“Seriously? Who else has tried to kill you?”
“Okay, the hedges were sort of my own fault,” I admit.
“And has anyone else tried to hurt you here?”
“No. But the Shaurok …”
“Cannot be blamed on me.”
“Not specifically, but whoever created that dang necklace.”
“It was not my people who did that.”
“Oh.” He’s shut me down. “I guess I never expected some flame haired bitch to attack me. I’m a little freaked.”
“As you should be.”
“Sabin,” Edge interrupts, “what can we do to help?”
“I want all security points double checked here and all scanners updated. Install a no entry for Ali’yah. And then I want a search to commence for her. I also want any record pulled up of her entry here and what she did to Serena. I’m going back to the Council with the findings.”
The men leave. Sabin settles on the side of the bed, resting his arms on his thighs. “I’ve been a terrible protector. First, the hedges, and now, this. You were supposed to be safer here than on Earth, but I find you near death twice now. It’s time to assign you a guardian. I can’t be here with you at all times. When I’m gone with The Seven, I can’t be distracted from what our duties are.”
“Tell me about this woman who tried to harm me. You say she is your ex-wife? I thought your kind didn’t marry. Why haven’t you mentioned her before?”
He slices his hand through the air and I feel his temper rise again. “She is nothing but a … I meant to tell you, but …” he stops and his onyx irises connect with mine. His lids lower for a second, then he’s back and his anger is gone, replaced by what? Sadness? Grief? It’s an expression I’ve never seen him wear.
I am done with his reticence. Sitting up, though my head throbs and my body revolts in pain, I say in a tone that allows no argument. “Tell me, Sabin. She physically hurt me. You owe me that much.”
He nods abruptly and clips, “Ali’yah is a viper. She was unfaithful countless times during the years we were together. But worse, I suspect she may have been involved in the death of my family.”
His words appall me. “Years we were together.” “Involved in the death of my family.” What kind of woman is she? His back faces me and that won’t do. Scooting to the side of the bed, I reach for his arm and tug so he turns toward me. His features are a mask of pain.
“What makes you think this?”
“After Tuara was murdered …”
“Who’s Tuara?”
“My sister. After she was killed, Ali’yah, never acted sorry, shocked, or even the least bit sad. We were still together then. Tuara’s death ripped me apart so I didn’t pay much attention to it. Then my brother informs me he saw Ali’yah with another man. She denied it but when I told her Turen saw her, she became bold about it, even flaunted it.”
“I take it Turen is your brother?”
“Was my brother. After that confrontation, I told her to leave. It was only weeks later that Turen was found dead. At the time, I suspected it had something to do with Tuara’s murder. They were twins, my brother and sister. But then, not long after that, my parents were killed in a suspicious accident. The watercraft they were on exploded in flames. That’s when I knew all the deaths were related. It wasn’t hard to piece it all together and I figured I was next in line. Ali’yah’s reactions to everything were off. Something wasn’t right. But I was up against the Council and she was a member. The Council was unwilling to listen to my complaints. They believed Tuara was murdered because she was a member of the Guards of Paradox. My brother’s death was a matter of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As for my parents’, they said their watercraft malfunctioned and no evidence could be found to support my claim.
“That’s when I approached Rafe because we’d been friends for a long time. I told him my plans and asked if he would be interested. The idea that the Nyan’truans couldn’t keep Judgment Day or Paradox safe and that my sister and possibly my entire family died because of it, showed me I needed to act. My proposal was form a group that would dedicate itself to preventing this from occurring again. Rafe was in. Now I needed to get the Council’s blessing. They refused.”
His disclosure staggers me but allows me to see why he is so steely at times. My brain fires with a million things. I want to comfort this man, but will he accept it? It’s ludicrous that this Council was so unyielding toward the whole situation. But right now I am torn. Should I sit here like an idiot or do the thing I would want him to do?
Hell with it. My decision made, I extend my hand until it touches his cheek. At first he is startled. He hasn’t noticed that I’ve moved from behind him on the bed. When he leans into my hand I know I’ve done the right thing. Then he jerks me so fast I topple forward, but he doesn’t let me fall. I end up on his lap, facing him, and he nuzzles my neck. He’s silent; I only feel his breath against me. My hands sink into his hair and I hold him close, not saying anything. This is his moment, so I let him be. Intuition tells me he needs this … this closeness and that he hasn’t shared this with anyone either, other than The Seven.
After several deep inhales, he pulls away and his eyes seek out mine. What he says next unravels me from my soul to my heart. “I have a confession to make. I was here when The Seven notified me they located Judgment Day. When I first saw you, I was masked and sitting on your sofa. You came in, sniffed the air, and kept moving. I looked at you and thought I was looking at heaven. You were magnificent. When you went into your bedroom and took your clothes off, I had never seen anything so perfect. Your eyes reminded me of a stormy sea, they were so green. I wanted to fuck you like I’d never wanted anything in my life. When your hands landed on me while I was still masked, it took almost more effort than I possessed not to wrap my hands in your hair and taste your mouth with my tongue. My intentions toward you were … let me put it to you this way. If some man had thoughts of my sister similar to the ones I had of you, I would’ve put my fist through his face.”
A deep attraction exists between us, but I didn’t know he’d felt this way. He’d hidden this quite well. “I didn’t …”
He cuts me off. “I’m not finished.” His fingers weave into my hair and he twists them around in it. “Ali’yah never lived in this house. We lived elsewhere when we were together. I want you to know that. This was the home I was raised in, grew up in. It was my parents’ and theirs before them. My brother was the oldest. It was to have been his by rights. But after his death, and after my sister’s, everything reverted to me. That’s another reason why I believe Ali’yah had her hands in this somehow. She was greedy. Wanted more. She went after my brother before me, but he was involved with someone at the time. I was stupid, naive, and fell for her. But Serena, she means nothing to me, other than someone I want banished. In the best of times, our relationship was far below average. I’ll spare you the details, but believe me when I tell you I am much happier without her in my life.”
The way he says it makes me believe him. There is no doubt he has no love for that woman. “So what happens to Allya?” I ask.
“I need the Council’s stamp of approval. Well, I don’t really, but it’s good to have it though I have enough authority on my name alone to act.”
When he says that it triggers something in my mind. “So how exactly did The Seven start if your Council said no?”
“I undermined their authority by going to one of my father’s closest friends and allies who was also from an established sovereign house. He gathered a group of his associates together and they overruled the Council’s decision, forcing the Council to agree to it. We thought everything was great until it was decided that the Council would spearhead the whole thing and The League was formed. The League is The Seven’s ruling body. They are better than the Council because they are more military minded and understand what happens during missions, but they are in alliance with the Council, so oftentimes their decision making is clou
ded by those idiots. I’m sure you can understand our frustration. We’d like to add more manpower, not to the original Seven, but to supplement some of our activity in house, and they continually refuse our requests. We’ve asked them to accompany us, only for them to see the increasing numbers of Shaurok, but they refuse.”
“It sounds like they don’t want you to find Judgment Day.”
“Doesn’t it, though? We’ve often said that. What makes me know that’s wrong is we’ve had it within our grasp until Juliette Hart tossed it into the sea. That’s when you found it.”
“Why didn’t you stop her?”
“It’s a question I’ve asked myself many times. We are not supposed to interfere—only to protect. Just as you didn’t know what it was, neither did she.”
“That is a fatal error you and your men need to correct it.”
“Serena, we are bound by our code. I could face serious ramifications for telling you about it. And so could you. That’s one of the reasons I claimed you.”
“What kinds of ramifications?”
“They could strip me of my command and send you back to Earth without protection, making you vulnerable to the Shaurok.”
My heart thumps so hard, I fear it will batter my sternum. “Why would they do that? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Because no one is supposed to know of us … of Nyan’trua. We have a strict non-interference policy.”
This is too hard to swallow and I don’t get why. He interprets my silence for what it is.
“Look at it from their point. If you go back and tell others about us … our technology … it could alter the future of Earth. Or, people might think you were crazy. We don’t want to have any impact. That’s why we use transparency to mask ourselves for the most part, and when the Shaurok kill, we remove any trace of the victim, making it look like they never existed. We basically take away the mystery.”
All of this is new information. Erasing the existence of people mortifies me. “What if the people killed have families, like Charity McKessen?
He doesn’t answer so I know they erased her.
“So her family thinks she never was? Like there was no Charity to begin with?”
Again, no answer. “Answer me, damn it!”
“Yes. We removed her from all memories, data banks, everywhere there was a trace of her. We had to or else it would rouse suspicion.”
Oh my god! Who are these people I’m dealing with? How can they just wipe a human being away like that? Charity was a person. Someone loved her. She had a family. This sickens me.
“Serena, we didn’t kill her. The Shaurok did. You have to remember that. We were the ones who tried to save her.”
“But her parents never got the chance to mourn her,” I argue.
“While you disagree with our methods, they also never had to feel the abject pain of her loss.”
“Would you rather feel you never had a family?”
“That’s not a fair question.”
“I disagree.”
He glances away for a moment, and turns back to me as if he’s weighing a decision. Then he grabs my chin and his black irises lock onto my green ones. I am plunged into their depths and find myself in a dark room, looking at a woman weeping on the floor, a man by her side. The images aren’t quite clear, and the edges are blurred, yet I can see everything around me. I follow a man, though I can’t understand what he says. He speaks in a foreign language. He leads me to a set of enormous double doors and I stare at them before entering. As soon as I walk through them, grief nearly rips me in half, threatening to bring me to my knees, yet I force myself to remain upright. Then I see her—a young woman lying on the floor, covered in blood. An excruciating pain engulfs me and I want to scream. I collapse next to her and open her gown to discover a huge gaping wound in her chest. Just as I fear my heart will crack in a million tiny shards, I am whipped out of the scene, back to the present. It’s not surprising to find I am shaking and covered in perspiration. The loss of that loved one lingers and I ache inside so fiercely I want to sob. I’m trapped in the cycle of thinking about the young woman and feeling the anguish of her death, and I can’t seem to shed the grief I’m experiencing.
Strong arms enfold me in their embrace, only I push him away. “Why would you do that to me?” I ask, not understanding this.
“I was trying to make a point.”
“A point? You wanted me to see your slain sister, because that’s who it was, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, but the point wasn’t to see her, Serena. You asked about whether I would rather feel if I never had a family. I wanted you to understand how I felt and what Charity’s family never had to feel.”
While I understand part of his logic, he still misses my point. Wiping my face, because tears still drip, I say, “I’ll concede to part of your logic, but the other part, no. Their memories of the joy they had of her are gone, too. And those are priceless. Think of the times you shared with your brother and sister. How would you feel if someone stripped those memories away from you? The bonds of love wouldn’t be there. I wish I had a family who cared for me as you did. And even so, I wouldn’t want to lose my memories of them.”
He’s silent at first as he mulls over what I’ve said. His lids shutter closed and I sense his personal struggles. “It cannot be any other way. If we allow them to remember, too many questions would be raised and investigations would ensue. That would endanger entirely too many people. Our way allows for minimal risk. I do understand your point, but Serena, it is the only acceptable way.”
With the way he explains things, I fully understand it. He’s right. If memories weren’t wiped out, there would be countless unanswered questions, people seeking solutions to things they could never solve, and more of them would die in the process.
“I would hate to have your job,” I tell him.
“But you are caught up in this as much as I am.”
“Oh, no. I don’t have to risk my life. I don’t have to wipe out memories. You have an awful job, Sabin.”
He shrugs. “I wish it were easier, but perhaps someday it will be unnecessary.”
We’re still on the bed with me sitting halfway on his lap and I say, “I never did get the chance to say this, but I am extremely sorry for you and what you experienced when your family was killed. I hope someday you find who did this terrible thing.”
He nods in response, but his eyes convey more than words.
Sixteen
Sabin
If I could get my hands around Ali’yah’s neck, I would strangle that bitch for what she did to Serena. The fact that she broke through my security is one thing, but to threaten my claim and make false statements about our relationship as if it is still ongoing, that is something else. She will pay for this if I have to use every last resource I own to see to it.
I knew Serena would face danger here, but not on my goddamn property. She should be safer here than anywhere, and now I have to enlist a guardian for her. And then Rafe gives me more bad news.
“The Council has refused to banish Ali’yah.”
The glass I’m holding breaks into pieces.
“Damn, Sabin. Have a care, will you?” I hadn’t noticed I was bleeding. He walks to the wall, taps the panel, and calls for a MSI. A mobile unit shows up almost immediately to take care of it.
“What the bloody hell is wrong with those idiots? It’s almost like they want to see us destroyed.”
“She’s one of them. That’s why they won’t banish her, not to mention they’re pissed at you for the shit you pulled on exercising your birthright,” Rafe reminds me.
I drum my fingers on the desk. “We have a bigger problem now. We have to get Serena out of here because with Ali’yah still around, she’s in mortal danger. Even with a guardian, Ali’yah will find a way to get to her. I don’t trust anything here, Rafe.”
Rafe paces. “What about Judgment Day?”
“We need more men, dammit.”
“Sabin, we
can’t lose sight of that.”
I spin and face him, with temper flaring. “Don’t tell me about my job!”
Rafe’s hands go up in the air. “I’m not. I’m just pointing out that for the last day, we haven’t even talked finding it, and when we don’t, it gets further and further out of our reach.”
“It’s not like I haven’t had other things to deal with,” I counter.
“Not saying you haven’t. But the fact remains, our first duty is to locate it. We need to focus on that.”
I swore I would rein in my emotions, but with his last word, my hand sweeps the items on the top of my desk into the air. They fly in several directions. Rafe, who is used to my uncontrolled outbursts, ducks.
“Goddammit, I am trying to focus on things. Serena is in danger, Ali’yah gained entry here, which she shouldn’t have been able to, the Council doesn’t see fit to banish her, and Judgment Day is who the hell knows where? It’s not like my plate isn’t running over! If you have any brilliant ideas in that mind of yours, speak!”
Rafe cocks his head, and stares for a few long seconds. “The League.”
My brows arch and I’m fairly sure they extend pretty damn close to my hairline. “Are you fucking kidding me? They’re the ones who keep refusing to give us more men!”
As if on cue, Graylyn enters and says, “I’m sorry to disturb you, L’han, but there is a summons from The League.”
Rafe and I share a glance. What the fuck. Are they horning in on our conversations now?
“Graylyn, tell them I request their presence here.”
“L’han?” she asks, shocked.
“Just do it,” I growl.”
“Yes, L’han,” Graylyn answers as she scurries out.
“Get The Seven,” I tell Rafe. He’s on Graylyn’s heels. What a shit day it is.
The Seven arrive a few minutes later, grumbling among themselves. They hate the League almost as much as they hate the Council, and I can’t blame them.
“Be prepared, men. They should be here soon, and they won’t be happy we didn’t go to them. I’d rather fight them on our turf.”
The Hart Brothers Series Box Set (Including the bonus book Sabin: A Seven Novel): Freeing Her, Freeing Him, Kestrel, The Fall and Rise of Kade Hart, Sabin: A Seven Novel Page 133
