Page 6 of Rook Takes Queen
“Because of their greed and pompous, grandiose ideas of true Xylan.”
All the Fever Brothers look very, very angry.
Maxon stands up beside me. “Okay, that’s enough for tonight,” he announces. “Hallie has given us the outline. Tomorrow we can ask more and try, with Hallie’s help, to formulate a plan for how to stop this from happening. Rightnow, she’s obviously exhausted and needs a good night’s sleep. I’m taking her to her room so she can rest.”
“But…” Ines starts.
“Rook,” Scar growls.
“No,” Maxon growls in return. “No more questions tonight.”
He takes my gloved hand in his and leads me out of the room.
It’s very telling that I don’t even protest. “First thing tomorrow,” I promise. “I’m here because what I found was shocking, horrifying. I got away, coming here, hoping to find Margol Xylan miners I could tell all this to, to warn you, so you had time to counteract what they are trying to do because…” I say fiercely, “because it’s wrong.”
“She’ll have the room next to mine,” Maxon says to them on our way out.
Why does that send a thrill of heat through my entire body? Oh jeez, I’ve got the hots for Maxon of Twenty-Seven? How is that even possible? I’ve known him for no more than an hour, and I’m on the run from some very powerful Xylan who will want me dead when they realize what I’ve done.
I glance over at Maxon again, at his large muscles, his perfect lips and that long hair and butterflies take flight in my belly. Thank god he couldn’t possibly know of my ridiculous lust. I was on Chronos for the last three years and not once did I feel this way for anyone on that planet.
He walks me to the door himself. “That is my room,” he points. “If you need anything, even if it’s in the middle of the night, no matter how small, I want you to alert me. And when you are awake and ready to go back out, knock on my door first. If I’m not there, I’ll be in the living area, waiting for you.”
“Thank you, Maxon,” I say.
“Thank you, Hallie, for your bravery. What you’ve done will save many lives.”
My mouth is open as I watch him walk to his own room and step inside.
The guest bedroom I’m being given in this compound is small but nice. There’s even an attached bathroom. Someone even thought ahead and left me pajamas to change into and clean clothes for tomorrow, as well as toiletries. I set down my bag, strip off my clothes and take a hot shower. Eventually I’m in the bed, in the pajamas and that’s when I notice I’ve even been left a basket of late night snacks that I eagerly dig into.
I can’t help but wish again that this was a place I could possibly stay. But I know there’s an essential problem with my plan to get on Timbur without being followed. I created a visa and kept the House’s name off it, yes. I was careful, yes. But there is a genuine, signed, filed authorization sitting in the Minecorp system right now with my name on it and a destination printed in clean official script. You can scrub a transport manifest — I had them mark me confidential, I made the transmission record disappear — but you cannot scrub a visa that an official signed, because that signature is the whole reason it worked. The cleverness that got me out is the exact thing that draws the line straight here.
I came here because they were the only ones who might stand against Chronos. I didn’t escape to safety. I carried it here.
It’s only a matter of time.
Maybe if I go, it follows me. I give them the proof tomorrow. They’ve earned it; they’ll need it. And then, somehow, I have to be gone.
Chapter 3
Rook
“Hallie is going to think she needs to leave, in order to keep us safe. You’ll need to talk her down. Make sure she doesn’t do something stupid and brave.”
Scar says this from the chair across from me. My brother has his typical sour expression on his face and his literal scar runs purple down the side of his cheek. I know he seems angry most of the time and other beings on Timbur mainly avoid him, but I remember when he wasn’t this way, before our parents died. And I know that he’s focused on his life’s work—solving the murder of our mother and father, which I find admirable.
We’re alone in the front room, the fireplace already crackling steadily, the windows still gray with the hour before dawn. I haven’t slept much, having spent half the night listening to her through the wall, at the slightest shift of blankets.
I nod in agreement. “She looked surprised, last night,” I say. “When she stepped inside and saw all of us. I think she expected to find a crew of hardened, unmated miners with nothing to lose. And instead she found a compound full of happy humans and small children.”
A raspy chuckle. “Well. I’m still a hardened, unmated miner.”
I take a sip of my traq. “You are,” I agree. “You are.”
“And you aren’t anymore?”
Heh. My mind wanders back to that amazing moment when the wind blew her pheromones into my lungs. “I don’t think I am…I scented her the moment I opened the door. If I were to clasp hands with her, I believe we would be compatible and that would start the chase.”
