I croaked, “I went for a walk. I was restless.”
He nodded his head and lowered his hand from my face. “That’s understandable.” He turned to Brandon, his smile back in full force. “She knew you were coming tomorrow.”
Godric lifted his left hand and studied his nails.
The situation was truly messed up.
Godric picked at his pinky nail—there was nothing wrong with it—and peered over his shoulder, not a smidge of emotion on his features. Bored.
“Jonathan, why don’t you get some water for that cough.” It was an order.
The coughing guard was Jonathan. White haired and broad shouldered. Damn beautiful in his black uniform as he walked past me and out the door, not arguing with Godric this time. Completely professional.
I motioned with my thumb behind me. “I’m going to head to our quarters, Father.”
He nodded. “I’ll be here. I don’t think this meeting will end anytime soon.”
I nodded in agreement and turned to my fiancé. I made myself speak the words in a calm fashion and lifted my hand in his direction again. “Mr. Moore, it was nice meeting you.”
He tipped down and kissed the top of my hand again, once more lingering too long—as if he had the right to kiss me. An agreement on paper did not give him that right, not in my opinion. “The pleasure was all mine, Ms. Carvene.”
My chest rose as I inhaled deeply and turned the other way. I raised my hand again. “Mr. King.” I didn’t say it was nice meeting him.
The right side of Godric’s lips tipped up in a cocky and sexy smirk, and he bowed over my hand and took it in his own. “It was a pleasure, Ms. Carvene.”
When he kissed the top of my hand, his thumb slid beneath the sweater that had rolled down my arms, hiding my bruised wrists. He pressed hard on the bruise—right at my pulse point.
I didn’t flinch but merely held his stare as he straightened. Asshole. He hadn’t liked my brush-off and told me so in his own way.
I turned to the door, walking toward it.
But I pivoted and marched back to my father.
I tossed my arms around his neck, hugging him close.
He grunted in surprise but quickly enfolded me in his arms. The General wasn’t the best with affection, but he had never denied me a hug. He patted my back and waited until I let go to lower his arms.
His brows rose when I stepped back.
I shrugged. “I love you, Father.”
He blinked. “Poppy, are you really all right?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine. I just wanted a hug before I went to bed.” Before I left you for New City. “That’s all, Father.”
He nodded his head, but concern still shone in his eyes. “Well, goodnight. And I love you too.”
With one last look at him, I left the room.
*
Jonathan was trailing me. And there was no damn water in his hands. Godric had sent him outside to follow my whereabouts. He was quickly catching up with me, no longer ‘hiding’ the closer I got to my quarters.
I rounded the last corner and walked faster. The LA guards were just at the end. Only authorized personnel were allowed past that point. I glanced behind me and picked up my pace even more.
Jonathan’s eyes narrowed on the guards, and he began running. He lifted his right arm. “Ms. Carvene! Wait just a moment.”
To hell with that.
The look in his eyes was not of peace talking.
I sprinted to the end of the hallway.
The guards let me through instantly.
The whisper of swords being drawn echoed behind me. My father’s soldiers took offense seeing a Corporate Army guard chasing after me.
Right before I rushed into my quarters, I peered over my right shoulder. Jonathan had his hands up in the air, not fighting with the guards as they questioned him, but he glared daggers in my direction. I quickly shut my door behind me, locking it with a simple command.
I grabbed my bag out of my room, no time for a shower now with my father’s interference. I pulled the tablet from the side of my bag, and left it near the refrigerator. It was for my father. He would find it tomorrow when he woke, my reason for leaving clearly written on the screen.
I ambled around our cozy quarters, touching objects that were memories to me. I pulled my ball cap lower over my suddenly wet and burning eyes, and whispered, “Goodbye, Father.”
I left through the back exit.
I had a train to catch.
CHAPTER TEN
I tipped my head down against the whipping wind that blew dust into my eyes. The pavement was cracked with grass growing in sporadic spots in this part of the decimated old city. History books explained it was once called Norfolk, Virginia. The new world called it Port because of its easy access to the harbors on the Atlantic Ocean for shipping goods around the world. Occasional storms would hammer the docks, but Port was still the largest city for shipping in the King Western Province—ruled by none other than Godric.
Certain territories in the world still didn’t have a designation after stupid ass people tore our planet apart. War had been a powerful and destructive tool a hundred and fifty years ago. The King Western Province included the entire continent of North America. South America was still dark, only renegades and criminals living there. However, from what my father expressed recently, Mr. King—Godric—was readying his troops to change that soon with the influence and money of the corporations backing him.
I jogged down another demolished street with my bag slapping against my right side. The prime sectors of Port, near the Liberated Army’s base, were new and pristine. This section wasn’t one of them. I regulated my breathing and kept my head down in case a drone flew by searching the area for lawbreakers.