Chapter 23
When they returned to their rooms, Zachariah entered first. He conducted a sweep of the bedroom as well as the bathroom, then proceeded to check the empty bedroom beside theirs. Only when he determined there were no threats did he tell Tate to enter.
She walked into the room, casting a light as she did. He sometimes forgot that the others couldn’t see in the dark. It made him all too aware of his base nature.
Tate didn’t seem to notice. She hummed as she moved around the room, performing a couple of turns that mimicked their dancing. When she twirled close to him, she grabbed his hand in an attempt to urge him to join her. Rather than resist, he moved in line with her and continued dancing.
“What is that you’re humming?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” she said with a smile. “Just one of the songs we heard tonight.”
He quirked an eyebrow. She couldn’t carry a tune to save her life.
When she laughed, he realized he had conveyed the thought to her. Fortunately, she already knew this about herself and wasn’t offended. Her eyes sparkled as she caught his gaze. He glanced at her lips and considered kissing the smile from her lovely face.
“Are you okay with the fact that Clara Kate named me the Kynzesti second commander?”
Coming to a stop at the abrupt question, he lowered his arms and frowned. “Of course. It’s an honor for you.”
She reached up and fiddled with his tie, not meeting his eyes. “I know. It’s just, well, that was once your role with the Gloresti.”
“I’m aware of that. It doesn’t diminish the achievement for you.”
Now she met his gaze. He recognized the worry there. “Okay, Sparky,” she said.
She gave him a small smile that he knew was meant to reassure. He watched her step away, watched the smile fall from her face when she turned from him. His eyes moved to the symbol marking her right shoulder blade. He wondered if she could ever know how significant that mark would always be to him.
“Tate,” he said. She looked back at him. He rarely used her name when addressing her. “The fact that you would ask me just reinforces why I love you so much.”
Her eyes widened. When her lips parted, a knock sounded at the door.
“Tate?” came Ariana’s voice through the door. “Would you like my assistance changing into your nightclothes?”
Zachariah continued to hold Tate’s gaze. He could tell by the moisture gathering in her eyes that her voice had failed her.
“We’ll be all right,” he called out.
“Okay. Good night.”
Not bothering to respond to the Lekwuesti, he pulled Tate closer. She pressed her cheek against his chest. He rested his chin on top of her head and wrapped his arms around her, inhaling her scent. When she continued to hold him, he trailed his fingers along the nape of her neck and along her shoulder. Then he traced her marking. She shivered.
“I wish we’d had more time to dance,” she said after a while. Her voice was muffled against his jacket.
Knowing he was the reason the ball was cut short for her and the others, he briefly closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“You should be,” she said. She lifted her head, prompting him to open his eyes to look at her. “You kept me from getting the other Estilorians to do the Chicken Dance.”
Blinking, he repeated, “‘The Chicken Dance?’”
“Yeah.” Now, she grinned. The guilt that had gripped him eased at the look in her eye. “Haven’t you heard of it? Okay…just picture
archigos
Ini-herit doing this.”
She stepped a few feet away from him and started humming again. Then she moved her fingers in what he assumed was the manner of a chicken beak moving up and down, followed by an exaggerated flapping of her arms and jutting of her chin. She looked…absurd.
While she was in an awkward squat halfway to the floor, she froze. He realized she had stopped humming. Her deep blue-green eyes rested on his face.
“What?” he asked.
She slowly rose back to her full height. Her expression ranged from disbelieving to ecstatic. “You—you’re smiling.”
“I am?”
Now, a wide smile spread across her face. “You sure are. And—wow. It’s totally sexy hot.”
“Is it?” When she got close enough, he reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her against him. “I’ll tell you what, Beautiful. If you let me see you in only those shoes and what you’re wearing beneath this gown again, I’ll give you all the sexy smiles you want.”
Ini-herit showered and changed into his sleep tank and pants when he returned to his room after meeting with Clara Kate and the others. As he tied his damp hair back, he considered what this new development meant—not only to all Estilorians, but to him.
There would be no more avoiding contact with Clara Kate. Although he knew his presence caused her pain, he was now a permanent part of her existence. She would require extensive training on the use of her new power. Each of the elders would work with her on discovering and developing her burgeoning abilities. As her power grew, so would theirs. He and the other elders would work with her one-on-one to ensure she had a well-rounded grasp of each of their innate abilities.
He realized that he looked forward to that time alone with her. It wasn’t a feeling he’d ever experienced before, so he wasn’t sure what to make of it. In light of the other unusual feelings he’d had regarding Clara Kate, he had to take this as a positive sign.
There have been an unusual number of thought intrusions at Central this evening
.
The thought flashed through his mind as he pulled back the cover on his bed. Malukali rarely expressed such concerns as this one, so it captured his attention as she warned all of the elders at once.
I’ll continue to monitor this, as will Knorbis
, she continued.
It could be a result of the masquerade. With so many beings trying to catch the attention of one another, there will naturally be unusual fluctuations in the use of mental abilities. But I want to explore this further to make sure it isn’t something more concerning
.
Ini-herit appreciated Malukali’s caution. These large events did tend to produce more reactions from their classes than usual, he mused as he climbed into bed. There was a sense bordering on urgency among those who rarely ventured from their class homelands to interact socially with the other classes. Although he didn’t really understand the reasoning behind this human-like ritual, he acknowledged its influence on Estilorian society, especially the younger generations.
Glancing at the door that separated his room from Clara Kate’s, he considered knocking and telling her this news. Since she wasn’t yet connected to the other elders, she wouldn’t know about Malukali’s observations.
After a moment, he decided not to alarm her. Malukali hadn’t implied that they were at risk. From what he understood, the Kynzesti were resistant to thought intrusion. Besides, Clara Kate preferred that he keep as far from her as possible. Closing his eyes, he decided he could at least fulfill this wish since he had failed her on so many others.
Clara Kate went to bed feeling exhausted, but she couldn’t sleep. Her body still buzzed with the elder energy that now permanently flowed through her. While it didn’t feel unnatural, it was still something to which she had to become adjusted.
After more than two hours of lying in bed without falling asleep, she tried taking a warm bath in her luxurious tub in an effort to relax. Despite the wonderfully scented bubbles, it didn’t help. When she returned to bed, her mind continued to spin over how dramatically her life had changed in the span of only days.
She was now an elder. As the Kynzesti class grew, she would work with her cousins to shape it. Someday, they might even have a reserved homeland here at Central. They would learn more about their skills and elemental abilities and integrate them with those of the other classes, using them for the betterment of all.
No pressure, though
, Clara Kate mused, rolling onto her side and flipping her pillow.
Regardless of her new elder status, she couldn’t help but wonder what others would think about her pregnancy. How could her class—or any other class, for that matter—respect her in light of her circumstances? Her mother and aunts had given birth at her age, sure. But they had been married and avowed, too. In fact, if it hadn’t been for their pregnancies, they might not have actually succeeded in fulfilling the Great Foretelling. Hard to question something like that, she thought.
The fact that her pregnancy had also resulted from a connection based on love wouldn’t likely earn her any points on the respect scale. She had chosen to have unprotected sex with Harry. Period.
No, she knew she’d instead have to earn her dues through her future actions. It was fortunate that her first decision as elder was such a no-brainer. Establishing her core leaders within the class hadn’t taken much thought at all. She and her cousins were as close as siblings. She knew their strengths and she knew there was no one else she trusted more.
The position of class commander involved direct support of the elder. It was a position for an unfailingly trustworthy and dedicated being, a description that applied to each of her cousins. Additionally, commanders had to make significant decisions in the elder’s absence, which required sound judgment and reasoning ability. Outside of her recent misjudgment concerning Quincy’s feelings for her, Sophia was the most balanced decision-maker Clara Kate knew. She had the ability to weigh all of the factors in a situation before forming a conclusion, a valuable trait that would make her an excellent commander.
The second commander supported both the elder and the commander. The position often entailed real-world training of the younger class members, such as when Zachariah led the group of young Gloresti to the mainland fifty years earlier. Beings in this role were valued for input gathered through regular interaction with their class and others, since elders often traveled from Central and commanders were usually left in control at their class homelands. She decided that Tate and Tiege would be co-second commanders. They had both learned a great deal in their recent adventures and would certainly learn more in time. They would then use that experience to train future Kynzesti.
As for her first lieutenant, Clara Kate chose her brother, Joshua. Like most lieutenants, he would work largely within the homeland to train their class. He had inherited their mother’s fighting skills and their father’s patience, a combination that would make him invaluable in this role.
With that decided and her cousins notably excited about their new roles and titles, Clara Kate was left with little to dwell on besides Ini-herit.
Placing a hand on her still-flat stomach, she thought again about the baby. She hadn’t ever dreamed of being a mother at such a young age. She hadn’t even thought she would fall in love until she was older and had more experience in relationships. But the feelings she had for Ini-herit developed so naturally on the human plane that she hadn’t even questioned them. It was like the two of them had been made for each other. Although she knew that most people didn’t meet someone and decide within a few months that they were meant to be life-long mates, she also knew that it hadn’t taken half that time for her to fall hopelessly in love.
Her parents had a relationship like that. Maybe because she had their love as a model, she understood how significant it was when she found it. She couldn’t explain it. It just…was.
That didn’t excuse her poor judgment in seducing Harry. She had really let her hormones get the best of her. It had been a decision far outside of her character. But that had really been the point, hadn’t it?
Now she had to pay the price. She supposed she would take some solace out of the fact that she wouldn’t be the first elder with a child. Of course, that thought made her think of her dad.
Wincing as she thought of the disappointment she was bound to produce when she told her parents that she was pregnant, she once again rolled over and tried a different position to get more comfortable. Unfortunately, it didn’t help. She couldn’t escape the mental image of telling her parents that they were going to be grandparents. She had
so
screwed up.
Before that even happened, though, she had to tell Ini-herit. She couldn’t decide what image was worse: the one with her parents going apoplectic or the one where Ini-herit didn’t react at all.
Maybe one of her abilities as an elder was to reverse time.
Issuing a frustrated sigh, she flopped onto her back and pulled the pillow over her head. Then, because the pillow was there and she felt like doing it, she screamed into the muffling fabric as loud as she could.
The uncontrolled action helped. Finally, the constant barrage of thoughts and images stopped flooding her mind. A hazy fatigue settled over her. Her grainy eyes grew heavy.
Allowing the pillow to fall to the floor, she slept.
Outside Clara Kate’s door, Metis waited. She was rather proud of herself for managing to follow this group from the ballroom to the offices of the Lekwuesti elder and then on to the rooms being used by the Kynzesti. It had required focusing her energy on Ariana’s thoughts, as those were the ones she could most easily access.
Once she found the corridor leading to the rooms she needed, she listened at the doors with her ears as well as her mind to reason out which room belonged to Clara Kate. Because she identified the thought signatures and voices of Ariana, Zachariah and the Corgloresti named Quincy, and because she knew they were paired with the other Kynzesti, she soon deduced that Clara Kate was in one of the first two rooms. It didn’t take long for her to pick up a feminine sigh from the second room. She confirmed her assumption when she heard a male clear his throat in the first room. That would be
archigos
Ini-herit.
With that determined, Metis had to backtrack and explore the building so that she knew how to escape with Clara Kate. She would have to abduct the Kynzesti while everyone else slept. That meant she had to navigate this unfamiliar territory without being seen. It also meant she required some supplies.