All For One [Nuworld 3] (23 page)

“Ana is studying Runner law now. We’re off to the clan site.” Cali walked up to

Ana and tugged on one of the braids that hung in loops on the back of Ana’s head.

“Come join us later. We’ll be at my trailer.”

“Sounds good,” Syra said and then turned toward Darius’ office. She was glad

neither of them asked why she was there. She saw Fulga standing in Darius’ office

doorway as she turned the corner.

“And I’m sure I don’t know what she’s here to talk to you about, I don’t.” She heard

the old woman say.

Fulga jumped and then looked scornfully at Syra when she came up behind her.

“Thanks for announcing me.” She smiled sweetly at the old woman who didn’t

smile back when she squeezed past her and entered Darius’ office.

“May I speak to you alone?” she asked, glancing at Geeves.

Darius cocked his head at her and she thought she saw a hint of amusement on his

face. At least he appeared to be in a good mood. He nodded at Geeves who then made a

ceremony about gathering his things before he stood and watched Syra carefully as he

walked past her.

“What do you want?” Darius’ expression didn’t change once they were alone.

“Is it true you can dissolve a claim if there is just cause?”

Darius slowly leaned forward against his desk and gave her a wary look. “Now

why would you ask me a question like that? What have you done?”

“I haven’t done anything. I just documented what was already going on.” She held

out the disc but Darius made no move to take it from her. “Darius, I was downtown

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several days ago and saw something I wasn’t supposed to see. In fact, I’m sure no one

was supposed to see it.”

Darius leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. A slow,

rather cruel smile spread across his face and Syra felt sweat break out on her forehead.

He was a big man and the way he held his arms up every muscle flexed. His dark gray

eyes seemed condescending.

“Don’t tell me you have some of your dead aunt’s traits in you?” He smiled as he

spoke.

How dare he! “I’m nothing like Tasha. If I were, I wouldn’t care about Torgo’s

feelings, and I’d already be in his bed,” she almost yelled in her anger.

“You raise your voice to me again and I’ll throw you out of here.”

“I’m sorry.” Syra smiled and moved to the chair in front of his desk where Geeves

had been. “Darius, I don’t want to be difficult. That’s why I’m here.” She looked down,

finding it hard to say her next words. “I need your advice so I make sure to do the right

thing.”

Darius stared at her and said nothing.

She tapped the disc on his desk. “I had Rayla followed for several days. She’s

having an affair. She’s making a fool of Torgo and if it was made public he’d be

humiliated.”

“He’ll be humiliated anyway. Who’s she with?”

Syra handed him the disc. This time he took it and turned to shove it into his

landlink. Within a minute, a picture of one of his own guards appeared on his screen. It

was Mik, Darius and Torgo’s nephew, son of Mikel, their dead brother. Darius drew in

a long breath.

“I’ll handle this,” he said, making her aware that she’d just been dismissed.

Syra got up and moved quietly to the door.

“It looks like you’re getting what you wanted all along, aren’t you?”

“No, Darius.” She turned and worked to keep her emotions off her face. “Torgo

won’t come to me. Oh, I won’t deny wanting him. But he made it clear to me when I

first got here that he had a claim and he would be faithful. He’s not a hypocrite—I wish

he was, but he’s not.”

“If his claim is dissolved he’ll be a free man.”

“And he’ll be outraged. He won’t want anything to do with me.” She looked up

from the floor and focused on Darius. “Especially if he knows I’m the one who had the

information compiled.”

She looked down quickly then turned and left his office.

“You don’t fool me for a minute,” Darius said quietly to himself. “You have some of

your Aunt Tara in you, too. You get what you want.”

His expression turned grim when he turned back to his landlink.

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Chapter Thirteen

Ana thought she’d never get away from Cali. They spent over three hours studying

laws and amendments. Ana found Runner history fascinating but she couldn’t

concentrate. Syra showed up and caused them to sit there for another hour. Ana felt her

stomach tie into knots when they finally left for home and lunch.

Now she was alone. Cali left Ana to join Andru in the fields for war games. At most

she had three hours or so before she’d be missed. Not much time.

She’d prepared a small bag of clothes and toiletries earlier that morning and hid it

in the shed before she’d gone to breakfast. Her heart pounded as she entered the

kitchen after lunch was cleaned up and Fulga wobbled off elsewhere. She grabbed

several rolls and wrapped some loose meat in paper then stuffed them in a bag.

She smiled at Mirak as she sauntered through the backyard to her glider. His

expression was guarded as he nodded to her. No one had ever mentioned his stolen

glider or missing clothes. She strapped the two bags to her glider by her feet where they

wouldn’t be noticed. Two guards watched her leave the ground on her glider and head

south toward the fields where the war games were held.

When she felt certain she was out of view from her home, Ana veered and flew to

the east. She punched buttons on her landlink to make sure she followed the course

Roth had sent her. Then she pushed the glider to full speed, and watched the

countryside beneath her race by in a blur. Waves of excitement and fear surged through

her, forcing her heart to pump faster and blood to flow through her veins with an

energy she couldn’t define. She didn’t know what to expect when she reached the other

side of the mountains, and she had no idea what lay in store for her immediate future,

and that realization thrilled her. Her routine life was behind her, and the unknown lay

ahead. Ana couldn’t wait to get started on her adventure.

But as she flew over the majestic mountains, the thrill of adventure grew clouded

with fear. The mountains were jagged rock, with tall, thin evergreens scattered in

patches. She reached their peaks and couldn’t help moving in closer to get a better view

of the snow-covered rocks and valleys.

Her landlink logged her course and she saved it to memory. She had no idea when

she’d return home but it would help to know how to get there. It wasn’t until she

started descending the other side that the nerves returned.

Trees like no others she’d seen in her life grew for miles and miles below her. She

saw no sign of any people and resorted to her landlink for help. There were twenty

people on the ground right on the edge of the forest. She couldn’t see them from her

glider and wasn’t about to fly up to a group of people in a nation she’d never been to

before.

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She landed on the side of the mountain, and climbed off her glider and stretched.

There was a sweet smell in the air that wasn’t on the other side of the mountain. She

reached for her viewer and scanned the forest. The trees were extraordinary. Their

leaves were a rich green and at least several feet long. As she adjusted her viewer she

saw the branches were incredibly large as well. The forest was thick and she couldn’t

see through the branches to the trunks of the trees or to the ground.

“Hello, beautiful.” The sound of the man’s voice behind her made her jump and she

let out a yelp. She turned quickly and stared into Roth’s grinning face.

“Roth,” she whispered, and relished the sensation as he met her eyes and pulled her

into him. She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I can’t believe I’m here. But why

didn’t I detect you? All I picked up was a group of people at the edge of the forest.”

“This side of the mountain has a landlink-enforced field on it. Your equipment

won’t be able to detect anything. Our camp is right on the edge of the field so you could

detect it.”

They were still in each other’s arms and she had no desire to move. She was

experiencing that same feeling she had when they were together last. Not once had she

ever felt like this when Andru held her. Roth finally pushed her to arm’s length and

looked down at her. She met his gaze evenly and smiled as the pulling sensation

gripped her. Not once did she look away.

“You don’t look away from me,” he whispered.

“I have nothing to hide,” she answered and grinned.

He shook his head as if to clear her from him. “How much time do you have before

you figure you’ll be missed?”

“About three hours, but I’ve already used up one of those hours getting here.”

“Okay, we don’t have much time.” He looked up and gestured with several fingers.

Suddenly there were a handful of servants surrounding them and Roth quickly issued

instructions to everyone. Within minutes they were boarding gliders that looked similar

to the Neurian gliders Ana studied in her classes.

There was a bench to sit on instead of a motorcycle seat to straddle. They were

controlled by two small handlebars and the configuration of their dash was completely

different. The domes that covered them were tinted black and she couldn’t see Roth

once he closed himself into his glider. She flew slowly down the mountain surrounded

by his guards and servants. Roth flew very close to her and she felt his presence even

though she couldn’t see him.

The small campsite quickly stirred to action when Roth landed. He jumped out of

his glider then came over to stand by Ana as she climbed off hers. Ignoring the curious

glances of his men, Ana allowed Roth to guide her past a large open fire pit to a long

dome-shaped trailer parked next to a tree trunk that was almost the same size. She

looked up at the tree in amazement.

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“You’ll grow accustomed to them soon enough.” He smiled and gestured to the

trailer. “As I said, we have no time to waste. Consider this your home away from