Shadow of the Coalition

by Jamie A. Waters

  “I need you to trust me and play along. This reporter could be a problem.”

  Kayla paused and cocked her head. Something was going on that she didn’t understand. She turned to assess the unfamiliar woman again. Leah was sitting close enough to Carl that another inch or two would put her in his lap. The woman was practically rubbing up against him like an animal in heat. The whole scene was beginning to feel a little surreal and a whole lot wrong.

  “Oh, yes. I’d absolutely love to do a feature about you two,” Leah declared and gave them a brilliant smile. Her teeth seemed a little too white. Now that Kayla thought about it, her nose was a little crooked too. Maybe someone had broken it once. Although, that could just be wishful thinking. Her eyes were definitely asymmetrical though.

  Unperturbed by Kayla’s scrutiny, Leah chattered on. “I’ve been trying for weeks to get your assistant to set up an interview with you, Master Tal’Vayr. I know you must be busy, but the public is dying to know more about your relationship with Mistress Rath’Varein.”

  Leah put her hand back on Carl’s arm and purred, “Honey, you should have told me you knew Master Tal’Vayr and Mistress Rath’Varein personally. I never thought in a million years I’d be having breakfast with the leader of the High Council and his fiancée.”

  “Right,” Carl muttered and took a sip from his drink.

  Honey? Kayla’s fists clenched under the table and her nails bit into her palms. Watching the intimate way Leah was touching and looking at Carl was excruciating. The urge to reach across the table and backhand the woman was becoming more and more attractive. She fumed silently, knowing she had no right to be jealous, especially considering what happened earlier between her and Alec.

  A server came over to the table, and Alec ordered a cup of herbal tea for both himself and Kayla. She ignored the menu. Her appetite had fled the moment the woman started making bedroom eyes at Carl.

  “I have to say, your story is one of the most romantic I’ve ever heard,” Leah gushed. “Imagine living on the surface for all those years and then having Master Tal’Vayr find you and sweep you off your feet. I was practically in tears when I heard you two were engaged to be married. Was it really love at first sight?”

  Carl choked on his drink. “Leah, I don’t think they really want to discuss their personal lives with a reporter.”

  “That’s all right, Carl,” Alec said magnanimously, waving off Carl’s objections. “I know many people are curious about our relationship.” He made a show of looking around before leaning forward in a conspiratorial manner. “I knew there was something special about Kayla the moment we met. Her beauty, charm, and wit captivated me completely. I’ve been entranced by her ever since.”

  Alec lifted Kayla’s hand and pressed a kiss on the back of her hand. Kayla gaped at him, dumbfounded by his solicitous behavior. Carl clenched his jaw in anger and struggled to appear impassive. The server took that moment to reappear and placed two steaming cups of tea in front of Alec and Kayla. She wondered at the wisdom of placing hot beverages on a table of occupants about to erupt into a knock-down, drag-out fight. Regardless of Alec’s assurances, this was starting to look really bad.

  “Would you like me to order for you, my love?”

  Kayla blinked at Alec and barely managed a nod. He placed her order and took a sip of his tea. Once the server had disappeared, Leah leaned forward, eager to resume their conversation.

  “Is it true you saved Mistress Rath’Varein’s life at the council meeting?”

  Alec’s expression remained neutral, but Kayla sensed his emotional turmoil at the reminder of the council meeting. He was still coping with the death of his father. Concerned for him, Kayla opened her mouth to tell the woman exactly where to stick her nosy questions.

  Alec quickly cleared his throat and put his hand on top of hers to stop her. “It was a difficult time for both of us. I’d rather not discuss it.”

  “Oh. Of course.” Leah nodded in sympathy, but her eyes gleamed with the juicy tidbit of information.

  Kayla’s eyes narrowed. The amount of polite niceties being exchanged to cover the steaming piles of shit at the table was absurd. And if that woman didn’t stop stroking Carl’s arm, she was going to end up reaching across the table and bitch-slapping her.

  Alec squeezed her hand. Whether it was an attempt at reassurance or to keep her hand pinned so she didn’t make good on her intentions, she wasn’t sure.

  “Most of the information about the council meeting is public record. You can retrieve the details from the archives. As far as my personal feelings are concerned, let’s just say there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her. Having Kayla in my life has been the greatest gift I could ever imagine, and I look forward to our future together.”

  Carl’s expression was thunderous at the declaration.

  “That’s enough,” Kayla told Alec silently, observing Carl’s reaction. ”I know she’s a reporter and you’re trying to maintain an illusion, but you’re being cruel.”

  “How romantic,” Leah sighed dreamily and fanned herself.

  Alec took another sip of his tea. “He should have considered the consequences before agreeing to meet with a reporter.”

  Realization dawned. Alec had obviously known Carl was meeting with a reporter. That was the reason he had abandoned his other appointments to escort her to the café. He’d wanted to make sure he could direct the conversation.

  Unaware of their silent communication, Leah leaned against Carl and looked up at him. “It was love at first sight for us, wasn’t it, honey?”

  “Is that so?” Alec raised an eyebrow and lowered his cup. “How fascinating. I had no idea Carl had a love interest here in the towers.”

  Kayla jerked her head up and looked at Carl in confusion. With those few words, her entire world shifted and all the blood rushed out of her face.

  “What?” Her voice came out as a squeak.

  “Oh, definitely,” the woman chattered on, oblivious to the growing tension at the table. “Of course, we were teenagers when we first met, so it was probably more like lust. But either way, I haven’t been able to keep my hands off him since the moment we first met.”

  Carl gave Leah a sharp look. “We were kids and ended things when I left.”

  The server took that moment to place a plate of pastries in front of Kayla. She eyed the plate distastefully, more tempted to throw it at the dark-haired vixen than eat anything.

  “So you’ve known each other for a while?” Alec asked casually.

  “Oh, we go way back.” Leah ran her hand up Carl’s chest playfully. “We were a pretty hot item before he left for the surface. Weren’t we, honey?”

  Carl gently removed her hand. He focused solely on Kayla as he explained, “Leah and I met during our classes at the Institute. We dated a couple years ago before I was commissioned as a trader. I ran into her this morning, and we decided to have breakfast to catch up.”

  “Uh huh,” Kayla murmured, pretending to be interested in examining the contents of her plate. Her gaze fell on the utensils, and she wondered how well they’d work as a weaponized projectile. That bitch was going down.

  Alec reached over and casually moved the utensils out of reach. Kayla scowled at him and inwardly pouted at his attempts to curtail her bloodthirsty ambitions.

  Leah leaned up against Carl, kissed his cheek, and teased, “I’m just biding my time until his contract is up and he comes back home to me. I’m not planning on letting him get away again.”

  Carl stiffened. “We can talk about it later.”

  Irritated with the whole situation and no longer willing to play this game, Kayla pushed away her untouched plate and stood. “Alec, I don’t think I’m hungry after all. We should be getting back. You had all those things to handle this morning anyway.”

  “Of course, my dear,” Alec stood and offered a polite smile to Carl and Leah. He put his arm around Kayla to lead her away, but before he could take a step, Carl jumped to his feet. />
  “Kayla, wait,” Carl urged. He glanced down at Leah and added, “I’d like to speak with you about the samples from the lab.”

  Alec raised an eyebrow. “My fiancée wishes to return to the Inner Sanctum, Trader Carl. I’ll have my assistant forward a copy of the results to you.”

  Carl ignored Alec, his worried gaze urging Kayla to listen to him. She hesitated and then nodded. “It’s all right, Alec. After all, it’s why we came here in the first place.”

  “Excuse me for a moment,” Carl said absently to Leah. Stepping around the reporter, he followed Alec and Kayla into a back hallway near the restrooms.

  Brant motioned toward an empty office. “I’ll hold this room secure until you’re finished.”

  Once the door shut behind them, Carl began, “This isn’t what it looks like.”

  “What isn’t?” Alec asked coolly and stepped around some stacked boxes. “That you’re conversing with a reporter who could potentially put Kayla in danger? If you make one comment or slip, Kayla could become a target. We discussed this exact type of thing. I was under the impression you had Kayla’s best interest at heart. Obviously, that assumption was incorrect.”

  Carl’s gaze hardened. “I’d never put her in danger.” He turned to Kayla, and his eyes softened. “I ran into Leah on my way to my parents’ place. I haven’t seen her in over a year and she wanted to catch up. I didn’t want to take her back to my parents’ quarters because that would be asking for trouble. She can be persistent. I offered to take her to breakfast, chat for a bit, and then I was planning on leaving. I had no idea she’d become a journalist until after we sat down.”

  Confused, Kayla looked up at Alec. “What do you mean? Why would meeting with her put me in danger? I thought you were the one in trouble.”

  “Not exactly,” Alec admitted with a sigh. “Seara told me she’d shared some of the growing troubles in the tower. Your mother is more perceptive than I realized. Unfortunately, it’s true. There have been some recent threats against me. More recently, we’ve learned some specifics and tower security believes you’re a potential target. Our engagement was originally meant to offer you some protection and show the towers our families were united. That’s even more imperative now with these threats. It’s well known in the Inner Circle that a bonded mate is sacrosanct. Any attack on you would also be construed as an attack against me and the towers. If this reporter suspects our relationship is anything other than what it seems, you could be in considerable danger.”

  Kayla frowned. Alec’s explanation gave even more weight to Seara’s words from the night before. She wasn’t as concerned about herself, but the thought of Alec being in danger worried her. She may not fully understand the depth of her feelings for Alec, but she didn’t want to risk anything happening to him either. “Okay, so what’s your plan to stop this?”

  “Ideally, Carl should leave and return to the trader camp,” Alec suggested. “If you remain here with me, it’ll give more credibility to our announcement. You’ll have the opportunity to train and learn how to use your talents to protect yourself. You can still oversee the river evaluation, but you’ll also be able to work with designers to discuss your idea to build another tower.”

  Carl scoffed and pushed away from the wall. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You’d do just about anything to get me out of the picture. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were responsible for this whole setup today with Leah.”

  Alec raised an eyebrow at the accusation but didn’t respond. Carl’s eyes narrowed. “That’s it, isn’t it? The whole scene out there was another ploy to manipulate Kayla into what? Making her jealous? Making her think I’d put her in danger by meeting with a reporter?” Carl took another step toward Alec. “Did you get off on putting your hands all over her in front of me? That whole charade came dangerously close to backfiring on you just now. Or is that your new goal? Push us so far to force the truth out so you can jump in and play hero again?”

  “That’s enough,” Kayla announced, pushing against Carl’s chest to stop him from advancing on Alec. She had her doubts about Alec knowing, especially given that he’d suddenly changed his mind about bringing her down here, but she didn’t think he’d go so far to actually orchestrate the whole thing. “It was my idea to come find you this morning. Alec put aside his work to bring me down here to find you. He’s been trying to help and protect me through all of this. You’re not being fair.”

  “Nothing about this situation is fair, Kayla,” Carl said in a low voice, his eyes flashing dangerously. “Leah asked me if I was seeing anyone, and I couldn’t tell her the truth. Then I’m supposed to sit back and not say anything while everyone in the towers believes you and Alec are engaged to be married? To top it off, Alec is giving you these elaborate presents and going out of his way to try to win you over. And with that energy connection thing, it’s probably just a matter of time before he actually does it. So no, Kayla, it’s not fair. But there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it.”

  Kayla froze in shock at Carl’s words. She hadn’t realized the depth of his feelings about the situation. Turning to look at Alec, she asked in a shaky voice, “Can you give us a minute?” Alec hesitated, clearly unhappy with the request but finally nodded in agreement.

  Once he’d left the room, Kayla looked up at Carl and whispered, “What are you saying?”

  “I don’t know how long I can do this, Kayla,” he said in frustration and rubbed his hands over his face. “You’ve seen the way people look at you and treat you here. You’re part of the Inner Circle and that’s a world I’ll never belong in. Every damn person I’ve talked to in these towers has been carrying on about the fairy tale of Kayla Rath’Varein. The princess from the towers has returned, and Alec’s a damn savior for bringing you back. And maybe they’re right. I know better than most what it was like for you growing up as a ruin rat. You deserve the type of life he can give you and I can’t.”

  Her heart thudded at his words, and she felt a sick, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. “How can you say that? You know that’s not what I want.”

  Carl’s face was pained. “If I took you outside right now, put my hands on you, and declared my feelings for you, I’d be arrested on site. Those security officers would assume I was trying to accost the High Council leader’s fiancée. You can’t ask me to sit by and pretend everything is fine when Alec has you on his arm like some sort of trophy. I love you, but I can’t do that. I was a fool for thinking I could.”

  Kayla felt something within her break at his words. As much as she loved him, she could never put Alec’s life or anyone else’s life in danger just to appease Carl’s jealousy. After everything they’d been through, how could he not realize the depth of her feelings for him? She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry as she wondered whether she was asking too much from him. If this situation were reversed, she’d be furious and wouldn’t have put up with it at all. Anguish threatened to consume her at the thought that she needed to make a choice between him and someone else’s life.

  Unwilling to succumb to the jagged edge of despair and hopelessness his words evoked, Kayla struggled to bury her more vulnerable feelings and harness her fury and outrage instead. She couldn’t afford to allow his words to break her or feel any doubt about her decision to protect Alec. The desperation and hurt might threaten to tear her apart, but focusing on her anger would offer enough strength to carry on in the face of her pain.

  “No, Carl. You’re only a fool for thinking I’m something I’m not. I’m not and never will be a trophy. No matter how they dress me up or what they call me, I’ll always be a ruin rat. I’ll never stop looking at a piece of jewelry and seeing my camp’s next meal. I’ll never stop looking at a security system and trying to figure out how to circumvent it. I’ll never stop trying to figure out how to stay one step ahead of everyone else just so I can keep everyone I care about alive. Because, at the end of the day, that’s what this whole charade with Alec is about.”

  �
��Then put an end to the charade, Kayla,” Carl argued and took a step toward her. “Alec’s a big boy. He can take care of himself. Stop living with one foot in both worlds. If you want to live on the surface, do it. If you want to stay here with Alec, own up to it. Don’t use the damned bond as an excuse. You’re stronger than that.”

  Kayla reared back as though he’d slapped her.

  “You self-righteous bastard,” she hissed and shoved him away from her. Hard. “You don’t know anything about it. You have no idea what it’s like to lose yourself to this power. It’s an addiction. It’s consuming. Your will disappears and you become this other… thing. A monster. You lose all control, but it’s not you… It’s not…”

  Her voiced cracked as her eyes welled with tears. Carl’s eyes widened, and he took another step toward her. “Shit. Kayla, I didn’t mean—”

  “No.” She took a step backward, not bothering to hide the angry bitterness in her words. “I believed in you, Carl. I thought you understood how I felt about you. I was wrong, and that’s on me, but you’re wrong about something too. I don’t belong here. I never have. When I look around at the people in these towers, I see nothing but shallow people who are obsessed with clothing, gossip, and politics. They have no concept of what life is really like.”

  Her eyes burned from the tears threatening to spill over onto her cheeks. “You’ve seen the ruin rat camps, but you haven’t seen the outlying family camps. They’re a thousand times worse. The only reason Veridian and I weren’t shipped to one of those camps when we were kids was because I agreed to take risks other people weren’t willing to take. You think I’m a good scavenger? It’s because I didn’t have a fucking choice. I went nose-to-nose with the traders because no one else would. My life, Veridian’s life, everyone in that damn camp… they were counting on me to do what needed to be done. No one else had the balls to stand up to any of you. And what did that get me?”