Relias: Uprising (47 page)

 “You just come back though. If anything happens to you-“ 

 “Then it’s my fault.” Tess said in a way that made it sound like a life-threatening situation was a casual occurrence. “But it won’t.” Tess arrived at the door and opened it, stepping out and sticking her head back in before closing the door. “Be good.”

 Serenity mouthed a goodbye, standing robe-clad in the center of the room with one hip cocked as the door closed. There was a jostling of the handle as Tess made sure the door had closed and with that, she was gone.

 “They seriously don’t have to dress it up like this.” Hendrick said, holding up a green stem with colorful petals hanging daintily from it. “I know this place is fancy but this… this is just overkill.”

 “Shut up and enjoy it.” Sable smiled with her mouth half full of food, putting her hand over Hendrick’s and pushing it downward. She wore a slender, white halter top that went down and stopped halfway down her athletically toned stomach while several diamond crusted golden chains dangled from around her neck. Her brown mini-skirt, adorned with a Razorback-skin belt, made it halfway down her thighs, leaving the rest of her legs bare until just below her knee caps where high-heeled brown suede boots rose up. Hendrick, meanwhile, wore an off-white button-up shirt, the sleeves rolled up and pulled tight across his biceps while it was unbuttoned down to his mid-chest. The untucked shirt fell over the dark, faded jeans which went down and folded over his brown loafers.

 It had taken considerable effort to get him to put those clothes on. She threatened to not purchase the outfit if he refused to buy something, and since he could barely compose a sentence when she first tried the outfit on, the prospect made it seem as though Sable had just taken his most precious possession and strapped it to a live grenade.

 Sable and Hendrick sat opposite each other on a round, white draped table at a rooftop restaurant on one of the tallest buildings in Leramato. It was peaceful, with the conversations of other couples at adjacent tables being quiet and personal while a pianist played soft, slow music on a large pedestal at one corner of the dining area. The tables were lit with a single candle, flickering in the warming night breeze while and carrying the pleasant aromas of freshly baked bread, hot grilled steaks and a myriad of other entrees which melded into a single, appetizing scent. And the sky, with no trees or pollution to obscure their view, was speckled with the billions of billions of glimmering stars while, on the horizon, the twin planets glowed faintly.

 “I am enjoying it.” Hendrick explained as he dangled the greenery in his hand. “But I’m serious. The steak looks phenomenal but I just don’t-“

 “Nate.” Sable said after swallowing her food. She squeezed his hand and peered at him with her glowing blue eyes. “Relax, okay? Just enjoy it. Find something you don’t like then just push it to the side. I want dinner to be… nice.”

 With that reaction Hendrick realized that he’d been rambling. He really didn’t care how they decorated the food. He was just trying to make conversation and was finding everything he could to comment on. It was yet another first in a night full of firsts. No girl had ever made him speak uncontrollably like that before. Hendrick was sure he’d get over the initial shock of Sable looking the way she did but, dammit, he’d never seen anything so beautiful and perfect in his life. Not in a magazine, a movie, anywhere. The outfit she wore, that white top, the brown skirt, the long chain of diamonds, and her body was ravishing enough. But her face… those lips, her big, beautiful eyes, her delicate chin…

 Hendrick almost had to slap himself. He had to relax, be himself. He took his glass of water, clinked the ice against the sides and took a large swallow. He set the glass back down, licked the water off his lips, lounged sideways in his chair and rested an elbow on the table.

 “That shirt makes your boobs look fricking massive.”

 Leaning across the table with a wine glass held delicately between her fingers, Sable smiled as though what he said was the most beautiful, charming, and adorable thing he could have possibly said.

 “There’s the Hendrick I know.” She grinned.

 At that response Hendrick relaxed even more, pointing towards her plate where half her meal remained. “So how’s… whatever that is?”

 “The
Creme
a’ Steyl
?” She asked with another forkful being held in her hand.

 “Sure.” Hendrick replied.

 Sable took stuck the fork in her mouth closed her lips around it, pulling it slowly from her mouth and starting to chew. She exaggerated her delight and shook her head with approval. “It’s godly.”

 “Heh, sure as hell better be.” Hendrick sat up straight in his own chair, picked up his utensils and once again went to work on his own meal. “Cost more money than a middle-class car.” He took a piece of his steak and put in his mouth without the delicate flow that Sable had done so with. As he chewed, he furrowed his brows. “I wonder what the poor people are doing.”

 Sable hummed, looking down at the table and setting her fork down. She took a sip from her wine and repeated the gesture. Noticing that she was about to ask something, hopefully nothing remarkably personal, Hendrick set his own fork down and gave her his attention. “You good?”

 “Oh yeah,” Sable replied. She wasn’t sad or anything of the sort, but from the look on her face she was quite curious about something. “I was just wondering… How can you… I mean…” Instead of finishing the question, she moved her hands around, waving them over the table and over her own outfit while her eyes looked at Hendrick with the hope that he’d pick up on what she was trying to say.

 “Afford this?” He asked. Sable winced, hoping it wouldn’t offend him. Hendrick grinned and rested back in his chair. “Stole it. Every single steele.”

 Sable didn’t believe it. It was clear she picked up on his sarcasm and Hendrick gave up the fight. He tapped the table with a finger and gave a half smile. “I thought it was funny. But back when the Union first formed Luke put me in charge of coming up with a new fighting force. The world already had the IA but it was weak bunch, kind of the difference in intimidation that you’d find between a cop and a soldier. So with that in mind I came up with an idea which, obviously, worked. Instead of making all the soldiers well-rounded in every form of combat, I decided that things might be better if they were more specialized. Not like the IA, you know, where you have like just a marine, a sniper, and a medic. There’s more than that but you know what I’m saying, all the different little variations in soldier weren’t enough to justify their own class, or at least, they shouldn’t be. So I made a special forces, soldiers picked and trained determined by what they wanted to be but largely by what they were physically built to do. Long story short, which you know, I’m the man who created the First Legionnaire.” 

 Sable was getting a clearer picture of Hendrick’s explanation. “So they paid you.”

 Hendrick’s eyes went wide, telling her that what she said was a spectacular understatement. “Ohh Yes. Lots.”

 As Sable came to terms with it, another question came to mind. “So how did you get that much money past the Commune? They siphoned off the bank accounts of the wealthy, didn’t they?”

 “Two words.” Hendrick said, leaning in close. “Private sector. Get a bank that operates under the guv’s knowledge when they want to take all your money and you’ll have a long line of people that’ll keep any laundering operation alive and kicking.”

 “So… You’re telling me-“

 “It’s all honest.” Hendrick said, not proudly, but matter-of-factly. He nodded his head to one side. “Yeah, it surprises me too.”

 Sable nodded. It wasn’t in agreement, but Hendrick knew that Sable wasn’t done with her questions. The mood changed at the table and Sable hadn’t said anything yet. Hendrick remained quiet and waited for her to say what she had to.

 “So you think, after we’re finished with this, the operation, things’ll be better?”

 Hendrick shrugged and took a deep breath, exhaling noisily. “There’s gonna be a month or so of bloody fricking anarchy but Sam’s got a good plan going that I think’ll work so yeah, yeah things’ll get better.”

 “And Luke… you think he’ll come back?”

 Hendrick’s heart plummeted and the look on his face made it clear. It happened without his knowledge but he couldn’t help it. Sable immediately picked up on it and put her hands on Hendrick’s.

 “No, no, Nate, please, it’s… it’s not like that.” She kept her eyes on Hendrick and waited for him to look at her again. When he finally did she smiled, the smile passing a warmth through Hendrick. “But I’ve spent so long feeling that way about Luke. I don’t know why, but it’s how I’ve always felt.” Sable sounded remorseful, shameful, for the way that she’d felt. She couldn’t connect her eyes with Hendrick’s. “I think it’s because Luke was always there, always the hero. He just… he’s unstoppable, you know? The Legionnaire, the Commune and Frenz, they do everything they can and Luke keeps coming back ready for more. So fearless, so powerful…”

 “I’m right here.” Hendrick said, peppering his voice with sarcasm as to not put her down.

 “It’s not like that, Nate, please. You know what I mean. Luke just kind of embodies that whole adolescent fantasy of every girl but they never really stop and think of how things actually should be.”

 “I’ll need you to explain that.” Hendrick said flatly. The tone of his voice made Sable nervous. She was never good at explaining things, at communicating, but she had to get this out. Hendrick had to understand.

 “Luke doesn’t love me. He never has and he never will. He’s still in love with Trina, says her name in his sleep, loses it whenever somebody brings her up in a bad situation.” Sable looked harder at Hendrick, recalling the situation earlier the previous day. “He’s caring, he’s powerful, but no matter what he does or what I do he’ll never be able to take care of me that way that I need.” Sable stopped as a flood of memories came to mind, as all the hopes and dreams she’d ever had became fresh. “I’ve always looked at you as just a friend, nothing more than that but… but I’ve always thought the world of you. I’ve never considered the possibility until tonight, until I saw what you do for me, the kind of life that…”

 She didn’t want to say too much. It always ruined everything.  At a loss for words, Sable looked everywhere but at Hendrick’s eyes. But after a moment of silence, Sable’s and Hendrick’s eyes connected, and that one, prolonged stare said more than words ever could. Hendrick held her hand tighter and grinned softly. Sable returned the smile and, once again, her worries faded, her concerns a thing of the past.

 “It’s all right.” Hendrick said, his entire demeanor changing. Sable saw it in his face and it stood in context with the rest of his life. She saw him, thought about his past, and knew that all he’d ever wanted was to care for somebody, to love somebody. He’d lost that chance with the death of Ayla and all that remained was a rough, tough, salty exterior. But now he had that chance, and the way he made Sable feel made her heart race.

 “It’s just nobody’s ever cared for me like this… ever. Everything I’ve ever dreamed of happened tonight and-“

 “You know me, girly.” Hendrick said, putting his hands out to the sides as he stated a well-known fact. “I live extravagantly.”

 “But that’s only part of it.” Sable replied. She felt Hendrick was getting the wrong impression. “That’s not the important part. The part I care about is… well, really the only part… I mean, I can give up all the money and nice clothes in the world if, well, it’s nice but…” Sable didn’t know how to put it in words. She stopped herself and gathered her thoughts and mentally organized them.  She spoke again, saying the words slowly and carefully while hoping they were the right ones. “All I’ve ever really wanted is somebody that loves me and… and somebody that I love ba-“

 This time it was Hendrick who grabbed her hand. Sable looked down at the table and saw it, her smooth, delicate hands clasped tightly in his thick, powerful, calloused fingers. Water began to pool up at the base of one eye, and the sight that she saw was the most beautiful, warming thing that had ever happened to her. As a tear rolled down her cheek, Sable looked back to Hendrick and their eyes met once more. He smiled at her and again, and at that moment, Sable was sure she had found something real, something she’d been looking for her entire life; that happiness that she had wished for as long as she could remember. On Hendrick’s face, his tanned skin, his rough stubble, his fierce, wild eyes and his gorgeous smile, Sable saw more than looks. She saw a man, a man who’d had feelings for her for a long time.

 Hendrick lightly caressed her forearm and Sable put her hand on top of his, holding it in place and feeling the warmth of his palm on her bare skin. If this wasn’t real, she didn’t care what was.

Chapter 26

 It was well past midnight when Tess stumbled through the brimming sidewalks of Praemon. She had wandered a good distance from the hotel, a distance that she remained unaware of how far she had walked. Where she was, the city wasn’t the glamorous, sparkling metropolis that it was in the outer district. Instead, the streets were dark with only the occasional street light which illuminated patches of sidewalk with a pale yellow glow. The buildings that lined both sides of the rough, dark cobblestone street loomed over her, the lights in every window dimmed or put out. It was a world that lay beneath the alluring sensation that was the celebrity highlife. It was a place where people lived a lifestyle of financial modesty, living in cramped, drab apartments with a perfect view of the brilliant glow that reached towards the sky from the outer reaches of the city. It was a constant reminder of what they could never have, and that contrast made the streets of Leramato feel that much more hopeless.

 As Tess made small steps down the sidewalk, crossing the darkened streets and passing in and out of the pale haloes of light, she would pass the occasional person. Scraggily, filthy men huddled in the shadowy stairwells muttering rough-voiced nonsense to themselves. As she passed, they’d stop speaking and their attention would immediately turn to her, their heads pivoting slowly as they tracked her every movement. There was nobody else around; dark alleys ran between every building and ended in a pit of pitch darkness, and any sound that was made was lost in the brick-walled labyrinths and swallowed up in the night.