Invaded (33 page)

With heavy limbs, he shuffled into the kitchen, hoping Syrine had made her customary
pot of tea. Aelyx didn’t want to foster a caffeine dependency, but lately he’d moved
as if
underwater. He’d take any boost he could get. After pouring himself a steaming mug
of minty-scented brew, he dragged into the living room and lowered onto the ambassador’s
favorite
chair, simply because it was closest. Gods, he was tired. He’d just awoken and already
he wanted to go back to bed.

David and Syrine were situated near him on the sofa, but instead of saying hello,
they stared at each other in what appeared to be a standoff. Syrine’s hands clenched
into fists while
David’s chin tipped up in determination. Several seconds of charged silence ticked
by before Aelyx asked what was wrong.

When David spoke, he kept his eyes fixed on Syrine. “I just told your friend I’m in
love with her.”

“Oh,” Aelyx said, wishing he’d taken his tea back to his bedroom.
Awkward
.

“And,” David continued, “that I won’t ever stop. That I’m not like the other guys
she’s known, and if she’ll trust me for once, I can make her
happy.”

Aelyx wasn’t sure how to reply. Obviously David wasn’t talking to him anymore. “What
did she say?”

“Nothing yet.” David held up his deck of cards. “But I was just about to propose another
wager.”

Syrine found her voice, but it barely carried in the open room. “For what?”

“If I win,” David said, “we go to the colony together.
Really
together, as a couple. No more hiding.”

She swallowed hard enough to make her throat shift. “And if you lose?”

“Then I stay here.” David’s expression fell, his voice darkening to a deadly seriousness
Aelyx had never heard from the boy. “But I’ve never felt this way about
anyone. You’re it for me.”

All the color drained from Syrine’s cheeks, and although she didn’t agree to the bet,
David began shuffling the deck. His hands trembled with the motion, something Aelyx
would have
attributed to anxiety if he hadn’t noticed the same thing happening all weekend. David’s
fine motor skills were weakening. Aelyx knew the likely cause, but he refused to dwell
on it. He
had to believe the experimental drug would save his friend.

David fanned out the deck and held it toward Syrine. “Pick a card.”

Syrine extended her hand and pulled it back three times before she drew a card from
the deck. Aelyx took a sip of his tea and leaned to the side, noting she’d picked
the seven of
diamonds.

“You know what to do,” David told her. “Hold it close and stare at it. Really focus
so I can read your mind.”

While Syrine peered at the red diamonds, David studied the symbols drawn on the other
side. As many times as he’d practiced this trick, he couldn’t fail. He parted the
deck and
instructed Syrine to replace the card, then reshuffled the pack. Turning the deck
over, he riffled through his options, feigning deep thought, until he held up the
queen of spades.

“Is this your card?” David asked, eyeing Syrine while tremors shook his hand.

At first, Aelyx couldn’t comprehend why David had chosen incorrectly. He’d long ago
mastered this game. But then understanding dawned, and Aelyx saw that David had forced
Syrine to
choose. It was his way of ensuring she truly wanted him, refusing to allow something
as trivial as a wager to determine their future.

With her mouth forming a perfect
O
, Syrine stared at David as the seconds passed in near-painful silence. Aelyx found
himself leaning forward in his seat as if he could force the answer
out of her. Finally, when the wait had become nearly unbearable, she licked her lips
and whispered, “Yes, you’re right. That’s the one.”

A grateful smile split David’s face while his eyes watered. He released a shaky sigh
that sounded more like a sob and threw down his cards to take Syrine into his arms.
The pair held each
other, exchanging kisses and whispers that made Aelyx feel like an intruder. Careful
not to spill his tea, he quietly returned to his bedroom to give the couple their
privacy.

Aelyx was happy for Syrine—David, too. He cared for them and knew the colony would
be a brighter place for their presence, but that didn’t stop a lump from rising in
his throat. He
continued sipping his tea, but nothing would push it down.

For months, he’d been forced to watch the romance blossom between his friends, reminding
himself to be patient, that his turn would come when he was reunited with Cara. But
things were
different now. All the patience in the world wouldn’t resurrect what he’d lost. Aelyx
didn’t know how he was going to stand the presence of two perfectly paired lovers
and still
maintain his sanity.

He’d just finished his tea when Syrine knocked on the door and stepped inside, her
gaze both giddy and repentant. He could tell she empathized with him.

“You made the right choice,” Aelyx said, setting his cup on the dresser.

Syrine gave a noncommittal grunt, though the glow illuminating her skin showed that
she agreed. “Time will tell. He may disappoint me, but I believe it’s a worthy risk.”

Aelyx laughed. “Practical to a fault, as usual.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” She closed the distance between them and rested
a hand on his forearm, then peered into his face, softening her focus to connect with
his
mind.
Let me help you.

Quickly, he turned his head aside. “No.”

“This is what I’m trained for,” she insisted. “I can’t erase your pain, but I can
lighten the burden.”

Aelyx knew full well what Syrine could do. Emotional healers were sacred on L’eihr
because of their rarity. But he also knew how the session would affect her. She’d
take on his
suffering by proxy, feeling his heartbreak as if it were her own, and he wouldn’t
allow it. She was entitled to her joy. “It’s just a breakup.” He faced her with a
manufactured smile. “I’m fairly certain I’ll survive it.”

“Wouldn’t you do the same for me?”

“You know I would.” Touched by her compassion, Aelyx took her cheek in one hand and
bent to kiss the top of her head, where he paused and added, “But you wouldn’t let
me.”

“No,” she admitted. “I wouldn’t.”

David appeared in the doorway. His expression darkened as he jerked his head toward
the foyer and mouthed,
Cara’s here.

Like a bolt of blistering electricity, painful tingles shot down the length of Aelyx’s
spine. His flesh chilled and his pulse lurched. The visceral reaction proved what
he already
knew—he wasn’t ready to face her. He glanced at David in a silent plea for advice.

David seemed to understand. “Grab your coat,” he whispered. “I need to make a quick
call, then we’ll get out of here.”

“I’ll come, too,” Syrine said.

“No.” David’s curt tone surprised them all, and he compensated with an apologetic
smile. “You stay and talk some sense into her.”

“Her mind’s made up,” Aelyx told them.

Syrine patted his shoulder, slipping a hurried thought into his mind before she flitted
out the door.
You underestimate me.

“Breathe, Pepper. You look like you’re choking on your own tongue.”

Cara leaned into her brother and released the breath she’d unconsciously trapped inside
her lungs. Tugging her coat lapels together, she shivered in the heated living room.
It wasn’t
the freak ice storm that had her trembling. The alliance ceremony didn’t begin until
noon—three hours from now—and Colonel Rutter had ordered her to report to the
ambassador’s penthouse.

With Aelyx.

No, that wouldn’t be weird
at all
.

“Jesus, pull it together,” Troy whispered, wrapping a quick arm around her. “You’re
literally shaking in your boots.”

He didn’t understand—how could he? He’d never been in love, not like this.

“Hello,
Cah
-ra.”

Flinching, Cara whirled around to find Syrine smiling at her with the polite detachment
of a salesclerk. The last time their paths had crossed, it ended with Syrine bitch-slapping
Cara and
wishing death upon the human race. Now the girl extended an arm, offering to take
their coats.

Cara held firm to her lapels. “I’ll keep mine, thanks.”

Troy yanked his arm free and shook out of his camouflage jacket while Cara snuck a
few covert glances behind their hostess. Aelyx was nowhere in sight. Maybe he’d decided
to stay in his
room until the ceremony began. She knew she should feel relieved, but she caught herself
biting her lip in disappointment.

Syrine followed the direction of Cara’s gaze. “Aelyx is leaving for an errand; otherwise
he’d join us.”

Cara felt herself blushing.
Busted
.

When Syrine strode to the closet to hang up Troy’s coat, a distant door clicked open
and nearly sent Cara’s heart catapulting out of her chest. She tried to play it cool,
but her
eyes found Aelyx the instant he entered the room.

His jaw-length hair concealed part of his face, but the visible side was breathtaking,
even marred by the dark circles of insomnia. Cara hated herself for thinking it, but
she was glad he
hadn’t been sleeping. That made two of them. His silver eyes widened when he spotted
her. He held her gaze for a pregnant beat as if gauging her expression to see if she’d
changed her
mind. Breaking contact, she stared at the hardwood floor and gave him an answer. She
hated herself for that, too.

She didn’t look up again until she heard David say “I love you” in a firm voice.

The boy fastened his weapons holster around his hips while staring expectantly at
Syrine. Cara didn’t understand at first, but then he placed a kiss atop the girl’s
head, and
everything made sense. Well, as much sense as Syrine dating a human could possibly
make.

Syrine’s copper skin darkened a few shades and she pushed at her bodyguard’s chest,
giving him nothing but a shy grin. “Go on.”

“One of these days you’ll tell me,” David said, zipping his coat. He stood there watching
her, hesitating to leave, until Aelyx tugged on his jacket. Then the two of them
disappeared out the door.

Cara crossed the room and glanced out the window to the city block below, where a
stagelike platform stood naked of the decorations and folding chairs that belonged
there. If the weather
didn’t let up, they’d have to relocate the ceremony indoors. Two figures appeared
on the sidewalk, and she recognized Aelyx and David jogging across the street and
darting inside what
appeared to be a vacant building.

Running an
errand
? Whatever. More like running away from her.

Syrine invited Troy to help himself to the contents of the refrigerator—an offer he
didn’t refuse—then waved Cara into the living room. Cara sat at the far end of the
sofa, and
Syrine surprised her by settling so near their thighs touched.

Leaning away, Cara scanned the girl’s face for an explanation for their proximity.
Syrine’s impatient smile made it seem like she had an agenda and was waiting for the
right time to
set it in motion.

“I’m sorry,” Syrine said. “For what I did to you on the transport last year.”

Cara didn’t want to discuss it. “That’s okay.”

“I wasn’t myself then, but I am now.”

What was Cara supposed to say to that? She and Syrine weren’t friends, and this encounter
was starting to creep her out. “I’m glad you feel better. What happened to Eron was
terrib—”

“Did Aelyx tell you what the Aegis trained me to do?” Syrine leaned farther into Cara’s
space.

Holy clinger. Cara pressed against the arm of the sofa. “You mean the ‘emotional healer’
thing?”

“Yes. I can help you.” Nodding like an eager kid, she reached out to touch Cara’s
hand but seemed to think better of it. “I know you’re conflicted about your
decision.”

Assuming Cara needed therapy—which she
so
didn’t—the last shrink she’d confide in was Syrine. “That’s all right. I don’t want
to talk about
it.”

“We don’t need to talk.”

“Come again?”

“I’m not a therapist,
Cah
-ra,” Syrine explained. “Think of me more as an empath.”

“You can feel other people’s emotions?” Cara didn’t see the big deal. All L’eihrs
could do that.

“I alter emotions,” Syrine corrected. “I know you can use Silent Speech. If you open
your mind to me, I can bring you clarity and comfort.”

The word
no
took shape on Cara’s lips. Her experiences with Jaxen and Aisly had left her wary
of mind tricks, and she didn’t trust Syrine. The girl had never liked her, so
why the sudden interest? And yet Cara hesitated to turn down the offer. Clarity and
comfort sounded awfully tempting.

“Please,” Syrine implored. “Aelyx is hurting and this is the only way I can help him.”

The desperation in Syrine’s eyes reached straight into Cara’s heart and softened it
to the consistency of cream cheese. Syrine had her faults—big time—but she loved her
best friend and Cara admired her for it. Releasing the tension in her shoulders, Cara
sank back into the sofa cushions. “I guess I could use some clarity.”

Syrine’s mouth stretched into a wide smile. “You won’t regret this.”

I hope you’re right
. “Do I need to project my feelings?”

“No.” Syrine closed her eyes, drawing a deep breath through her nose as if trying
to reach her Zen place. “Just open the connection and relax. I’ll do the rest.”
When her lids fluttered open, she warned, “I might be emotional when it’s over, so
don’t take offense to anything I say. It’s not personal.”

Cara wanted to issue her own warning—
Hit me again and I’ll knock you on your ass
—but she bit her tongue. If this worked, it would be worth a thousand slaps. She let
go
of her mind and stared through Syrine’s chrome irises.

She felt the surge of energy that established their connection, followed by a sudden
and delicious sense of warmth trickling over her skull like she’d tipped back her
head into a stream of
shower jets. Cara had to focus to keep her eyes from rolling back. She no longer cared
if this was a trick—it felt too good. Tiny chills raised the hair along her scalp,
and her anxiety began
to leak away one drop at a time until nothing was left but peace. The sensation reminded
Cara of the time she’d received a morphine injection for a dislocated knee, but that
had left her mind
in a fog. Right now, she could recite the periodic table if she wanted to.