“It was an energy attack. We need to get her warm. Quickly, turn on the shower and bypass the gradual heat increase. We need it hot but not scalding,” Alec instructed.
Carl ran for the bathroom, and a second later, she heard the rush of water.
“Shh, it’s all right, love. It wasn’t real,” Alec promised and lifted her up.
Whatever it was, it wasn’t a dream. She hadn’t been able to escape the vision. It had pinned her down and forced the images and memories through her. The dark claws of all her fears continued to loom over her, threatening to push her back into that frozen black abyss. She whimpered and clung to Alec like he was a beacon in the storm.
“The water’s heated,” Carl called out as Alec carried her into the bathroom. “No one was in here, and we had guards posted at the door. How could this have happened?”
Alec didn’t answer Carl immediately. Instead, he continued to weave complex energy threads around Kayla. She eagerly consumed everything he offered as though she’d been starving. The more energy he sent to her, the more the surrounding shadows dimmed. It wasn’t enough. The hollowness inside her was consuming.
“Shh,” he murmured and brushed his lips against her ear. “I’ve got you, love. Just take what you need.”
Kayla couldn’t do anything else. She inhaled and tried to breathe in the very air that seemed charged with energy. Her tears had stopped, but she still couldn’t stop trembling. She leaned in closer, needing Alec’s warmth as much as the energy he offered. She’d never been so cold.
Alec shifted her and stepped into the shower with her still in his arms. Hot water pelted against them, but Alec didn’t release his hold on her. With the heated water on her skin and his energy warming her from within, the shadows feeding upon her slowly began to disperse.
Alec slid down against the wall until they reached the floor. He continued to cradle her in his lap while the water rained overhead. She buried her head against his chest. Footsteps approached from the bedroom, but she didn’t bother looking up. She heard Brant’s voice asking something, but it was too low to make out the words. Carl replied in low, strained tones, and then Brant’s voice grew louder.
“We’re conducting a search right now. Even if they used one of her belongings as a focus for the attack, they would have needed to be relatively close for it to work. If she’s that cold, it may be the work of someone channeling water.”
Alec lifted his head. “No. Someone attacked her using shadow energy. I don’t know how it’s possible, but this is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. I can push the shadows out the rest of the way, but I need to see if you can pick up on the energy signature first. I’ve gotten it under control enough so it’s not progressing, but she’s walking a thin line in this state.”
Was that what happened? She rubbed her cheek against Alec’s chest. He was right. The heat from the water and the warmth of his energy were beginning to take effect. She was still cold, but it was no longer numbing. Her fingers flexed, and she realized she was touching Alec’s bare skin. On some level, she was sure this would be a problem for Carl, but she couldn’t bring herself to pull away. Not yet. She was still so cold.
As though sensing her thoughts, Alec began rubbing her back in a soothing caress. “Don’t worry about that right now. Everything will be fine. Just breathe.”
Suddenly, a cool chill settled over her again. It penetrated her skin and into her bones. This one was slightly different, but the result was the same. Her breath caught in her throat as it drew her energy away. Kayla tried to shove away the darkness, but instead of retreating, it eagerly absorbed everything she had to offer and demanded more. It felt as though her very soul was being siphoned away. She began to shake as the cold darkness crept back in.
Alec shouted at Brant to stop, tilted her head back, and kissed her.
She gasped as his tongue swept inside her mouth, claiming her. It wasn’t one of the tender kisses they’d shared before, but one full of desperate passion. It felt as though Alec was breathing her soul back into her. Curling her fingers around his arm, she whimpered into his mouth. Energy flooded her senses, and the cold melted away from the heat of his kiss. He took his time exploring her mouth and tasting her. All the while, his energy poured into her, chasing away the shadows. His hands cupped her face and held her in place, obliterating every one of her senses with his touch.
When he finally pulled away and the flow of energy tapered off, Kayla was nearly drunk from the power he’d shared. Her body felt boneless, and her emotions were completely raw. She blinked up at him. Passion-filled blue eyes were gazing at her with unreserved adoration and love. The memory of their kiss now replaced any of the earlier haunting images she’d witnessed.
He brushed her wet hair away from her face and searched her expression. “I’m sorry, love. I didn’t know how else to stop it. Are you all right now?”
Kayla swallowed, feeling dazed. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be all right ever again, but she managed to nod. The water continued to beat down upon them, and Alec motioned for someone to shut it off. It cut off suddenly and the room fell silent, except for the sound of dripping water.
She noted with some surprise that her hands were pressed up against his well-defined, bare chest. Several droplets of water trailed downward, and she followed the riveting movement with her eyes. Although they’d shared a few intimate moments, she’d never seen him without a shirt. She bit down on her lower lip, unable to tear her eyes away from him but knowing she should.
Alec suddenly seemed to become aware of her undressed state as well. His gaze drifted downward, and he inhaled sharply. Starting to slide his hand up her thigh, he caught himself and stopped. He cursed under his breath and squeezed his eyes shut.
“Carl, you need to take her. Now.”
A moment later, strong arms wrapped a soft towel around Kayla and lifted her up and away from Alec. She looked up into Carl’s worried face, hating the fact she kept putting that look in his eyes. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her head against his chest, murmuring his name. He tightened his arms around her, clutching her even closer.
“Get her dry as quickly as possible. She needs to stay warm,” Alec instructed and pointed to the drying tube on the wall. “Don’t leave her again while she’s asleep. She’ll be fine if she’s awake, but without training, her natural defenses fall apart when she’s sleeping.”
Carl immediately carried her into the frosted-glass tube, not bothering to remove his clothes. He continued to hold her, his touch more gentle than usual, while the heated air caressed her skin. Once it was finished, he bundled her again in the towel and lifted her back in his arms. She didn’t object. He carried her over to the built-in bench and pulled her onto his lap. Kayla leaned into him and curled her fingers into his shirt. Carl brushed a kiss against her hair and looked up at Alec.
“Do you know what happened?”
Alec didn’t bother with the air dryer. Instead, he scrubbed himself with a towel and threw it across the room. It hit the wall with a loud thwap. He whirled around on Brant.
“You tell me. What the hell happened? I told you to check the energy signature and you start stealing her energy? Give me one good reason I shouldn’t have you taken into custody and your rank stripped right now.”
Brant lowered his head. “I’ll accept whatever action or punishment you see fit, Master Tal’Vayr.” He lifted his eyes to look at Kayla as though she were a puzzle he couldn’t solve. “I attempted to separate her from the energy threads to read the echo from her attacker. Instead of cutting off her connection using our normal techniques, I somehow absorbed her energy. It’s… I didn’t think it was possible. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Shadows normally negate energy, but she’s too closely entwined with it. It’s as though the energy is part of her. Instead of channeling it like other people, she’s an actual conduit.”
Alec frowned and glanced at her. “Are you suggesting Shadows can manipulate stolen spirit energy from Kayla?”
&
nbsp; Brant hesitated and then nodded. “I believe so. Even now, I can still sense her energy within me. I don’t know if I have the ability to use it though. I suspect the attacker wasn’t anticipating this result either. I don’t know his or her intentions, but if the person was using shadow energy, I doubt they would have expected what occurred.”
Alec fell silent for a moment and then approached Kayla. He knelt in front of her, his eyes full of concern. “Is that what it felt like to you? Can you tell us what happened?”
She sat up a little straighter, but Carl didn’t relinquish his hold on her. “I don’t know. I was sleeping, and the next thing I knew, I was trapped in this horrible dream. I knew I was asleep, but I couldn’t make myself wake up. It was almost like I was underwater. I could see the surface of the water, but I couldn’t break through. It kept pulling me down. The images got darker, and I kept getting colder.” She shivered at the memory.
Alec put his hand over hers and sent another slight pulse of warming energy through her. He glanced over at Brant. “You might be right. I sensed shadow energy, but it’s possible a water channeler was working in conjunction with a Shadow. The water channeler could have been feeding her images to distract her while the Shadow tried to disconnect her energy flow.”
Brant frowned. “So you’re thinking it was two separate individuals? Someone from the Inner Circle is working with a Shadow?”
Alec nodded. “I don’t see an alternative. As far as I know, no one from the Inner Circle could have stolen her energy. But a Shadow doesn’t have the capability to influence dreams. That’s a water talent.”
Carl pressed a kiss against her temple. “Brant mentioned something about a focusing object.”
“That’s a likely scenario,” Alec admitted and looked over at Brant. “They could have used an object with some sort of connection to Kayla as a marker to target their energy attack. Depending on the strength of their abilities and skill level, the focusing object could have been something as trivial as the clothing Kayla wore yesterday or a napkin she used at dinner. Anything with Kayla’s trace energy would have sufficed. In the meantime, get someone in here to search her room. It might be too late to try to pick up trace residue, but we need to figure out what was used to target her. It might give us another lead. Since she was asleep in her quarters, they wouldn’t have been able to get close enough to attack her without a focus.” He turned back to Kayla with a frown and ran his thumb over the top of her hand. Almost to himself, he mused, “They had to know I’d sense your distress and come for you.”
Brant nodded. “Yes. Unless their intention was to test the strength of your bond and your response time.”
A knock at the door interrupted them. Brant opened it a fraction. Kayla could only make out the barest hint of the OmniLab security uniform through the cracked door.
“I apologize for the interruption, but the only people we found in the corridor were Mistress Seara and another young woman. The young woman claims to have seen someone running from the hall. We have her in the next room, if you’d like to speak with her.”
“Yes.” Alec squeezed Kayla’s hand and stood. Addressing Carl, he added, “I’ll be back in a moment. Stay with her and keep her warm.” Without another word, he motioned for Brant to accompany him and they followed the guard out of the room.
Kayla shook her head. Nope. Not gonna happen. Although she was still a little shaky, she wanted some answers. Now that the chill was starting to wear off, a mantle of fury was beginning to set in. How dare those bastards use her memories against her? If someone was attacking her, it was time to go on the offensive. Whoever had decided to fuck with her had made a serious mistake. With the towel still wrapped around her, she tried to stand.
Her knees wobbled, and Carl stood, wrapping his arm around her waist to keep her from falling. He frowned, not bothering to hide his concerned expression.
“Sweetheart, maybe you should sit back down.”
Kayla shook her head, drawing on her anger to give her strength. With a deep breath to steady herself, she managed to pull herself up straight. “I can’t. I need to find out who’s responsible for this. I’m not just going to sit here and wait for them to attack me again. What happens if Alec isn’t around next time? I won’t let some zap-happy circle freaks use my memories against me. Those bastards are going down.”
He lifted her chin and tilted her head back. From the hard look in his eyes, she realized Carl’s anger was simmering just below the surface and ready to bubble over.
“I don’t blame you for being angry. I want to find those bastards just as much as you do, but you can’t do everything on your own. Dammit, Kayla, you could have died tonight. Again.”
He turned away and slammed his fist into the wall. She jumped involuntarily and gaped at the sizeable hole. Carl started to pace the bathroom, his radiating anger making the room seem much smaller.
“For fuck’s sake, Kayla. What the hell are you going to do? Go into the other room and interrogate some random stranger? You can barely stand on your own two feet.”
“If that’s what it takes,” she snapped. “I’ll do what needs to be done.”
He spun around to face her. “Why does it have to be you? Why can’t you trust someone else to handle things for once? You don’t trust Alec. You sure as hell don’t trust me. When does it end, Kayla?”
She pressed a hand against the wall to steady herself. If her legs gave out now, her argument would collapse too. “You’re one to talk, Carl. When we were in the Coalition camp, your first instinct was to tell me to run. You wanted to sacrifice yourself for me.”
“Because I love you, dammit!” he shouted.
“And you don’t think I feel the same way, you idiot? Have you thought that maybe this isn’t about trust, but instead I’m trying to protect the people I care about?”
“By dying?” Carl demanded, exasperation and frustration taking their toll on him. He shook his head and sighed. “If that’s the result, I’d rather you stop trying to protect everyone. Don’t you understand how much you mean to me? I can’t bear the thought of losing you.”
When she didn’t reply, he took a step toward her. Kayla instinctively started to pull back in reflex, but Carl refused to let her. Instead, he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and drew her even closer. His touch was firm but gentle. It was the naked fear in his eyes, though, that stopped her resistance.
“Kayla, sweetheart, I’ve never seen you like that. I won’t pretend to understand what happened with this energy attack. But the fact Alec and Brant don’t seem to understand what happened either scares the hell out of me. I’m terrified of you going off half-cocked and ending up hurt even worse. There’s too much we don’t know. I promised I would never force you to do anything against your will, and I’ll stand by you if that’s what you want, but I wish with everything in me that you’d give yourself a break. Leaning on someone else and trusting them to help doesn’t mean giving up control. You don’t have to do everything yourself. You have options.”
Options. Her entire body tensed at the memory of the last words Lars had uttered before he stabbed her. Kayla frowned and looked away, but her fingers curled around Carl’s wrist, holding him to her.
Did she really have options? Sometimes it felt as though she was just along for the ride. Even though she’d repeatedly convinced herself she was going to stay on the surface and not return to the towers, something kept happening to drive her back here.
Kayla had learned from an early age that every choice had consequences, both good and bad. What was happening now wasn’t a direct result of her choices; it was the ripple effect from those choices that seemed to be spiraling out of control. From the moment she’d stolen the Aurelia Data Cube to everything happening now, all the events surrounding her seemed to be interconnected.
Veridian used to talk about Fate guiding things. She’d always preferred to believe she was the one directing her own circumstances. But given everything that had happened, ma
ybe Veridian had a point. Carl, on the other hand, was claiming she had options and the power to make her own choices. She bit her lip, wondering if both of them could be right.
If so, when it came down to it, which one was more powerful—Fate or free will? How much control did Kayla really have over her own destiny?
The puzzle pieces were all around her—she just needed to understand how they all fit together. One thing was clear though: she wouldn’t figure out anything by lying around. She looked up into Carl’s brown eyes, her heart clenching at the frustration and worry in his expression. They might not share an energy bond, but the tension in his body language made it clear he was agonizing over the attack. Sometimes, she was amazed he had the patience to keep putting up with her. What she felt for this trader was deeper and more consuming than anything she’d ever known.
Fate had guided them toward each other for a reason. In so many ways, Carl was her balancing point. He’d been her unfailing support and guide as she traversed this strange new world around her. Alec was right when he admitted she needed Carl. Without him, Kayla wasn’t sure if she’d be as adept at bridging the chasm between the world on the surface and the strangeness of life within the towers.
A wave of love and gratitude rushed through her. With everything that had happened since they first met, Carl had always been there for her. He challenged her and protected her, but he also gave her the freedom and strength to stand on her own feet. Even now, she knew he wouldn’t stop her if she insisted on diving headfirst into an investigation. He might not be happy about it, but he’d continue to stand beside her in case she should fall.
Standing on her toes, Kayla brushed a soft kiss against Carl’s lips. When she pulled away, she let him see everything she was feeling. All her hope, passion, and adoration for this trader who had stolen her heart reflected in her eyes. His gaze softened as he looked down at her, understanding her wordless communication. She pressed her hands against his chest, feeling the warmth of his skin beneath his shirt and relishing the contact.
Tremors of the Past Page 5
