Numbers Collide (Numbers Game Saga Book 5)

by Rebecca Rode

  “Still getting driven around, princess?” I teased, stepping out of the shadows just as Legacy reached the set of double doors.

  She whirled, placing a hand on her chest, and gasped. “You scared the daylights out of me.”

  “Speaking of daylight, are you sure you should be driving around the city right now? You could have been seen.”

  “Spare me the lecture. I had to see you.” She threw herself into my arms. A tiny thrill shot through me even though we’d embraced like this hundreds of times in the past few weeks. Embraced, and talked, and kissed, and laughed, and kissed again. I thought of Legacy’s soft lips and our hours together more often than I wanted to admit. I still couldn’t believe this was real, that Legacy Hawking, of all people, so thoroughly consumed my life. Yet somehow, it felt like it had always been this way.

  I breathed her in, feeling the world settle into some resemblance of rightness for the first time all day. She smelled of sea wind and a tangy shampoo I didn’t recognize, and she clung to me more tightly than usual. Definitely a hard day. I’d have to distract her, then.

  “I feel bad for Travers,” I said, watching her driver and transport pull away. He would find a safe place to park for a while, then return for her in an hour or so. Parking such a vehicle out front was too dangerous in this neighborhood.

  “Well, I don’t plan to drive myself around until I have to,” she said in a joking tone. “I’m a Hawking, aren’t I?”

  Some of the amusement left her eyes as we both realized the implication in her words. Yes, she was a Hawking, but . . . she also wasn’t. Not in the sense that her grandmother, Treena Hawking, intended when she set up the line of succession. Legacy’s adopted status was Alex’s biggest argument against Legacy from taking the throne, and probably the only one he could have made that anyone agreed with. If Legacy’s parents had announced the adoption from the beginning, people would be accustomed to the idea. But now the entire country seemed split down the middle—some calling her an imposter with a questionable past and aligning themselves with Alex, others calling her the rightful heir to the throne and coming to her for aid. The former claimed Alex’s parentage indisputable, a point the latter struggled to argue with. The fact that her father wanted her in charge rather than Alex didn’t seem to matter.

  Of course, with her dad in a coma, it was also impossible to prove.

  “You know that people from the Shadows don’t have drivers, right?” I said against her hair. “Especially the same one every time they leave the house. Eventually someone will recognize Travers and make the connection.”

  Legacy seemed oddly stiff as she pulled away. “I know, but Gram refuses to let me go anywhere alone, and he’s better than a jumpy guard. Besides, he’s been so down lately. This job is the one thing he has left. I can’t take it away from him.”

  I felt a stab of sympathy for the poor man. His wife passed away during the first wave of implant-update deaths a few weeks before, leaving him looking utterly lost. I knew that feeling well. “You can’t fix everything. I admire that you try anyway, though.” I brushed Legacy’s hair aside and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

  She snorted. “I come across town to see you, and that’s all I get?”

  I raised my hands in surrender. “Hey, we’re outside, and there could be people walking b—”

  She yanked my head down for a long kiss—a firm, decisive one. It felt as if she were angry, and I couldn’t deny the heat sparking between us. Maybe a good thing, the fact that we were still outside. Then she pulled away, leaving me a puddle at her feet. She stared at me, her deep brown eyes looking deep into my own. A second later, she groaned, placing one soft finger to my bruised temple. “You got into another fight, didn’t you?”

  I swore silently. “This one wasn’t my fault.”

  “Right. Let me guess. The other guy walked right into your fist.”

  “I tried to talk him down. He didn’t like it.”

  She took a step back and put a hand on her hip, wearing an expression that clearly said, I don’t believe you.

  “It isn’t my first black eye, nor will it be the last. No big deal. Clearly you didn’t grow up in the Shadows.”

  I’d kept my tone light, but Legacy continued to stare me down. This couldn’t be about the fight with that Firebrand. Something definitely bothered her today. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

  She opened her mouth, closed it, and sighed. “It’s just all the fighting, and now you too. How am I supposed to bring peace to a country at war with itself in every possible way?”

  “We aren’t a bunch of children you have to reprimand, Legacy. You keep saying you want change. You forget that change requires a little pain.”

  She gave me a long look. “Fear doesn’t change hearts. Improvement happens from the inside out, not the outside in.”

  I thought about the fear on that Firebrand’s face and winced inwardly before reminding myself whose side he’d been on. Dane and his pups deserved no sympathy from me. “Yeah, well, sometimes it has to start on the outside or it doesn’t happen at all. Don’t worry. I have everything under control.”

  She folded her arms—not a good sign. “I can’t worry about you, but you can worry about me? Is that how this is supposed to work?”

  “Exactly. I’m glad you’re finally getting it. Now, where were we?”

  The sternness melted a bit, and she punched my shoulder, her frown melting into a lopsided grin. “I think we were discussing what really happened with whoever decorated your face.”

  “Actually, I think we were discussing moving this conversation upstairs.”

  Legacy made a face—she hated when I changed the subject on her—but she followed me inside and up the creaky stairs. As always, I flinched as I entered my apartment, seeing it from her perspective. I’d already cleaned it as best I could, but there was no hiding the lack of food in the refrigerator. Hopefully she wouldn’t check.

  “It isn’t just the bruise,” she said as I closed the front door and locked it. “How do you explain the black circles under your eyes?”

  Time for another distraction because this was a topic I didn’t want to discuss right now. I wrapped my arms around her again and let my hands slide down to her slim waist. “Can you blame me? I mean, being without you for a whole day is hard on a guy.”

  She leaned against me and placed a slender finger on my lips. “I’m serious. You look like you haven’t slept in days. Is it the nightmares?”

  They weren’t nightmares, exactly. More like intense, twisted memories, mostly of the day my implant nearly killed me, although the occasional childhood memory returned. Sometimes it was Dane beating me, other times Virgil or my father or those Neuromen thugs. Even worse were the dreams with Dad. Those lingered long after I woke. I could never admit to Legacy how bad they messed with my head.

  Legacy frowned at my expression. “That’s what I thought.”

  I pulled away and crossed the room, keeping my back to her. “I don’t need drugs, if that’s where this is headed.”

  “If you can’t sleep, maybe you do.”

  Here we go again. “I can sleep. I’m just under a lot of pressure right now. All of us are.”

  Her hands slid around my midsection from behind, and she laid her head against my back. I covered her hands with my own. “Maybe talking to someone about your mother’s death will help you believe you aren’t to blame.”

  “This isn’t guilt,” I shot back, feeling her hands tighten in response. Then I forced my voice to soften. “Dane is the one who killed my mom. He’s the one who will pay for it.”

  Her hands were rigid against my chest now, her body tense.

  I sighed and turned around, taking her into my arms again. It felt like we fought more often than not lately. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be doom and gloom all the time. It’s just . . . you know.”

  “You lost your mom, left your uncle, and now your friends have turned against you. I get it. I’m glad
you chose me, and us, but it can’t be easy.”

  “You’re wrong. Being with you is the easiest thing in the world. It’s everything else that’s hard.” I placed a finger beneath her chin, lifting her face to mine, and let myself get lost in her. I loved kissing Legacy Hawking. She wasn’t timid like many girls. She knew what she wanted, and she demanded exactly that much and no less. The sparks between us were a bonfire now, an electric surge that left me utterly powerless to resist.

  The rapid knock at the door sounded like a gunshot.

  We leaped apart. Legacy’s eyes were wide, her face red, her hair a mess where my hand had

  held her a second before. Nobody ever knocked. Only Legacy’s followers knew where I lived, which meant this could be a perfectly innocent interruption or a really bad thing.

  I slipped between Legacy and the door, grateful I’d locked it on the way in. “Who is

  it?”

  “Sorry to bother you,” a man’s voice called, “but I have a message for Legacy Hawking.”

  I looked at Legacy, who frowned. The voice wasn’t familiar to her either, and none of her guards would ever shout her name aloud in a public place. I cringed at the thought of my neighbors overhearing this conversation. Legacy opened her mouth as if to respond, but I shushed her and turned back to the door. “You’re kidding, right? I live here alone. Who is this again?”

  “My name is Chadd,” the intruder said, not sounding deterred at all. “I have a message from Legacy’s mother.”

  Now Legacy’s face drained of color, going from flushed to pale in a matter of seconds.

  Anger grew within me. How dare some stranger play with her emotions like that? Her mother had been dead barely a year.

  “You have the wrong apartment, friend,” I snapped. “Best try the other end of town with all the other rich people.”

  “I know she’s here. I watched you two enter a few minutes ago. I assure you, there’s nothing to fear from me. I really am a friend, and I’m alone, but I can’t go until I’ve delivered my message. Kadee Steer would only send me right back.”

  Legacy went rigid. She knew the name. Along with the shock and the horror in her eyes came a new emotion, one more chilling than the others. Hope.

  I couldn’t bear to see it, not when she’d already been through so much. As for the guy’s promise of being alone and harmless, I was no fool. This imposter wouldn’t cross my threshold as long as Legacy was under my protection.

  “You have one minute to leave the building,” I called out, “or I’ll toss you down the stairwell myself. Starting now.”

  “Kole!” Legacy snapped.

  The volume of Legacy’s retort made me flinch. I motioned for her to hide, but she only glared at me.

  Upon hearing her voice, the guy began pounding again. “Legacy Hawking! Just let me deliver my message and I’ll be on my way. I swear it.”

  “Say it through the door and be gone,” I growled.

  “It’s to be given face-to-face. I’m sorry, but those were my orders. Kadee was rather insistent.” A pause. “Look, you can keep your stunner on me the whole time if you like. I know about the one in your pocket.”

  If the words were meant to assure or disarm, they had the opposite effect. Suddenly I was very done with our visitor and this conversation.

  I pushed Legacy behind the door, drawing a surprised yelp from her, whipped my stunner out, and opened the door a crack. The intruder looked a few years older than us and had blond hair, a slender form, and terrible posture. He didn’t look like much of a threat, but then, most spies didn’t.

  He gave a start as I aimed the stunner at him. I’d expected to see a mass of Firebrands or at least a single guy with the barrel of a stun gun leveled at my face. Instead, the intruder frowned at my weapon and took off down the steps, taking them three at a time.

  I looked around for accomplices but found nobody, at least in the hallway. That meant nothing. I’d be walking Legacy to her transport tonight, and she wouldn’t be returning here anytime soon. I swore. This meant I’d have to find a new place to live. I didn’t expect to be compromised so quickly, and worse, so easily.

  I shoved the door closed and bolted it, then turned to find Legacy staring me down.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You really have no idea why I’m upset, do you?” she shot back, her voice trembling with barely contained anger.

  Of course she wanted to fight about this. Didn’t she see the danger she’d put herself in? “We’ve been discovered, and you aren’t safe. That’s all that matters.”

  “Is it?”

  Her question felt like a trap, so I didn’t answer. I ducked around her to the window, cautiously surveying the front walk. Seconds later, the intruder stalked toward the street, turned, and disappeared. No figures emerged from the shadows to join him.

  She grabbed my arm and whirled me around. “You threw me behind the door.”

  “For your protection. I wasn’t about to leave you exposed.”

  “I’m not interested in being shielded. I have Travers for that, and he’s unbearable enough. Did it occur to you that I might want to talk to that guy? That he might have some of the answers I’ve been looking for?”

  That made me pause. I hadn’t known she was looking for anything at all, but her safety mattered more. I had to help her understand. “Think about it. He knew I had a stunner, and he knew you were here with me. That guy has all the signs of a creepy stalker. If you can’t see that, then it’s a good thing I was here.”

  “So you could talk over me and make my decisions for me? That isn’t what I need, Kole. That isn’t what we’re supposed to be.”

  I felt the blood rushing to my head and the too-familiar pain of an approaching headache. “Oh? What am I supposed to do, then, princess? Bow and let the intruder in? Give him some royal tea?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” She folded her arms for the second time that night. “He knew my biological mother’s name. Dad sealed those records a long time ago. He can’t possibly be lying.”

  “Or someone found those records and waited till the right moment to take advantage,” I pointed out. “Look, this mysterious message could be Alex’s doing. What if he’s trying to lure you outside so he can arrest you again and kill the resistance movement once and for all?”

  She growled in frustration and stalked across the room. “Even if that were the case, I wanted to talk to him. I want to know how he got that information. I want to make the decision for myself because it involves my life, Kole. Mine.”

  The pressure began to build behind my eyes. This was where every argument ended up—her and her life, not us and ours. “Don’t you get it? We can’t trust anyone but each other. Not your selfish brother, not my Firebrand friends. Those followers who claim to be on your side? They’re using you, and you can’t even see it. So, no, I’m not turning you over to some stranger, no matter who he claims to know, and it isn’t fair of you to ask that of me. I won’t put you at risk.”

  The flush returned to her cheeks, but my retort seemed to stop her. She examined me for a long moment before replying, her voice soft, “Do you really see the world that way?”

  The sudden gentleness in her demeanor reminded me of the medics who’d cared for me when I awoke after my ordeal with Virgil. I could see it in their eyes, hear it in their voices, imagine it in their whispers. Poor boy. Survived an attack from a madman but lost his mother. Must be terrible living all alone in the world. I could endure pity from strangers, though just barely. But I refused to take it from Legacy. Never her.

  “I see the world as it really is,” I snapped, taking a step backward. “It’s you who grew up with gold silverware and feather pillows and fancy transports.”

  She flinched.

  I remembered my earlier words and let the anger die, although the headache remained. Legacy and I were in this together. It wouldn’t solve anything to remind her of our differences, and fates knew we had plenty of those.

  �
��Look,” I began again. “I know you’d love to have long-lost family members inviting you into their lives since your own family is so broken right now, but you have to consider that your enemies will know that too. I guarantee that whatever that guy intended for you, it wasn’t good.”

  She looked insulted. “Of course I’ll consider that. And you have to consider that you just prevented me from receiving an important message that mattered to me.” She crossed the space between us and looked up at me, betrayal in her eyes. “I want to be with you, but not like this. Being with you is the most freedom I’ve ever had. I refuse to let you put me in a cage like everyone else.”

  “You know that’s not what I want either.” I stepped forward to pull Legacy into my arms again. But instead of melting against my chest like she usually did, she stood rigidly, body tense. I looked down to find her staring wistfully at the doorway.

  “Do you feel angrier lately?” she asked quietly. “Or violent, maybe?”

  Now I was the one who stiffened. “There’s nothing wrong with me. This is who I am. As long as we’re together, I will protect you whether you like it or not.”

  She pushed away and headed for the door.

  I hurried over, blocking her exit. “Whoa, hold on. You can be angry with me all you want, but you aren’t going out there alone. That guy could be hiding, waiting for you. There could be others.”

  “Kole.”

  “They would overpower me and your driver in seconds if it meant getting to you. We have to think this through. Wait until I’ve had a good look around—”

  “Kole.” She looked me straight in the eye. “Let. Me. Go.”

  “It isn’t safe,” I said stubbornly.

  “Let me go, right now, or we’re through.”

  I stared at her. Her threat echoed between us, replaying in my head. “You can’t be serious.”