Chapter Seventeen
Aelyx heard a knock at his door and set down his interview script. “It’s unlocked.”
The door flew open and David poked his head into the room, apologizing with his eyes. “Hey, I know you’re studying lines and stuff, but do you have a minute? Syrine just hopped in the shower, so this is the only time I can talk.”
To hear David explain, you’d think he never left Syrine’s side, which was only partially true. The two parted for public relations visits, bathroom breaks, and the occasional foray into the living room when the ambassador was home.
“Sure, the notes can wait.” Aelyx tried not to sound bitter, but truthfully, he resented the fact that Syrine had commandeered his only friend on Earth. Aelyx would never admit it, though. Not after he’d confided his feelings to Cara, who had then giggled and accused him of having a “bromance” with David.
The bed jiggled when David took a seat on the other side, but instead of initiating dialogue, the boy picked at his cuticles.
“You okay?” Aelyx asked. Bitterness aside, he hoped there wasn’t trouble in paradise. He wanted to see his friends happy, even if they had abandoned him in favor of each other.
“Yeah, it’s no big deal. I just wanted to talk. You know, guy-to-guy.”
“Is something the matter with you and Syrine?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t know.” David bowed over, cradling his blond head in both hands. “I need to process what’s going on, but I can’t talk to any of my buddies about this or it might get back to my CO. He’d have my balls for paperweights if he found out about Syrine and me.”
“Talk about ugly paperweights,” Aelyx said.
David gave a throaty chuckle, but his shoulders remained clenched. “The worst.”
“So talk.” Aelyx sat back against his pillows and folded both hands behind his head. “But you’d better make it quick. Syrine takes short showers.”
David nodded as if to get down to business. “I’m all mixed up.”
“About what?”
“How I feel. Where this is going.” David pointed toward the hall bathroom, where Syrine hummed off-key over the spray of running water. “I thought I was in love once before—senior year with this girl named Beth. I wanted her all the time and I couldn’t stand to see her talk to other guys. But this is different.” He grimaced. “This is painful.”
Aelyx didn’t quite follow, and it must have shown because David gave a sad shake of his head. “Syrine’s all I think about. And when I imagine her leaving in a few weeks,” David said, palming his chest, “it hurts. Like it really hurts, right here under my ribs.”
Aelyx understood now. His own chest had perpetually ached since he’d left Cara’s side. David may have thought he was in love before, but this sounded like his first experience with the real thing.
“And when we’re together,” David said, “you know…alone…I feel like I’m a living puzzle, and she takes a piece of me every time. The more I’m with her, the more I lose of myself. It’s like I only feel whole when we’re together because she’s got all of me.” He smacked his own forehead in disgust. “God, that sounds cheesy.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Aelyx hadn’t been physically intimate with Cara, so he didn’t know with any degree of certainty, but it made sense that consummation would lead to a greater level of attachment. “I think what you felt for Beth was infatuation. But this time, it’s love. And yes,” he said with a sympathetic nod, “it’s equal parts excruciating and wonderful.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
“Don’t worry. The crushing despair won’t actually kill you.” Aelyx laughed without humor. “Though occasionally you’ll wish it had.”
“Sometimes I think she loves me, too,” David said. “But then she’ll push me away or say something mean, and I second-guess myself.” He thrust forward an index finger. “Like last night—we were getting ready to go to sleep, and everything was fine. Then I tossed out the idea of joining the colony.”
Uh-oh. Aelyx imagined that hadn’t gone over well.
“She shot me down so fast my head spun,” David said in a wounded voice. “What am I supposed to think when she sends me mixed messages like that?”
Aelyx was torn between keeping Syrine’s confidence and helping his heartsick friend. He wanted to give them both the push they needed to find happiness. “Remember when I told you why Syrine hates humans?” he asked. “How her negative experience during the exchange colored her view of all mankind?”
David nodded.
“One of her observations was that human love is fleeting. That your kind is never satisfied with a single mate.”
“Not everyone is like that,” David argued. “I’m always getting dumped, not the other way around.”
“Then show her.”
“That I’m different?” David pondered the advice for several long seconds. “I can do different.”
“It worked last time.”
“I have to find out if she loves me,” David said, staring at his hands. “Or it’s not worth it.”
“What’s not worth it?”
For a long time, David didn’t answer. “You know, going to the colony.”
“What about your health issues?” Aelyx asked. It was none of his business, but Syrine deserved to know, if the relationship went any further. “Have you told her?”
“Not yet, but soon.”
“Why wait?” Aelyx asked. “Even if the experimental drug you’re taking doesn’t work, something else will.” L’eihrs had the technology to keep David alive. He wouldn’t be allowed to pass on his genetic material, though. Maybe that was the problem. “Do you think Syrine will be upset when she finds out she can’t breed with you?”
“No, nothing like that. I just don’t want her to see me as weak.”
“There’s nothing weak about—”
A sudden buzzing alerted Aelyx to an incoming com-sphere transmission in Cara’s unique frequency. A jolt of excitement ricocheted up and down the length of Aelyx’s torso as he dug in his pocket and retrieved his sphere. He whispered his passkey and set it on the bed between David and himself.
Cara’s image appeared, this time standing in front of the communal washroom mirror as she combed her dripping-wet locks. When her blue gaze found his, her entire face broke into a smile so radiant it sucked the breath from his lungs and made him tingle all over.
To hell with the pains of love. This was worth it.
“Sorry for the lack of ambiance,” she said, gesturing at the lavatory stalls in the background. “I’m running late.”
“Your timing is perfect,” Aelyx told her. “I’m leaving in a few minutes for another promo piece.” He recalled what she’d told him about Professor Helm’s bizarre confession. “Are you all right? Any more attacks?”
“I’m fine. It’s business as usual around here.” She shrugged. “I didn’t think Helm was guilty, but maybe I was wrong. Nothing weird has happened since they locked him up.”
Aelyx had some lingering doubt, but he was glad to hear that she was safe, at least for now. He motioned for David to move into view. “I want you to meet someone. Say hello to David.”
David stood from the bed and circled around to kneel on the floor. “Hi, mini-Cara.”
She gripped one hip and pointed at him with her comb. “So you’re the guy bromancing my clone.”
“Huh?” David asked.
“Nothing,” Aelyx said. “She thinks she’s funny.”
“Yeah?” she taunted. “Well, guess what this funny girl is getting ready to do.”
“Lose your breakfast on the intermediate course?” he supplied with a grin.
“Good guess, but no.” She turned her hand into an imaginary gun and fired it at him, then blew pretend smoke from her index finger. “Target practice. They’ve added a new class to the curriculum—advanced weaponry. Sounds kind of fun. Midtown used to offer enrichment classes in archery, and I always…”
Her words flew to the periphery of Aelyx’s mind as he reeled with fear. “They’re training the clones to fight?”
“No, it’s just target practice.” She furrowed her ivory forehead. “That’s not something they teach most L’eihrs?”
No. It most certainly was not.
The majority of his people lived and died without ever touching an iphal. Weapons were carefully controlled and wielded only by members of the guard. If The Way had decided to train the clones in combat, it meant they were preparing for war.
Suddenly all the loose pieces clicked into place—the probe, the weapons class, Alona’s refusal to end negotiations despite repeated attempts on Aelyx’s life. He now understood the true purpose behind the alliance: L’eihr possessed the technology, and Earth, the numbers. Put them together, and you had a formidable fighting force.
Aelyx asked David to give them some privacy. Once he and Cara were alone, he told her, “Take the sphere back to your room and make sure no one can hear us. There’s something you need to know.”