes out muffled against Connor’s chest. “I just didn’t want you doing anything against your will. I was more worried about what would happen when I woke you up. Sorry I twisted your ear.”

  Felix nuzzles in closer, his hands finding empty spaces not covered by Connor’s arms. “You’re sure I didn’t scare you?”

  I nod. “Not with what you were doing. You weren’t being violent. I just didn’t like you not being aware. Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?”

  “I’d rather talk about what, exactly, I was doing.” Teasing, he fiddles with the hem of my shirt. “Because I had such a delightful flavor on my ton—”

  “Enough.” My elbow in his ribs cuts him off, and he stumbles back with a grunt of pain. It’s fine if he wants to use humor to deflect away from his inner demons, but not at the cost of my dignity.

  “If you three are done with your huddle,” Nikola calls from the other side of the room. “I think I can offer some enlightenment on who Rim Jumper is and what this map means.”

  Rim Jumper

  We break apart to find Nikola sitting at his desk, my folding-port open in front of him.

  Ignoring the invasion of privacy for the moment, I abandon the twins to join Nikola. The racer forum is open on the screen, the messages from Rim Jumper pulled up with the map in the lower half.

  I grip the back of his chair. “You know what all this means?”

  “Yes.” He reaches back to catch my hand and pull me to stand alongside him. “And why Rim Jumper would tell you to trust me.”

  As Felix and Connor clump in behind Nikola, Felix snaps, “That is most definitely not what this Rim Jumper asshole said.”

  One side of Nikola’s mouth tilts up. “Asshole indeed.”

  “What do you know?” Connor demands before the other two start arguing again.

  “While you guys were busy, I looked into the registration for Rim Jumper’s profile. It seemed odd a new fan would show up so long after Sparks stopped racing.” He taps the screen to open a black window with green text on it. “As you can see, it’s the same registration used a year ago to open an account for Blaze, your old racing buddy.”

  Felix’s eyes widen in shock. “Wait, Declan is Rim Jumper?”

  Nikola nods, pointing to a string of numbers on the screen that mean nothing to me. “I’m guessing he hoped Caitlyn would connect the dots since she knew of his plans to city-jump as soon as he’s old enough.”

  “Wait, he what?” Felix grabs the back of Nikola’s chair. “You’re lying. He wouldn’t do that.”

  Nikola twists to stare up at Felix, clearly surprised. “He never told you? He hasn’t exactly been stealthy in his plans. He has credits hidden away on Roen, but they’re easy enough to link back to the Arrington fortune. I’m sure his brother is aware of his plans, too.”

  Felix’s knuckles turn white as he grips the chair. “He wouldn’t leave without telling me!”

  “Felix, listen.” I reach out to grasp his arm, rock hard with tension. “Think about the alternative. If he stays, he’s under that horrible contract with his family.”

  Felix flinches away from me. “You knew?” He swings around to stare at his brother. “What about you? Was I the only one he didn’t tell?”

  “I didn’t know until recently.” Connor avoids looking at me. “But I suspected he might run.”

  “I told him we’d figure out a way around the contract.” Felix’s hands open and close into fists. “Am I so unreliable that he couldn’t let me in on this?”

  I reach for him once more. “Felix...”

  He jerks out of reach. “Don’t. I can’t... Just don’t right now, okay?�
�� His attention shifts to Nikola. “So why would Dec tell Caitlyn to trust you? I doubt he likes the idea of you being near her any more than Connor and I do.”

  “I’m sure you’re right, but he’s a politician at heart and understands utilizing the tools within his grasp.” Nikola turns back to the folding-port and enlarges the map. “This is old. Prior to the school’s expansion.” He points to the rectangle that represents the Entertainment Hall. “At this point, the theater didn’t exist. They built out the back to provide added luxury.”

  He glances at me. “The Lonette House sponsored it during your father’s time here. But the maps weren’t updated. The school didn’t think it was prudent for people to easily discover the location of this.” He points to the highlighted square, tiny in comparison until he zooms in.

  “What is that?” Connor asks while Felix remains silent, his arms folded over his chest as he stands at arm’s length from the rest of us.

  “It’s a way out of the school. An escape hatch in case of emergency.” Nikola drums his fingers on the desk. “I believe Declan is asking you to come to him. And the only reason I can surmise he would take this risk is because he’s in danger.”

  Felix unfolds. “What kind of danger?”

  Nikola shrugs. “I have no idea.”

  “I find that hard to believe,” Felix sneers. “You seem to know so much about everything else.”

  Nikola turns and stands in one smooth motion. “It’s my job to know anything that might affect Caitlyn or the Lonette family. Yes, that means looking into each of your pasts. I needed to know if you were using her station to increase your future standing in the council. I’m still not entirely convinced that’s not the case. Caitlyn trusts you, and if you break that trust, I will do everything within my power to bring down House Williams and House Arrington. But I am not omniscient. As far as your friend Declan is concerned, all I know is that the last person to go into House Arrington was a Rothven clan physician, and the rumors say his brother is sick.”

  “That’s not new information.” Felix’s arms fold back over his chest. “His brother’s never been healthy.”

  Nikola shakes his head. “It’s been too long this time. If another announcement isn’t released soon, the Halls of Justice will send someone in to investigate. The fact that Declan has been trying to reach out and has given a way out of the school that few know about points to desperation.” His eyes narrow on Felix. “Which you could have surmised yourself if you weren’t letting emotions get the better of you.”

  “Well, excuse me for not living up to the Lonette expectation of cold-heartedness,” he snaps, then his eyes jump to me. “Wait, I didn’t mean—”

  I slash a hand through the air. “It’s fine.”

  Later, I can dwell on the hurt the comment brings. Right now, we have bigger problems. I move Nikola out of the way and settle into the chair to pull up the message queue.

  My fingers rise to the keyboard, but I pause. “Nikola, do you know where the access panel is?”

  His arm settles over the back of the chair. “Yes.”

  “What kind of security are we talking about?”

  His thumb brushes my shoulder. “Nothing I can’t get through.”

  “You’re sure?” Connor wedges in on my other side, his thigh pressing against mine with his nearness. “Shouldn’t you look at it first?”

  “I’m confident I can open it, but you’ll need to prepare before you can go in.”

  I glance up at him. “You’re not coming with us?”

  “I appreciate the trust you’re showing me right now in expecting me to go.” As he gazes down at me, his fingers lift to caress the school-issued band around my wrist. “But someone has to stay behind and wear the other’s identifiers. They track your location. They’ll know you left the school, and if you simply take them off, they’ll alert security that your heartbeat stopped.”

  “Freaking digital babysitter,” Felix growls.

  Nikola’s eyes flick up to the other man. “You’ll need breathing masks, too. Rim Jumper wasn’t wrong when he said this trek will take your breath away. There’s also the risk of running into maintenance workers. And the exits will be guarded. This isn’t an easy jaunt your friend requests. This puts whoever goes at risk.”

  I turn back to the folding-port. “Good thing we all like risk.”

  My fingers fly over the keys. Rim Jumper. What time do we race?

  Everyone holds their breath, attention fixed on the screen.

  Along the sidebar, conversations of other forum members bounce along, the time a non-issue for those used to racing or attending races during Lights-Out. I check the clock on the screen, which tells me we still have thirty minutes before the lights turn back on in the levels below us.

  I check the time stamps on Rim Jumper’s messages. They either came in during Star-Light, when city functions would be at an end, or at 1300, smack in the middle of luncheon for the social elite.

  Reaching out, I close the folding-port and stuff it back into my satchel. “If Rim Jumper really is Declan, he’s most likely sleeping right now.”

  Connor’s knee bumps against my thigh. “If he’s on house arrest, I doubt he’s keeping his schedule aligned with business hours.”

  “He’ll still need to correspond at regular times to keep up appearances while acting as secretary.” Nikola moves back to Garrett’s old bed and sits with a tired sigh. “If they’re drawing in on themselves, they wouldn’t have called back Councilor Arrington’s acting-Secretary, which leaves the burden of fielding questions to Declan.”

  “But someone’s there stopping us from getting through.” Felix paces back and forth in the limited space between the two beds. “Both Connor and I have tried reaching out to him officially, and Declan wasn’t the one who took our calls and told us to piss off.”

  “No, that would have been...” Nikola leans forward to rub his temples. “Brooklyn. Or David. Possibly Henry if he’s trying to pass off his newest pet as an employee.”

  I remember the questionably-of-age young man Dominick’s wife, Ashley, pointed out to me at the party. I’m not surprised she would allow her husband’s paramour into the house with the way she spoke so derisively about him. A distracted and satisfied husband wouldn’t look at her own partners that hard.

  Felix stops to stare at him in surprise. “Did they mod your brain in the embryo, too? How do you remember all the staff at House Arrington?”

  “Not all the staff, just those closest to Dominick who could influence his decisions.”

  The response surprises me, though it shouldn’t. Nikola’s a veritable wealth of untapped information. If he didn’t have his eye on House Lonette, he could have his pick of employers. The position of secretary feels like a waste of his talent.

  Felix’s hands move to his hips as he stands in front of Nikola, his feet a shoulder’s width apart. “Who supports Councilor Williams right now?”

  Straightening, Nikola rolls his eyes at the question. “I’m not getting into a pissing contest right now.”

  “Who’s pissing?” Felix glances over his shoulder to Connor. “You pissing, bro?”

  “Nope.”

  His green gaze jumps to me. “Sparks?”

  I wave a hand to move his attention along. “Don’t bring me into this.”

  Felix twists back to face Nikola once more. “No one’s pissing. I want to know how much info your brain holds.”

  “I’m not here to play parlor tricks for you,” Nikola snaps. “If you read the dossiers I have, you’d know the same information.”

  “Not off the top of my head!”

  Nikola’s brow arches. “Really?”

  “Well, maybe,” Felix concedes. “But unlike you, who apparently has no life, I have better things to do.”

  Nikola leans to one side to see around Felix. “You should reconsider your secretary, demi-Councilor Williams.”

  “It was Henry who took my call,” Connor offers instead of responding directly to
Nikola’s suggestion. “I thought it odd for someone of House Navicki to gain an internship at House Arrington.”

  House Navicki sits twelfth in the High Council, virtually at the bottom. It would be quite the coup to intern with Declan’s brother, who sits fifth council seat.

  Felix blanches. “Wait, isn’t the Navicki heir in high school?”

  Nikola snorts with disgust. “He’s one of Dominick’s younger paramours, but still legal. Young Henry has quite the drive to raise his House’s standing when he takes the seat.”

  “That’s disgusting.” Felix scrubs a hand over his mouth. “Dec’s brother is ten years older than him!”

  “Henry’s only a year younger than you,” Nikola points out. “How many beds did you warm before coming here?”

  “I feel like you want me to punch you.” Felix’s hands curl at his sides. “Are you sure Garrett was abusing you and you didn’t actually ask for it?”

  “Enough!” Annoyed by their bickering and the darkness it spreads over the room, I thrust to my feet, slinging the strap of my satchel over my shoulder. “I’m going back to my room to get ready for class. If you all want to fight to see who comes out on top, do it while I’m not around.”

  “Uh, Sparks—”

  “I don’t want to hear it.” I stomp toward the door. “If you can’t get along, that’s fine, but this is just exhausting to be around.”

  The bed creaks as Nikola stands. “But, Caitlyn—”

  I spin back to glare at him, and he freezes mid-step. “A good secretary should be able to not needle my friends.”

  Nikola rocks back on his heel. “Either I’m here as your secretary or as your equal, you can’t have it both ways.”

  “Then act like my friend and not like a sky skipper guarding a particularly tasty power cell.” I stomp back to jab a finger against his chest. “If you want to be my equal, realize you also have to get along with Connor, Felix, and Declan once we reach him. We’re a package deal.”

  Felix gives Nikola a smug smile. “Damn straight we are.”

  I whirl on him, finger still out, and Felix stumbles back a step. “And you. Nikola is a part of my life. He’s not going anywhere. So, the same goes for you.”