Under Different Stars (21 page)

“Oh…right,” I reply softly, “I should just agree to be your consort and you’ll take care of me. What did you call it? A symbiotic relationship?”

“I’m sorry I said that. I propose a partnership between you and me. You need someone to advise you, Kricket.”

“And that’s you?”

“Who else will give you straight answers?” he counters, looking serious. “I know more about your gifts than anyone here. Though I have many questions…because there’s no one like you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can just…do it, can’t you? No preparation or trances you just…see.”

“Pretty much,” I admit. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yes.”

“Precognition…is it possible to learn?”

“For you, yes. I am quite sure you will develop it.”

“Really?”

“It was a gift your mother could do quite well—better than most,” he replies. “I have a question. The day I found you, what did you do to bring me there?”

“What?” I ask, feeling a burst of adrenaline course through me, and my spix prances forward in response to my knees tightening on its sides.

Kyon catches up to me easily, helping me slow my spix. “I didn’t know where you were in Chicago, and then…I was walking by the nightclub and I had an urge to enter. Trey found you at almost the same time. That was too big a coincidence to be random. Did you do something…special?” he asks, intrigued.

“No…I…” I trail off as my heartbeat increases. “I wished.”

“You wished…what did you wish for?”

“Home,” I reply, and Kyon’s smile becomes almost radiant.

“You wished for us to find you,” he says. “That’s extraordinary.”

“You’re saying that I brought you there?”

“I am. Be careful what you wish for, Kricket.”

“That’s silly, Kyon,” I murmur with a laugh.

“You’re so naïve, Kricket,” Kyon counters. “You probably don’t even see what’s happening here right now.”

“What do you mean?” I have to lean nearer to him as I avoid a tree limb in the path.

“You don’t find it strange that there are no other females here?” he inquires. I shrug, raising my brow in question. “It’s because we’re all potential suitors for you. Ateur Victus and Ateur Braedan are both unattached, powerful males. Ateur Gustoff has two unattached sons with a title from him and a title from their mother. You’ll go into your first swank already sought after by several elite in Rafe society.”

“What? You’re wrong. Victus is—”

“Intrigued and the one with the title, Kricket,” Kyon looks angry. “His brother is lesser royalty and already intended for someone else and he
will
step aside.”

“You don’t know Trey,” I say defensively.

“Ah, but I do know him,” Kyon counters in a quiet tone. “He always follows the rules. He is kind and generous to his family…he’ll make them proud of him. He may even encourage his brother to commit to you so that he can be near you…continue to protect you, but never touch you…never have you for himself.”

“That’s cynical, Kyon” I say, knowing he believes what he’s telling me.

“And you won’t commit to Trey,” he says, “for one simple reason.”

“Which is?” I counter, feeling cold.

“Because whomever you commit to here will be marked for death,” Kyon replies. “No Rafe can be allowed to produce offspring with you as far as the Brotherhood is concerned.”

“Do you have any friends at all, Kyon?”

“I hope that we can be friends. I don’t control the Brotherhood. I’m trying to help you,” he says, searching my face for understanding. “I’m not your enemy, Kricket. You’re one of us. You’re Alameeda.”

“I’m both Alameeda and Rafe,” I reply, looking straight ahead. “And right now, I wish I were human.”

Seeing that the path ahead will widen to accommodate another spix, Kyon says quickly, “You should come to me with any questions that you have about your gifts…or the prophecy. If I can help you, I will.”

“Why?” I ask, seeing that he’s being honest.

Smiling a real smile, he doesn’t look like such a knob knocker when he replies, “Because I like picturing you in the Loch of Cerulean…on the seashore collecting shells…with me.”

CHAPTER 17

NO FUTURE

I remain silent while riding alongside Kyon for much of the tour around the grounds. As my spix wanders nearer to Manus’s mount, I’m finding it difficult to listen to him speak to Ateur Gustoff about the Tectonic Peninsula. Trey is trying to make eye contact with me now. He has maneuvered his spix next to mine again, but I can’t look at him. If I do, I might tell him that I think he’s a
total
knob knocker for not warning me about what’s really going on here. Hearing from Kyon that I’m being “courted” is like getting slapped in the face.

Squeezing my knees lightly, my spix steps ahead and nearer to Ateur Gustoff on his mount. “I have spoken to several members of the House of Lords who believe that any bid for the Tectonic Peninsula will be seen as aggression toward Peney. This is a delicate matter,” he lies to Manus.

“Who is expressing these reservations?” I ask innocently. Trey’s spix nears mine again, but I ignore him.

Ateur Gustoff’s eyebrows shoot up at my question. “It would be indelicate to say, Fay Kricket,” he replies. “I was telling Haut Manus that I could use my sway in the House of Lords to smooth things over on this issue.” His hollow cheeks have no smile lines, nothing to indicate that he finds anything amusing.

“That shouldn’t be too hard for you,” I smile, knowing he’s fabricating the opposition. “How will you do that?”

“My son, Reven, could act as an ambassador to Peney, while I sway the Lords on our position.”

“How good of you,” I reply, wanting to roll my eyes but resisting the urge.

“I would like you to meet my eldest son, Reven,” Ateur Gustoff says. Watching Manus smile, I resist the urge to grind my teeth.

“Fay Kricket, would you like to join us for a race along the riverbank?” Manus asks, gesturing to the stretch of land to our west.

“Nooo,” I reply, shaking my head like he’s insane. “I don’t like the taste of dirt. This is a really good pace for me.” I continue to plod along slowly on number twenty-two.

Manus tries not to smile as he says, “Well then, we will see you tonight at dinner, Kricket.” I incline my head, relieved that I’m being dismissed from the frat party.

“I’ll ride back with Kricket. I have some things I need to attend to,” Kyon says to Manus. Manus’s eyes go to Trey’s. Seeing Trey incline his head to his Regent, I know he’s staying with me, too.

I follow Trey and am relieved when the stables come into sight. Number twenty-two must be feeling the same because he increases his pace toward his home. We stop at a paddock fence and I look down, trying to figure out how I’m supposed to get off my spix.

“Here, let me assist you, Kricket,” Kyon says, having already dismounted. He reaches up and plucks me off the saddle, holding me in his arms. “You’re so little.” Kyon grins while hoisting me up and catching me in his arms again like I don’t weigh anything.

Startled, my arms go around his neck. “Kyon!” I gasp, scared he’ll drop me.

“Put her down,” Trey orders, invading Kyon’s space and eyeballing him like he’ll take Kyon’s head off the moment he puts me on my feet. Wayra is right next to him, looking like he could pounce at any moment, too.

“Why, Trey?” Kyon asks in a low tone, holding me closer to him. “I’m the answer to all your prayers. I’ll take her far away from here where you’ll never have to see her again, never have to wonder if she’ll be at the dinner party you have to attend or the swank you’re required to be at.”

“Kyon, put me down please,” I say softly, dropping my arms from his neck and seeing the deadly look on Trey’s face. Kyon lowers me slowly to my feet, but now I’m sandwiched between them. “Trey…Trey…” I say with both my hands on his chest. Trey’s eyes meet mine, but I’m not sure he actually sees me.

In an instant, Trey has me safely behind him and Wayra takes it from there, leading me away from them. “Wait,” I say, trying to see what’s happening, but Wayra doesn’t listen, ushering me to the waiting skiff. Wayra stuffs me in the backseat, shutting the door and climbing into the driver’s seat. We wait for several minutes before Trey gets in.

When I glance at Trey’s face, he looks like he could chew steel. “What did he say to you?” Trey asks stiffly as the skiff moves forward.

“When?” I ask, not liking his tone because it sounds more like an accusation than a question.

“Before you speak again, know that I’m not playing games. You’re entirely too brilliant not to know what I’m asking you, so don’t evade my questions with your own.” Trey’s hostility simmers just below the surface.

“Kyon said a lot of interesting things. He let me know what was really happening on our ride today,” I reply with my own hostility. “Maybe you should’ve told me that I was being paraded around like a piece of meat. I like to know what I’m facing when I go into battle and you didn’t have my back.”

“I had your back! I thought that if you knew, you’d feel awkward and say something off color to make a bad impression.”

“SO! You did know!” I retort with my eyes narrowing at him.

“It’s PR, Kricket!
The goal is to help you fit into society. Being sought after by the elite means that doors will open for you.”

“Do I look like I care about any of that, Trey?” I ask, seething. “I have a job—one that will pay me more money than I could ever have expected to make. I’m an advisor to the Regent. I can save my money, maybe buy an apartment in the city and have my own life.”

“Kricket,” Trey says, rubbing his eyes. “You know that’s not an option for you.”

“So you agree with Kyon—that I either have to commit to some powerful Rafe jerkwad who can
try
to protect me from the Alameeda or accept the ultimate, blond jerkwad and whatever the Brotherhood has in store for me?”

“You will be protected from the Brotherhood! There’s no way you’re going to commit to Kyon, no matter how
cozy
you get with him!” he retorts, like he has the ultimate say in this.

“Cozy? Did you just say
cozy
?” I sputter, glaring at him.

“You had your arms around him!” Trey says, like I threw myself at Kyon.

“I was afraid he was going to drop me!”

After we pull up in front of the hunting lodge and Wayra stops the vehicle, I open my own door and storm into the manor. Jax rises from his seat with the other Cavars in the room near the fireplace. He drops his cards when he sees my face and asks, “Kricket?”

I hold up my hand, blowing by him and heading to the staircase. I just make it to the first step when Trey’s hand wraps around my upper arm, ushering me with him to the second floor. Trey enters my bedroom with me and slams the door shut.

Trey points his finger at me angrily. “No matter what Kyon says to you, he’s not your friend. He is smart and manipulative and he knows exactly what to say to get you to…”

“To get me to what?”

“To get you to trust him.”

“Trey, you don’t understand anything,” I mutter. “He has information that I need…that I crave. He knew my mother—he knows about precognition—”

“You can develop your gifts on your own—in your own time. You don’t need to learn anything from him. And the proof is that you’re already more powerful than they ever expected.”

I take off my riding helmet and toss it on the chair. “Kyon said I could ask him anything and he’ll give me a straight answer. I have to find out what the Narc meant when he said that I’m the prophecy,” I rub my chin.

“No,” Trey says sternly.

“No? Why not?”

“Because Kyon is dangerous,” Trey replies, like I’m a child.

“Well, so am I,” I say, lifting my chin a notch. “I can handle Kyon.”

“Handle him…did you say handle him?” Trey asks rhetorically. “You’re no stronger than a kitten. How are you going to handle him?”

“Uhh,” I mumble as Trey comes closer to me, invading my personal space again. “I’m stronger than I look, Trey. Even Jax said so.”

“You think you’re strong? Handle me then, Kricket,” he says, pulling me to him with his hands on my upper arms.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I whisper, feeling my entire being light up at the nearness of him.

“How can you hurt me, Kricket, when I’m so much stronger than you?”

I gaze into his eyes, seeing his brows drawing together in anger. “If I lean in…” I say softly, focusing on his lips, “close to you…so close that it makes my breath catch in my chest, and then I…” Closing my eyes, I brush my lips gently against his, feeling heat rush through me as Trey’s hands slip to my back, crushing me to him.

I wrap my arms around the back of his neck and speaking against his lips, I continue, “then I could just let the common symmetry that exists between us force you to see that you’re mine...” I kiss him, “and I’m lost without you...”

Slowly tracing his lips with mine, he begins responding to my kisses with his own, before I pull back from him a fraction. I squeeze my eyes shut tight and say, “And then, I could tell you that none of that matters in this world…that because we share this common symmetry, the space between us will be filled with an undeniable gravity…pulling us toward one another. So that, when you commit to Charisma, we can’t be friends, because my heart won’t understand the distinction. It won’t understand that you’ll be hers…not mine.”

Trey’s arms tighten around me as he leans his forehead against mine. Softly, he whispers, “Kricket…”

I give a humorless laugh. “As it turns out, my heart isn’t made of stone…no matter how much I wish that it were.” My fingertips slip to his chest, feeling his rock hard strength beneath them. “But it doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn’t?” He lifts my chin so that I’ll look in his eyes.

“No…I’m going to ask Manus to replace you as my bodyguard, Trey,” I reply, feeling like I’m choking.

“WHAT?” Trey scowls, like he can’t believe what he’s hearing.

“You can’t stay here. Kyon isn’t blind—it must be written all over my face when I look at you. Anyone I love is a threat to him and he has the Brotherhood behind him,” I say, feeling adrenaline ignite in my blood as the look on Trey’s face goes from angry to deadly.

“What did he say to you?” Trey asks, his violet eyes narrowing.

“He just told me what you already know. Anyone I love will be marked for death,” I whisper, feeling overwhelming sadness hit me.

“I thought you were a fighter, Kricket,” Trey says. “You’re just going to give in to Kyon because he will retaliate if you don’t?”

“I am a fighter, Trey,” I say, pulling out of his embrace and straightening my spine. “But, I don’t want you here!”

“That’s not your decision, Kricket.”

“I’m making it my decision.”

“You need me and I’m staying here.” 

“Not if I insist that you leave,” I reply, feeling instantly irritated with him because he’s totally ignoring the fact that I just told him that I love him.

“How will you argue for my reassignment with Manus?” Trey asks me quietly.

“I’ll just tell him that I’ve developed…certain feelings for you that makes it hard for me to be around you everyday.”

Seeing Trey try to suppress a frown, he glances away and says, “Manus won’t relieve me of my duties because you have a crush on me.”

“A…crush? Did you say a
crush
?” I want to hit him as my cheeks flood with color.

“Yes. You’re young and we have been in some very unorthodox situations together. It’s inevitable that certain feelings would arise, but…they’ll pass,” he states, like he’s a seasoned veteran when it comes to this kind of thing.

Closing my eyes, I want to die right here. My throat tightens. “You don’t think that I’m capable of love?”

“You’ve only known me a few rotations…you’re only a few floans old—you’ve been raised in the near absence of love, Kricket,” he says softly.

“Trey, you can tell me you don’t want my love or that you don’t love me, too, but don’t
ever
tell me what I feel or don’t feel,” I warn him, crossing my arms.

“You can’t love me,” he says seriously, looking like he’s in pain now. “It’s impossible.”

“It’s not impossible because I do love you,” I reply heatedly. When he just stares at me and doesn’t say anything, my heart throbs painfully in my chest. “Well,” I say quietly, “at least it’s just my heart, not yours. You should be relieved. Now you can be done here and go back to your life.” I walk to the door and open it for him. Looking straight ahead, I wait for him to walk through it.

“I’m not going to step aside. You need me here, especially with Kyon in residence,” Trey pauses on the threshold. “You’re just confused right now…it will pass.”

I raise my chin, feeling like he slapped me. “Lucky for me I have your wisdom to guide me.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Kricket, so save yourself the embarrassing conversation with Manus. We can talk about this when you’ve had time to think about it.”

“Can’t wait,” I reply, holding my breath until he leaves the room. Closing the door, I lean against it, wanting badly to pound my head against it for being so stupid.
What did I expect from Trey
I ask myself,
a declaration of undying love? He loves someone else and I’m just a…what do they call it? A lurker.