Chapter 5
Cat was slowly getting restless, as Talon still hadn’t returned four hours later. She had followed his example and had walked through the building, where she had discovered bathrooms for the employees. Water flowed from the faucets, the toilets worked, and even if the pipes gurgled threateningly, it was a sight that Cat thanked all of the Gods she could think of for.
The sun set, and still no sign of Talon.
Cat had found a different room for them. It had a large, intact window. Through it, she was able to admire the sunset in all its glory. It was a stale pleasure without Talon at her side. She tried to contact Shazuul, so she could tell him about the changes in their plans, but he remained silent. Once, she thought she heard his typical laughter from a distance, but it sounded so dull that she thought it was probably just wishful thinking. She called out to him again, loudly this time, but without success, so Cat snuggled inside the nest she had built for herself and Talon out of blankets and sleeping bags and waited.
When she closed her eyes, it was so easy to forget where she was. Building castles in the sky and daydreaming had always been Coran’s things. Despite, or maybe because of, his sharp and overactive mind, he had always been the one who talked about their parents – who didn’t want to give up searching for them. Cat had taken over this obsession after he had disappeared, as if from the face of the planet, but if she was honest, they had been doing it more for his sake than out of deep need. Sure, she had wanted to find her birth parents too, but never with the same intensity with which Coran searched for them. She had continued Coran’s research, but for one reason only, that she owed it to him. She had always imagined that one day he would be standing in front of her, and she could say “Oh, by the way, I found Mom and Dad.” Well, that topic was over, at least for now. Her mother was floating around in space somewhere, caught in a deep cryogenic sleep, and her father had disappeared just as much as Coran had.
Cat frowned when she noticed the parallel. Was there a connection, maybe? One that neither she nor the Sethari had understood? She imagined her father and Coran training together. Maybe he had taken her brother with him, to turn him into an unbelievably good fighter, who one day… no. The castle in the sky collapsed. That was complete nonsense, and it did nothing to help her with her problem with the Krak and the king.
What was taking Talon so long? She realized that he hadn’t told her exactly where he was going to meet this informant or contact person or whatever she was called. Did he keep that from her on purpose? Enough, Cat told herself. The more space she gave fear and paranoia, the stronger they would become. Instead, she should be thinking about how she was going to get the king out of town without being noticed, after he had fallen into her trap.
She stood up restlessly and paced up and down the room. If Talon didn’t show up in the next half hour, then… what then? It didn’t make any sense to look for him, especially if he was already on the way back. Cat cursed her negligence. She should have asked him where he was going, or insisted that he take her with him. Now it was too late. She couldn’t even concentrate hard enough to think through her plan once, that’s how anxious she was.
And then, finally, Talon was there. She recognized his footfall even before he pushed the door open and stepped into the hallway. His confidence and far-reaching strides were unmistakable. Before she knew what she was doing, she flew into his arms and he caught her. Talon squeezed her once before putting her down. Then she saw his face and knew immediately that something wasn’t right.
“What happened?” she asked. She felt like her heart would explode inside her chest.
“There has been a change in plans,” he said curtly. He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but then thought better of it and pressed his lips together until they were just a thin line on his face.
“Talon,” Cat said and tried to reach for his hand. “Please talk to me. What did I do?”
He raised his hand and balled it into a fist. At first, she thought that he wanted to hit her, and ducked. Then his fist banged into the wall. Plaster crumbled, and dust swirled around. The spot where he had hit the wall was now a pretty big, gaping hole. Either the building was poorly constructed, or Talon was very, very angry. Cat took another step back, but then decided on a different path and went to him. This time it was he who stepped back. Cat lifted her chin and looked him right in the eye. “Talk to me,” she said again, but not asking. She was demanding it.
“Fine,” he growled. His eyes flashed at her aggressively. “Your best friend, the Sethari, lured me into a trap,” he said. His voice sounded bitter. Cat thought at first that his pride had been wounded, because the Sethari might have tricked him, but there was more to it than that. It was then, that the meaning of his words really registered.
“What?” she said in disbelief. Shazuul lured you, lured us, into a trap? That can’t be. Are you hurt?”
“It wasn’t that kind of trap,” he replied. His eyebrows were pulled together, forming an arch over his flashing eyes. “He went over both of our heads and decided what was best for us. He convinced my contact to give us shelter and thought of a whacky plan for how he could lure my king into a trap.” His arms were hanging lifelessly at his sides. Cat could see that he was clenching his fists until his knuckles were white.
“That can’t be,” she whispered irritated. “He told me something completely different.” The sharp look Talon gave her made her flinch.
“When did you speak to him last?” His voice was flat.
“Yesterday,” she admitted. “We thought it best for him to stay near me without you knowing about it.”
“So you were talking with each other behind my back.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Cat started to explain.
“Oh, really? Then please tell me, what it was like. Was it for my own good that I didn’t know about it? Is it for my own good that I look like an idiot who doesn’t have a clue?”
“You are acting like I was cheating on you with him,” Cat fired back. She was standing so close to him that her breasts were touching him. She had to lean her head back to look him in the eye. With both hands, she reached for his upper arms and held him tight as if he might flee at any moment. His muscles were hard as stone, and his whole body was shaking with suppressed anger, but Cat wasn’t afraid of him. She was far too angry for that. “He is just a friend.”
“How can someone whom you hardly know become a friend in such a short time?”
“How can you make someone whom you barely know into your companion?” Cat hissed and wished immediately that she could take her words back. His face closed off. Talon looked down at her like a stranger. His facial expression was cold. Ice cold. He pulled away from her grasp.
Talon went into the room. Cat stayed in the hallway. She watched him stuff a blanket and sleeping bag into his backpack and come back out into the hallway. “Talon, please…” Cat couldn’t finish the sentence. The words died in her throat. He looked right through her as he walked towards the door to the stairwell. Cat watched his every move: How his slender fingers wrapped around the doorknob, how his muscles tensed when he opened the heavy metal door.
“I will find a way to dissolve the bond between us,” he said flatly. What Cat had wished for earlier, now sounded like a threat to her ears. “And by the way,” he looked at her one last time, “when your friend comes to pick you up, so you can keep your promise to the Krak, tell him to stay out of my head. Forever.”
He was gone before Cat could grasp what he had said.