“I don’t know exactly. I think it’s called Icentris. Blake’s son is supposed to be taking my sister there now.”
“Icentris? The prison holding Macon? And why is Blake’s son with your sister?”
“He’s one of her Guardians. She claims we can trust him.”
“Why would Blake want to imprison her? It makes no sense.” Alexander returned to his seat with a far-off expression.
“He’s power hungry and wanted her out of the way.” I didn’t actually know his motivations, but those seemed logical.
Pure rage flashed across Alexander’s face. “That snake! I should kill him for hurting Emma!”
“So does this mean that we have the support of the Nordicos?” I attempted to keep my optimism at a reasonable level.
“No. You do not.”
“But—”
“Let me rephrase it. You do not have our support. We do, however, support getting revenge for what happened to Emma. Now if your goals and our goal happen to coincide, then so be it.” I could have sworn there was a faint smile behind Alexander’s eyes, but I pretended not to notice.
“Okay, then.” I didn’t want to push my luck, so I let it slide.
“I must prepare my men.” Alexander shot out of his chair and was across the room before I even registered his words.
By the time I got to my feet, he had started walking out the door of the pub with his advisors on his heels.
Bry strolled over with a grin. “I take it he is on board?”
“Yeah, he’s on board.”
“Okay, now it is time to start planning.” Bry never ran out of energy.
Samantha appeared beside me. “I think he deserves the rest of the night off.”
“Fair enough.” Bry returned to the others. It surprised me how easily he gave in. Maybe he had planned it that way all along.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” she said.
I followed Samantha outside in a bit of a daze. Between getting too much information about men interested in my mom and the stress of how we were going to fight off Blake, I really needed a break.
***
Samantha led us through the winding streets of Alak. We didn’t talk, but it was a comfortable silence. When we’d first arrived in the city, it seemed like an endless row of buildings and canals, but Samantha showed me an amazing park in the middle of the city.
After following a winding path lined with white trees, we ended up sitting on a rock overlooking a small pond. A wooden bridge spanned the length of the pond, lit up by twinkling lights. With the skyline as a backdrop, the view was incredible, and we were far enough in the park that the sounds of the city had faded into a dull hum. The night was warm, but a slight breeze kept blowing Samantha’s hair into my face.
“If my hair is bothering you, I will put it back up.” Samantha shrugged, and I couldn’t tell if she meant it as a joke. “I wanted to get the smoky smell out of my hair.”
“It’s not bothering me at all. It’s pretty.” I went with honesty. Even if it did smell like smoke I wouldn’t have cared. Man, I had it bad.
As we sat on the rock, I couldn’t help myself. Before I knew it, I was running my fingers through her hair. I usually went for brunettes, so it surprised me how much I liked her nearly white hair.
“Thank you.” She smiled awkwardly as though she wasn’t used to compliments.
“So, are you strict about the ‘no physical contact’ rule?” Mortification engulfed me as the words tumbled out of my mouth. They sounded fine floating around my head, but not so much when I heard them out loud.
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, I heard that things are pretty strict in Energo, and I didn’t want to get in trouble.” God, I was seriously making things worse. I decided to just take a chance. I leaned toward her, gently cradling her head in my hand. I’d kissed plenty of girls, but I’d never been as nervous as I felt in that moment. At first, she didn’t respond, and I wanted to kick myself. Then, her hands were in my hair, and she was kissing me back. It felt so good to feel her body pressed against mine. The kiss was perfection. We were both a little breathless afterward, looking at each other with amazement.
“I guess you don’t follow that rule,” I said with a chuckle.
“I never had a reason to worry about it before.” She smiled, and I realized that it had probably been her first kiss.
“Wow. I’ve been waiting a long time for that.”
“I bet you were,” Samantha joked.
“Can you blame me?” I figured two could play that game.
“I admit I was wrong about you, Kevin.”
“Wait. You’re admitting you were wrong?” Something told me that was a rare occurrence.
“Don’t get used to it. It won’t happen again.”
I panicked for a second, thinking she meant the kiss, but then she leaned over and kissed me again. The second kiss didn’t get quite as intense as the first, but it was still unreal.
“So what changed your mind? I mean, in what way were you wrong about me?”
“I thought you were weak.” She paused. “But no weak man could have handled what you have in the last few days, nor manage a kiss like that.”
“You thought I was weak?”
“Not physically weak, Kevin. Although I did easily take you down the first time we met.” I cringed at the memory of her knocking me around. “I mean weak in other ways. I honestly did not know whether you had it in you to be a true leader. I was wrong.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“I know so. We are going to pull through this.”
“You think?” I was feeling a heck of a lot more confident after kissing her, so I was really asking rhetorically.
“Yes. But for now, let us focus on something else.”
“Like what?”
“On us.” We both leaned in at the same time. I knew it was going to be a good night.
Chapter Nineteen
Charlotte
It felt like pushing through a fog when I opened my eyes to find myself in Calvin’s arms. “You’re still here.” It took so much effort to get the words out.
“Yes, I am with you now and always.” Calvin smiled, readjusting me so I could sit up.
I tried to forget everything else for a moment and simply enjoy being close to him. As the fog cleared, I felt alert, the exhaustion of earlier having melted away. Memories from Icentris flooded me, and I wondered how long I had been out.