Just One Kiss, page 17
She shielded her face with her hand. Okay, sure, she must have looked silly, but these people must realize she was new to all of this. Or did they? Her eyes landed on Luce, and she instantly regretted it. His face was screwed in anger. He stood and dropped his napkin on his plate, then stalked towards her like a lean black panther on the prowl. He tipped his head politely as he passed the other diners, but his eyes never left her. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t look away from his menacing approach.
He grabbed her arm when he got to her and turned her to the right without slowing his pace. She stumbled as he jerked her along with him.
“Perhaps you should stick with doors,” he said in an icy voice. Suddenly a door appeared on the far wall that Tamara was sure hadn’t been there before. His fingers dug into her skin, not quite painfully but hard enough to let her feel his dissatisfaction.
Under normal circumstances, she would have told him exactly what he could do with his irritation, but for now he was her best chance of escaping the cruel laughter still coming from behind.
Once they were in the hall, she shrugged out of his grasp. “Thank you for a lovely dinner,” she said sarcastically.
She rubbed her arm, wishing she could erase the chill of his creepy touch. “If you’ll point me in the right direction, I want to go to my room.” And my home and my old life.
She’d thought she wanted adventure, but if this was adventure, she didn’t want anything to do with it. It might be exciting, but it was also stressful. And scary. And embarrassing. Give her a spreadsheet with a nice-and-tidy life plan, and she’d be more than happy to follow it.
But what about Nick? her heart cried out, much to her annoyance.
When Luce didn’t say anything, she looked over to find him taking a deep breath with his eyes closed. His eyes suddenly opened, and she wanted to look away but the tenderness she saw there caught her off guard and held her gaze.
“Please forgive me,” Luce gently said. “The people who dine at Simone’s are very powerful. I so often worry about what they think that I forget they are simply people like the rest of us and do all I can to put myself in a good light before them.”
His face became gentle, almost boyish as he flashed, a humble smile. “Please,” he repeated. “This wasn’t how I planned the evening. Give me another chance. I know somewhere quiet we can go where I can answer as many questions as you choose to ask.”
He knew the right thing to say. She did want answers, but was she willing to stay with Luce long enough to get them? She snuck a peek at his innocent expression and let out a slow breath. He didn’t look dangerous now, but she still didn’t like him. Tamara gave him a curt nod. “Just for a little while,” she said. “I’ve had a long day and would like to return to my room soon.”
“Not a problem. I completely understand.” Luce took her hand and tucked it through his arm before patting it. His pace was sedate as he led her down a hall that looked exactly like all the other halls she’d been on. For all she knew, it was a different part of the same hall.
“Why couldn’t I walk through that wall?” she asked, determined to make good use of the time she had to spend with Luce. “I’ve done it before. I’ve seen others do it, yet it was solid and unyielding.” She reached up and rubbed her forehead, wincing when she felt a tiny knot.
“Did you envision yourself walking through it?” Luce asked in a conversational tone.
“Yes.”
“Did you ‘see’ your destination on the other side?”
“What do you mean?”
Luce glanced down at her. “Did you picture where you wanted to go when you walked through the wall?” he clarified.
“No, I thought you just ended up somewhere.”
“When you walked through other walls, did you end up in a random place or in an expected place?”
She thought about her few encounters with walking through walls. Nick led her to the command center when he was needed there, then to the bathroom when she’d needed to clean up. Her escort had taken her straight to the restaurant. Nothing random about any of it.
“Okay, so you have to picture where you want to go, but how does it work?”
Luce tilted his head to the side. “The basest explanation is that you have it within your ability to command your molecules and those around you. The wall itself has absolutely nothing to do with the transport. It’s more symbolic and makes it easier for some people to focus their energies. I, on the other hand, have no need for props.”
Before she could blink, they went from the hallway to a large room that reminded her of a study. Long couches and comfortable chairs were grouped around a massive fireplace built of alternating light and dark chunks of crystal. The walls were lined with shelves that towered above them. Instead of books, as she’d expected, they twinkled with beautiful, jewel colored lights.
Tamara slowed to a stop and let her eyes wander to the ceiling, a high, arched dome. Lights winked at her from as far up as she could see. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered, and turned to take in the rest of the room. “What are those lights?”
“Memories.” Luce strode across the room and sat in a red, high-backed chair that looked anything but comfortable. “Please join me.” He indicated a chair beside him.
Tamara slowly walked towards it, unable to tear her eyes away from the display of lights that glittered like jewels in the sun. Some grew brighter, catching her eye before fading almost to black. Others maintained a warm, steady glow. Still others flickered, undecided between one color and another.
There were colors she’d never seen before—or perhaps just never noticed. Intrigued, she tilted her head and walked past Luce to stand before a row of colors ranging from turquoise to lavender. The row just above it held bolder shades of yellows, oranges, and greens. One orb shone a warm, creamy blue. It was so beautiful. So absolutely unique. She reached to touch it.
“Stop!”
Surprised by the vehemence in his voice, she jerked her hand back and clutched it to her chest as she spun to face Luce. He had his hands braced on the edges of his chair and was poised to spring out of it.
Her heart fluttered at the look on his face. He was frightened, not angry as she would have expected from his tone. “I’m sorry.” She left the intriguing lights and settled into the chair beside him. “They’re so beautiful I couldn’t resist.”
“Try harder,” was his terse reply.
She gaped at him. Answers were suddenly low priority. Any curiosity she had about this place, about the lights, the walking through walls, was overshadowed with anger and humiliation. All she wanted was to get far away from the arrogant man beside her. She didn’t care if he was a pretty-boy and third in line to some throne. He was a jerk, plain and simple. He couldn’t go five minutes without saying something mean.
A fire roared to life in the fireplace, and she darted a look at it.
“It adds to the ambiance, don’t you think?” Luce ignored the rage that flowed off Tamara in visible waves. “What would you like to ask me?” His tone was light and conversational. Another quick change from the way he’d spoken before.
Tamara scowled at the fire tempted, by the offer but wishing she could tell him to shove his answers, and walk away. That hadn’t gone over too well in the restaurant. She had no idea where they were or how to get back to her room, and she sensed Luce would be perfectly content leaving her stranded if she made him mad.
“Where are we?” she blurted. She clenched her teeth and stared at flickering flames, wondering if he would tell her the truth if he did answer.
“South America would be the location you best understand. We are almost dead center in the Amazon jungle. An RD covering protects us directly and also extends protection to the area surrounding us, both for its benefit and ours.”
Tamara searched through the little she knew about geography. “Isn’t the Amazon jungle the largest rainforest on earth?”
“Thanks to us.” Luce leaned back in his chair. He crossed one leg over the other then folded his hands over his knee, drawing Tamara’s attention back to the triangles that were also in the fabric of his pants.
“What’s with the triangles?” she asked again. “Designer logo?”
Luce raised an eyebrow at her comment. “The strongest primitive structure. I’m sure you recognize it in the shape of your ancient pyramids.”
“Yes.” Tamara saw he watched her with interest. “What do the pyramids have to do with you?”
“What do they have to do with us?” Luce’s rich laugh reverberated through the room. “Your people probably wouldn’t have pyramids to this day if it wasn’t for us. It was one of many things we taught the Outsiders early on. Most of the great advancements of your people before your year 2000 were thanks to us.”
His story lined up with Nick’s. As hard as it was to believe, it started soaking in that what they said was true—or at least they honestly believed it was. Tamara wasn’t sure what it said about her, but she believed it too.
Questions rushed through her mind so fast she wasn’t sure where to start. She’d had plenty of questions before, but now everything Luce said drew even more to light. “Nick said something about an ice age killing all but a few people.” She decided to go back to the beginning.
Luce steepled his fingers and nodded congenially. “It was expected to kill everyone outside the protection of the RD. When we eventually started picking up signs of life, it was considered a miracle. Unfortunately, the fight to survive, over the generations, had dampened intellect and refinement. The descendants on the Outside were a very primitive people. Feeling guilt over what had befallen our brothers, as they ensured our survival, many risked their lives over the years to take our knowledge to the Outsiders and offer shortcuts to reestablishing their civilization.”
Tamara realized her mouth hung open and snapped it shut.
“Some people believe aliens visited ancient civilizations in flying saucers.” She couldn’t believe she was going to ask the next question, but she needed to know. “That wasn’t your people, was it?”
“Why? You think aliens from a galaxy light years away traveling all the way to Earth just to offer a struggling people building advice is more likely than us leaving the protection of our shield to help those who’d lost everything to save us?”
“Yes. No.” Tamara looked down at her hands. Was Luce being truthful, or was he lying to her with a motive? She was so overwhelmed with the thought of what he told her being true, it was hard to form her next question. “How did your people survive the ice age?”
“The RD shield protected everything within it from the extreme temperatures on the outside. We’re not certain how any Outsiders survived. The guess is that a few places on earth were slightly warmer than others.”
He lifted his shoulder in a careless shrug. “It wasn’t something that was tracked at the time because no one expected it. Using their base skills to hunt and make shelters took them through the worst of things. As the temperatures grew warmer and survival became easier, people once again focused on advancing their civilizations. It’s an innate goal, you know. Almost as strong as the desire to survive.”
Luce looked down at his fingernails then buffed them across his shirt. “I thought you might be interested in knowing why you and your friends are here.” He looked up and his eyes bored into hers.
Tamara nodded briskly. That was probably the most important question of all. “Absolutely,” she said. “Why are we here?”
A slow smile curved those cruel lips. “Fresh breeding stock,” he answered bluntly, watching carefully for her reaction. He grinned to himself as she visibly paled. “Every so often we bring Outsiders in to refresh the blood lines. One of our last visits to the Outside ended in disaster. Our ship was shot out of the sky, and our people were held prisoner and presumably destroyed.” This time it was Luce who turned to watch the bright flames lick over precious slabs of wood as he fought for control.
“It didn’t matter that we were trying to help them, that we’d been helping them for years. They fired at an unarmed ship and tortured the survivors, trying to make them confess they were from another planet, sent to destroy Earth.”
He rubbed a finger over his lip and sat quietly as the memories replayed themselves in his mind. Two ships were sent out. Only one returned, and it wasn’t the one his dad was on. He straightened in his chair as he tightened the grip on the pain and anger that wanted to escape.
Someday he’d have his revenge. Even now, the weapons that would destroy the Outsiders were under secret construction. He gritted his teeth. Why the fools working for him would leave the storage door visible, much less unlocked, was beyond him. He clenched his hands into fists before forcing them to relax. Hopefully it had been a recruit who stumbled across the room and left the lights on. They wouldn’t have a clue what they were looking at. Now, if someone like Nick had been the one to find his weapons ...
“Anyway,” he sucked in a deep breath and resumed his conversational voice, “that was the last time we risked taking ships out. Our scientists recently developed a direct transporter, though, and, well, here you are.”
“Breeding stock?” Tamara said in disgust, unable to digest more at the moment.
“That must sound crude to you,” Luce offered, feigning sympathy. “It’s the reality of it, though. All Outsiders are told the truth and given the choice to stay here with a mate, never to return to their old lives or go back to what they’ve always known, but leave their memories with us.”
Tamara’s eyes flicked to the wall, and Luce followed her look. “Yes and no,” he answered her unspoken question. “Important memories are collected and saved. There are memories from Outsiders, but none are ever stolen. If given freely they’re added to our collection and fed into our central database.”
Luce suddenly leaned over and took Tamara’s hand in his. “I’m sorry. I’ve been short with you. You’ve been selected as a possible mate for me. Or Nick,” he reluctantly added. “When I was alerted that Nick was about to bind with you without giving you a choice in the matter, it made me so angry that I’m afraid it brought out my darkest side. I assure you there’s more to me than that. I hope you’ll give me a chance to prove it to you.”
So he had somehow known they were about to kiss and intentionally stopped them! She glared at him. She could be with Nick right now if it hadn’t been for Luce’s scheming. And Nick had most certainly given her a choice in the matter, hadn’t he? Or was he controlling her somehow? The unwelcome thought physically hurt. If she understood him correctly, a kiss would be the equivalent of a marriage license. Not something she would consider after knowing a person for two days if she was thinking clearly, right? So was he controlling her?
She pictured Nick as he’d looked when she first met him, young and a little clumsy. She’d liked him then. She liked him now. But was she willing to accept what he and Luce told her about this place and make a new life here?
She caught her sleeve and rubbed the unusual fabric between her fingers. She wanted to talk to Nick. His were the answers she wanted to hear, the ones she would believe. “Please take me to Nick,” she suddenly said out loud.
“What?” The placid look on Luce’s face contorted as he realized she would choose his cousin over him. He stood and towered over her, making her tilt her head back to look up at him. “You can see your precious Nick—after you’re bound to me.”
He said it so calmly it took a minute for Tamara to register what he intended to do. As he bent down to brace his hands on the arms of her chair, it suddenly made sense. Tamara leaned back as far as the chair would allow. His eyes were chipped ice and left Tamara no question of his intent. He leaned in to kiss her, and Tamara reacted reflexively. She ducked under his arm and sprang from the chair like a cornered rabbit.
Darting looks around the room, she searched for a door, a window. There had to be a way out. Luce turned to her with his lips curled back in a feral scowl. He straightened and took a slow, calculated step her direction. He knew she was trapped and enjoyed the thrill of the chase to come.
Yes, their powers would be greatest if the binding was voluntary, but at the moment that was the least of his concern. Now his only thought was to punish her—a cruel light burned in his eyes—punish Nick. How dare she choose his cousin over him?
Him! He was destined to rule Aerth. He would be the one to lead his people into a new way of life, and this Outsider was his key to doing so. She was his key to decimating those beyond the dome once and for all.
Tamara kept her eye on Luce, moving backwards until she backed into the wall. She ran her hands up and down the smooth surface, searching for a way out. Luce took another step towards her, and her heart thumped in overtime. From the intensity Luce was pursuing her, she sensed this binding thing was even more important than a marriage back home.
She scooted down the wall, feeling as she went for anything resembling a doorknob or latch, but came up empty. Luce picked up his pace and stopped directly in front of her. “You sure were eager to kiss my cousin. What’s the matter? I’m not good enough for you?”
Tamara shook her head from side to side, wanting him to leave her alone, but he took it as answer to his question. “Oh, really. Well, you’ll have a lifetime to change your mind about that. With the others out of the way, you and I will have control over Aerth, and I’ll have control of you.”
His hands landed on the wall on either side of her with a loud thud, pinning her in. The laugh that came from him was pure evil. He leaned in slowly, relishing the fear in her eyes. She was right to fear him.
Tamara was afraid of him, but she wasn’t giving up. She jerked her head to the side at the last second, forcing his lips to slide across her cheek. Reflex took over as she let out a cry and kneed him in the groin. He dropped his hands and howled in rage and pain. She didn’t know how long she had, but if Luce caught her now, she knew a kiss would be the least of her worries.
