CHAPTER NINETEEN #2
“Yes, my first Mate was friends with him,” Nora said. I instantly understood why she would opt for a new Mate if her first had been Edward. I felt terrible for Nora. Edward and William both seemed like horrible Mates.
“Why did they grow estranged? The Press never covered it. They were inseparable,” William said, taking a drink.
Nora glanced up momentarily, opening her mouth, but stopped as a worker distributed our food.
“I love that soup,” Nora told me, leaving her food untouched. I reached for my glass, finishing the last bit of bubbles.
“Mate, I asked—”
“I can get more. I need to use the facilities anyway,” Nora interrupted, tearing herself away from William.
“We can summon someone for more drinks,” William said, placing his hand on her leg. Nora’s eyes dipped to his hold on her. Collin shifted next to me, his leg bumping into mine.
“It’s fine,” Nora assured him, a smile appearing as her eyes went to the wall of water. “It is the least I can do for insulting Emeline.” She pulled her leg from his grasp, waiting for him to move.
“Nora, get the one I like,” Collin instructed. William glanced toward him as he begrudgingly rose from the booth, letting Nora leave. I took a small taste of my soup, and savory decadence burst across my tongue.
I watched as Nora walked away, grace in each of her steps.
Most of the Elite watched her leave, several women whispering behind jeweled hands, but Nora seemed unaffected.
I wondered what they could possibly say about a fellow Elite member with an Illum brother.
The water curtain parted as she approached it; seconds later, it fell once more, and Nora disappeared.
Collin leaned in, dragging me from my thoughts. “How is the food?”
“It’s delicious.” I glanced toward his plate, where slimy, unappealing food sat. It looked disgusting. “Yours?”
“Would you be surprised if I said I enjoyed it?” Collin confided, eating another.
“So you don’t like tomatoes, but you like that?” I asked, repulsed.
“You don’t like tomatoes, Collin?” William inquired. “You know both are essential for procreation in males.” William looked toward me. “I am one of the head members of the Health and Nutrition Department. I oversee the distribution of nutrients throughout the city.”
While I debated asking him about the mush given to Minors while the Elite ate real food, Collin pushed his plate away. “I do not prefer them.”
“Interesting. Do you know what else is interesting?”
I took another spoonful of soup, positive we were about to find out. I focused on my soup to avoid the eye roll that fought to be free. Collin’s leg brushed against mine once more.
“These mishaps that keep happening and this Reaper everyone is talking about.”
Unease found me, but so did my interest as my heart picked up its pace. Violet had said they needed whatever information I could get.
“What’s interesting is the Elites’ need to spread gossip that questions the Illum’s capabilities,” Collin said with quiet menace, his leg leaving mine. “The need to discuss a man who has already signed his elimination. It is only a matter of time.”
William sat up straighter. “I fully support the Illum and know they will prevail like they always do.” William cast me a look.
“And when was it decided that support meant gossiping?” Collin asked, an edge to his voice.
“I believe that occurred around the same time the Illum chose new ways of operating. It has left some of us uneasy. As loyal supporters, I believe they want answers. That is all.”
I didn’t need him to clarify to know I was the new way of operating. A Defect Mated to an Illum.
“New ways of operating?” Collin asked, tilting his head. I worked to swallow at the dangerous look in Collin’s eyes. “Is that what they are calling it?”
William shifted under Collin’s gaze, his survival instinct perhaps finally kicking in. “Like I said, they are simply curious and would like answers. Nothing more.”
“You’ll receive answers tomorrow at the dinner,” Collin said. “Not that the High Council deserves them.” Collin drained his glass of bubbling liquid.
“High Council?” I asked despite myself.
“A group of Elite who have shown unwavering support to the Illum. They present their findings for the Illum to pass judgment,” Collin told me, his tone gentler.
“Your entire family is on it. Well, besides Gregory. Will your Mate grace the Elite with her presence?” William probed, watching me.
Collin leaned forward, his eyes dark. “It would seem you’ve misinterpreted a few things. Your contract with my sister doesn’t offer you protection from the Illum’s fury.”
“My apologies,” William muttered.
The attendant replaced our plates, including Nora’s untouched dish, with our main courses. The waste sickened me. I had never seen an empty plate, besides my own, be taken away. Collin and William sat in silence in Nora’s prolonged absence.
I looked around the room; our table was closer to the entrance now. But Nora was nowhere to be seen.
“I will go find her,” William informed us, repetitively tapping his knuckles on the table.
“I would rather Emeline go. There are some things I need to discuss with you.” Collin glanced at me, his voice softening. “If you’re agreeable?”
“Of course,” William said, tapping the table. “As the Illum insist.”
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Collin told William without looking his way.
“All right,” I told him. Sick satisfaction found me at the look on William’s face.
Collin exited the booth, waiting for me. Slowly, moving the layers of red fabric, I came to stand before him. “Thank you,” he said, nodding. A piece of his pristine hair fell out of place.
Without a thought, I tucked it back, brushing the shell of his ear. Collin seemed to hold his breath as he gripped my waist, the warmth heating my bare skin. Our gazes clashed, and I found his sapphire eyes wild. My traitorous heart slammed into my chest at the memory of his lips against mine.
Was that real desire in his eyes, or was this just another immaculate performance for the Press? He watched me, his eyes questioning—waiting.
Are you content being his vessel? Or do you want power?
Was this a game? All the questions I hadn’t asked wedged their way between us.
A buzz rippled across the room. Words flew behind jeweled hands, but his eyes held mine as he ignored our audience.
“They are all watching us,” I muttered. The same words I had said before he kissed me. Did I want that again?
“It is an unfortunate side effect of being mine,” Collin said, releasing my waist, his thumb caressing my skin one last time.
Quickly, I stepped away from the table, away from Collin’s magnetic field. Heads swiveled, following my every step, as did snippets of muttered conversations. “I am telling you I have seen her before”—“The Press”—“No, that isn’t it—”
I ducked my head and finally reached the wall of water, which parted as I stepped through. The rush of water drowned out the noise of the Elite.
My skin remained too warm from the way his gaze held me. The heat in his eyes had certainly seemed real, but I had been fooled once before.
I glanced down a long, shiny teal tunnel. It seemed endless, with no obvious doors to be found. I had only made it a few steps when a male voice seeped into the hall, a voice I knew.
“Don’t.”
I peered around the glossy hall, but it was empty. I turned, but I was alone. Then I heard it again.
“Please,” Gregory exclaimed, sounding desperate. “Don’t even say it.”
I heard a quiet female voice respond, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying. My stomach twisted. Gregory was here with Lo. This was their initial meeting. All Lo wanted was a Procreation Contract, and Gregory was here with another woman.
“I will wait,” Gregory growled. “I will never stop waiting for you.”
I shouldn’t be hearing this. Where was Nora? I spun around to retreat through the waterfall curtain when Gregory emerged from an almost invisible hallway door alone, locking eyes with me.
“Lost, little sister?” Gregory inquired. He leaned against the door, trapping the woman inside.
“I was looking for Nora.”
“The very end leads to the prep area,” Gregory informed me, pushing off the door and walking back toward the dining room.
“Your Mate, I know her. You’re here with her.”
Gregory looked at me and spat, “She isn’t my Mate yet. I’m here because they told me to. I didn’t choose this. I didn’t choose her.”
“Lo is a good person,” I said, unable to stop myself.
Gregory walked away, looking over his shoulder. “You see, little sister, that’s the problem; I am not.” He left through the wall of water.
I walked to the end of the hall only to find a prep room with men in gray holding platters, who looked at me warily and claimed no Elites had been down that way.
After ten minutes of searching, looking for more invisible doors in the hallway, I gave up.
Nora wasn’t here. I returned to the main room, scanning the slow-moving tables looking for ours. They’d all moved.
Gregory was with Lo again. He looked bored, a drink in his hand as Lo talked. I tore my eyes away, ignoring the looks as I searched for our table. Nora was there, William’s arm around her again, all smiles. How had I missed her?
Collin let me into the booth, his hand grazing my lower back. William let out a low whistle, sipping his full glass of bubbles.
I froze at the memory of the whistle that had pulled Hal away, the supporter who had whistled, staring at me with hatred. William’s whistle was utterly unlike those.
“Emeline, is something wrong?” Nora asked.
“It’s nothing.” I shook my head and took a long drink of bubbles. I wouldn’t mess up again. No one else would meet the same fate as Violet.
“Are you certain?” Collin asked, searching my brown eyes.
“I’m certain,” I assured them, then quickly changed the subject. “Where were you, Nora?”
“I think we just missed each other,” Nora told me, taking a sip. I felt Collin’s eyes on me. “I wish it was cloudy,” she said longingly as she looked out at the stars.
I felt Collin’s gaze leave me as he grabbed his glass. “But it isn’t,” he told his twin and downed the contents of his glass.
The rest of the evening was uneventful, the table chatting as if I weren’t there, which suited me fine. My meal had been delicious, but the cake that followed was divine. Collin and I didn’t exchange another word until he walked me to the Pod. Nora and William had hung back.
The moment the water fell, hiding the Elite from view, Collin turned toward me.
“You were quiet tonight,” Collin observed. “Are you all right, Emeline?” He glanced toward the attendant. Without a word, the man instantly slipped away into a break in the water I hadn’t seen, leaving us alone.
“Can I speak plainly?” I asked nervously.
“I would appreciate it if you always did.”
“The Press,” I said. “Is that why you kissed me? For them to publish it as a distraction for the Elite?”
Collin looked toward my lips. “Is that what you want it to be?”
“I want to know what it was to you.”
“Selfishness,” he told me. I stepped back. “Anything else?”
My nerves held me in a vise grip.
“You want to ask me about the Starlings, don’t you? You saw them tonight—I assumed you would have questions.”
Startled, my mouth dropped open. “I—I—” My eyes searched his.
“The Illum do not take lightly to anyone who spreads discord among the masses,” Collin said quietly. “I told you they will stop at nothing to silence it.”
My heart found my throat. “You questioned them. You’re the Enforcer.”
“I am.” His calculating gaze took me in, something brewing in those blue depths. I half expected him to demand to know how I had learned his true role, but he stayed silent.
“Did you . . .” I asked, unable to finish the question. Did you hurt them? There was talking plainly and then there was stupidity, but I wanted to know what he was capable of.
Collin shook his head.
“You didn’t?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter if I did or didn’t,” Collin said, walking to the waiting Pod outside.
“It does.” It did. I had to know.
“It doesn’t,” he assured me as the Pod doors slid open. I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off. “You already believe I did. Good night, Emeline,” he told me, dismissing me.
I closed my mouth, staring at the man I was Mated to. Unsure of what to say or believe, I gathered my dress and entered the Pod.
“Everyone has a role to play, Emeline,” Collin whispered as I passed him, a shiver setting my skin on fire as his warm breath brushed my bare shoulder.
I placed my wrist under the scanner, turning to face him. “Do you enjoy your role, Collin?”
Sapphire eyes went wide as the doors shut before he could answer.