6
EZLA
“Excuse me. I need to use the ladies’ room.” I ignore my father’s glare digging into the back of my helmet as I exit the meeting room without another word. He can beat me for my insolence later. Right now, I have things to do, and I am not wasting the first opportunity I have been given.
Striding through the halls of the Techtis Council building, I put as much distance between us as possible.
Even knowing he would not act so rude in front of others as to leave mid-discussion, I keep each step long and efficient as I move across the ground floor, back held perfectly straight, chin high.
A couple of days have passed since that fateful morning, and I still have not yet managed to go through things with my men.
I cannot risk it. I still cannot believe it was, in fact, morning where I had originally thought it was the middle of the night—I had assumed it was far earlier than it really was when I was first woken up as I usually get out of bed when most are still asleep.
But I had been so . . . so consumed by my Bonds that I did not immediately realise it was not the middle of the night at all, and more than that, that the time I would usually wake for training had long since passed, which is simply obscene.
However, I cannot think more on the meaning of that at this very moment when my father so politely requested along with everything else that I not speak to my men mind to mind, and although I will not be listening to that particular command as I am quite certain he has no way to tell if I will obey it, I do not trust my Bonded to be able to keep their reactions concealed, so I must wait until we are in the only secure location once more.
Game 4 is fast approaching, so today, I have been continuing their air training.
I am pleased with my Bonds’ results, their constant improvements, and while I could also be pleased with their behaviour, I am more tempted than I have been in quite some time now to sink some deadly Avri into their skin.
Even if I am aware they must act the part for the hidden cameras and am relieved that my sensible one quickly figured out the appropriate course of action when he found me on the couch in our lounge with my father, I cannot help but be incensed every time they disrespect me.
The father who is keeping me on a tighter leash than ever before, his eyes keener, too.
He is truly getting on my last nerve. How can any one person be such an irritant?
Father has me attending meetings with him, eating every meal of the day with him. He watches me brush my teeth and hair, keeps his attention on me even when I am using the toilet. He makes me shower with him, sleep in his bed, please him as he wishes.
And I let him.
Without complaint.
I will not risk a single one of my Bonds.
However, this is the first moment I have been able to escape with a clear plan in mind. One with risks I am going to have to take, because I do not see another way. Besides, I can simply kill anyone who pisses me off.
The Neutral guard manning the door to the level below the ground floor stiffens as I descend the steps towards him. “Miss Zefron.”
“I seem to have forgotten the password. Let me in,” I say bluntly.
His mouth opens and closes behind his clear taalk visor in a way that would be comical if he were not wasting precious seconds.
The glare I jab into him through my own one-way visor promises a slow death if he does not get a move on as I come to a stop at the bottom of the stairs.
Clearing his throat, he stammers, “I—I apologise, but I can’t let you in if you don’t have the pass—”
“I have just informed you of my forgetfulness. How else am I meant to remember the password if I am not told again?”
“Well, I— That’s not—” He draws himself up to his full height, and my eyes narrow to slits, teeth smacking into each other as I am forced to tip my head back to keep my line of sight on his face.
Now collected, he tries once more, although I find myself mildly gleeful as he continues to tremble due to my presence alone.
“Your father himself changed the password just the other day and has sworn me to complete secrecy—”
“Yes. My father. So you do understand with whom you are speaking, and yet you still lack the intelligence to understand the power I hold and the access I am automatically granted around this building.” He splutters, and I continue without pause, “Have you or have you not seen me passing through this door without issue plenty of times over the years?”
“Ah, yes, but with your father—”
“In the past, yes. But I am a woman now, and I do not need supervision.”
“But—”
“Must I retrieve the Game Master? He will not be happy if he is disturbed. My father is kind and merciful”—has a bigger lie ever been told?
—“but he does not appreciate his daughter being treated in any way other than what I deserve. Or maybe, I shall simply . . .” Slowly, I reach a hand over my shoulder, and the pale green stare before me widens in undiluted terror as that hand returns with a manifested armoury stick in it.
“That—that won’t be necessary!” he all but shrieks, my crimson blade illuminating a drop of sweat as it rolls down his colour-leached forehead before he whips around to jab the code into the panel beside the impenetrable door in the wall.
Why he did not have this reaction in the first place, I do not know.
If I am losing my touch because of the men I have claimed as mine, they will be receiving a thorough punishment they will not soon forget. I already have so many exciting ones lined up for Scotty and my temperamental one.
After tracking each of his finger’s movements, I store the digits in my mind for another time, and when the taalk before me slides away from the wall to disappear into the one on the right, I start to move through the revealed doorway, before pausing beside the quivering middle-aged man.
Twirling my Avri dagger in my hand, I say absently, “You will keep this between us, yes? We would not want you to lose your job . . . or anything else.” I add the last part while my eyes drag over him leisurely, letting him know that I am far from opposed to chopping any inch they touch off as I purposely move my head to display where my attention is moving behind my helmet.
Face draining of any colour that had managed to previously remain, the Neutral’s head bobs frantically.
“Hm.”
Leaving him to piss himself, I make my way into the hallway that has been presented to me, footsteps increasing in speed as I recall that I am on a time crunch.
At the end of the hall, there is another door, this one’s panel requiring a fingerprint. Narrowing my eyes, I wonder if he would be so arrogant—
The taalk slides away at the press of my thumb.
Yes. Father would.
And he told me my intelligence was lacking as of late.
Almost every individual in the room ceases all movement when I enter the first Avri lab.
Terror permeates the air in record time, and I do experience a small slither of bliss at their reactions.
They are always the same, and yet I note with increased delight that the fear is repeatedly more overpowering when I am not with my father.
It is as though they think he is able to control me, and I almost snort.
Before realising that is no longer an appropriate reaction. Before I remember he can and is controlling me now that he has leverage over me.
A snarl escapes me, and the frightened stares zoned in on my every twitch widen further. “Tell me where the cameras are made for the Games,” I instruct sharply. “I cannot recall.” More like I have never been shown, but I would like to see them argue against me.
My eyes skip over the multicoloured transparent clusters of energy contained in large see-through tubes throughout the room as I stare every staff member down, impatience converting to ire when no one obeys in a snap.
“Is everyone so eager to meet my Avri today?” Marching forwards, I snatch up the nearest worker, finding my gloved fist full of a handful of a red-adorned white lab coat, and I drag the Exot after me as I move through the blinding-white space.
She lets out a tiny petrified noise that I pay no mind to, legs carrying me determinedly down the hallway which leads to many other labs, a door to both my left and right every handful of feet. “It is none of these. Where is it?”
“I-I—”
“Stop stuttering and tell me before I remove your useless tongue. I am not in the mood for patience today.”
“I’m not supposed to go in that one!” she blurts.
“Which one?” I grind out.
“The—”
“Daughter.”
Rigidness captures each limb.
The almond-skinned woman rushes from my grasp in an instant, moving closer to my father as if he is any safer of an option.
Idiots. All of them.
Taking my time turning to face my sperm donor, I reply evenly, “Father.”
“I see your curiosity got the best of you.” His smile is designed to look warm for our spectator, and I roll my eyes behind my visor, relishing in the tightening of his fabricated expression when he senses my burning desire to strangulate him.
“Very much so,” I hum absently.
His left eye twitches before he flashes too-straight teeth at the woman beside him. “You may go. Thank you for your help. I will take it from here.”
With heated cheeks that have my nose crinkling in disgust, her lips curve gently before she scurries away.
Father’s eyes concerningly do not harden the moment she rounds the corner at the end of the hallway.
“The meeting finished early?” I ask tonelessly, folding my arms over my chest in a casual manner.
“Yes,” he replies too calmly as he moves over, and I find myself falling into step beside him as he walks between the purest-white walls.
I disappointingly cannot do anything other than that when we do not have complete privacy.
This is a show I have been starring in for years to present a united front to the rest of the Techtis Council.