She thought back over the interactions she’d had with the Warden, from first seeing her while locked in the royal dungeon, to having Jeera follow her and D.C. on their day trip through Tryllin and then finally after the mess with General Drock and Alex’s Bubbledoor delivery to the palace. She tried to make sense of the events, but all she could do was tilt her head and stare at Kaiden’s face, trying to find some resemblance between them. True, they shared the same dark hair and bright blue eyes, and Jeera’s features were just as striking, but… Nope, there were no buts about it. Now that Alex was looking for it, she couldn’t miss it. However, without having been told, she never would have picked it on her own.
“That’s really cool,” she said, just for something to say—and as a means to not feel like such an idiot for staring at Kaiden longer than was appropriate. “I like your sister. She’s helped me out a few times now.”
“I know she has,” Kaiden responded with an amused gleam in his eyes that told Alex he knew more than he was letting on.
“What—”
“To answer the rest of your questions,” he interrupted, “because of everything I just mentioned, Wardens do rank higher than military. They’re technically a separate entity but sometimes their assignments overlap, and when that happens, they outrank the General. Their word is law.”
“Got it,” Alex said, having seen first-hand that Drock had afforded a level of deference to Jeera.
“What were the other things you wanted to know?” Kaiden asked. “Why there’s a military and what weapons they have?”
“Said like that, you make me sound like I’m gathering intel against them or something,” Alex murmured, untangling the final knot in Eclipse’s mane and dropping the comb back in with the other grooming tools.
“I guess I’m just going to have to hope that you won’t use this information for evil,” Kaiden said with a smirk. “I’m trusting you here, Alex. Don’t make me regret it.”
Before she could think of a response, he reached for Eclipse’s halter and untied the now gleaming horse, leading him into a stall and locking him in for the night.
“Come on, I’ll tell you how to overthrow the monarchy on the walk back,” Kaiden said, pressing his hand gently to the curve of Alex’s spine and guiding her down the aisle past the other stalls of curious-looking equines. She tried to ignore the pleasant warmth she felt through her clothes where his hand was—and failed abysmally at doing so. Only when they were outside again did he drop his hand, allowing her to focus on his words rather than his presence beside her.
“Weapons I can’t tell you much about,” Kaiden said as they headed up through the grassy fields towards the campus proper. “You have to admit, that’s a strange question for you to ask me.”
Alex felt him looking at her but she kept her head forward, shrugging slightly. “You seemed to know a lot more about the Stabilisers than anyone else. I figured you were the best person to ask.”
“And not your royal best friend?”
Alex shrugged again, having no answer for that.
“Well, as I said,” Kaiden picked up, letting Alex’s lack of answer slide, “I don’t know much, but from what I’ve… heard… Stabilisers are about as lethal as it gets. There’s been peace amongst humans in the kingdom for thousands of years so there hasn’t been a need to develop anything more than the basics, especially since a sword or arrow can kill just as easily— if not more so.”
“No weapons of mass destruction, then?” Kaiden cocked his head at her terminology and she explained, “You know, bombs. Explosive devices that blow large areas up at a time, killing lots of people at once.”
“Why would we have something like that?” he asked, looking appalled by the idea. “Who would we want to kill?”
“No, no, it’s good you—we—don’t,” Alex assured him, reaching out to squeeze his arm before quickly dropping her fingers to her side again. “I was just making sure.”
Shaking his head, Kaiden said, “The military isn’t for going to war against humans, Alex. That hasn’t happened for millennia—not since well before Akarnae opened, back when there were places in this world that people wanted enough to fight each other over.”
Alex immediately thought of the Library, knowing that battles had been waged over it for hundreds of years until it disappeared. She nodded and asked, “Then why—”
“Medora is populated with more than just humans.” Kaiden looked at her in a way that made her realise what he was saying was common knowledge, and yet, he was still humouring her ‘act like I know nothing’ request. “While we’ve never gone to war against any of the other races in recent years, that doesn’t mean we’re not prepared if such an event were to take place. Not that we’d stand much of a chance against them—any of them. Meyarins may be at the top of the food chain, but the others can hold their own. We humans are, by comparison, relatively powerless. But if something ever did require a defence on our part, we have an active military in place for that very reason.”
Mulling over all the information he’d given her, Alex found that she had no questions remaining. At least, that was the case until—
“There are, of course, the threats posed from beings in other worlds”—Alex literally stumbled at his words—“but as far as I know, we haven’t yet encountered anyone who means us harm. So again, it’s just a precaution.”
Alex forced herself to regulate her breathing and fought the temptation to look at him to gauge his expression. With her eyes focused on the approaching Tower building bathed in gold from the setting sun, she grappled to bring her thoughts together. He couldn’t possibly know about her—surely he couldn’t. He would have said something, told someone, demanded answers. No, it was purely chance that his final words were so relevant to her personally. When she mustered the courage for a quick glance at his face, she was relieved to find him relaxed and at ease, with no evidence of him knowing more about her than he should.
“Does that answer everything?” he asked as they walked past Gen-Sec and towards the food court. “You don’t want to know the blueprints for any secret bases or how to assemble an ITD in under five minutes?”
Alex didn’t know what an ITD was, but she figured she was already treading a dangerous line with Kaiden and it was best not to ask any further questions that could show just how naive to the ways of Medora she really was.
“Nothing else. You were perfect,” she said. Then realising how that sounded, she fought the heat rising in her cheeks and amended, “I mean, you’ve been perfect.” She wanted to smack herself in the face. “As in, you’ve answered my questions perfectly. That’s what I meant.”
Kaiden chuckled warmly. “Well, in that case, I’m glad I could help.”
They came to a stop outside the food court, lingering near the entry.
“I’m going to go clean up before dinner,” Kaiden said, nodding in the direction of the dorm building.
“Right,” Alex said, her hands fidgeting by her sides. “I’ll just…” She gestured towards the food court, indicating that she was heading in there. “I’ll see you later, Kaiden. And thanks again for… uh…”
“Being perfect?” His eyes sparked with mischief and she felt her still warm cheeks heat further in reaction to the smile he sent her.