Warrior of the Ages (Warriors of the Ages) (34 page)

THE APARTMENTS AT the Cobbson compound were deluxe. Kahtar had only ever been in the men’s barracks before. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Beth had been afforded every comfort. They treated her almost as a pet. The first Orphan of the Inquisition accepted into Cultuelle Khristos, possibly the first adult Orphan accepted into any clan. There was a separate kitchenette in her quarters, a company room with bouquets of flowers, and baskets of fresh fruit arranged on low tables between silk sofas. Even her laptop sat on a polished desk beneath a sunny window, he knew without checking there was no internet service. Contact with the outside world was completely shunned unless necessary for security. The fact that she had a computer at all was a concession he was surprised had been made.

Uncomfortable in the only street clothes he owned, Kahtar wandered to Beth’s bedroom to look at himself in a mirror. The apartment was spartan and neat, but the bedroom was a mess, for a moment he stood looking around at what could have passed as a crime scene. Clothes littered the floor. All of the bedclothes had been stripped off the bed including the sheets which were hung over the window shutting out the view of the men’s exercise park. Written in lipstick across the mirror over the dresser, was a column of rude words.

Standing there, staring at those words, Kahtar almost forgot to look at himself. Unable to make sense of it, he turned his focus on his image. A red polo shirt, khaki pants and a pair of sand colored sneakers. The shoes seemed to go better than his police issue footwear. Beyond his uniforms these were the only street clothes he owned. As he’d never worn them before, he wasn’t certain if they were appropriate.

The door to the apartment banged open and slammed closed. Kahtar heard a chair hauled across the marble floor and sensed it as Beth wedged it under the door handle. Apparently she missed locks. She was muttering to herself, but he couldn’t quite make it out until she came rushing towards the bedroom.

“Are you freaking kidding me? Whoever taught them how to talk, should be whipped!” Before he could make himself known, she was in the room.

Beth froze, in an almost comical position, with her legs planted too far apart as though braced for impact. Despite her obvious distress she looked perfect, the summer blonde hair simple and smooth, and her yellow dress leaving all of her arms and too much of her legs bare. Straw colored sandals with impossible heels revealed blue toenails.

“What are you doing in my room!”

“Sorry, I was waiting for you and looking for a mirror.” Kahtar motioned towards her lipstick graffiti. “Charming. What does ‘bite me hard’ mean?”

“It’s what you can do. Get out.”

“I hope you don’t actually say that to any men, because it is rather tempting.”

Beth had the grace to flush, and he focused on what he’d come to say. To tell her how he felt, believing what Abigail had told him. Yet Beth did not look like she thought much more of him than she did of those Palmer men. Then it hit him. Her gifting was truth.

“Beth? I think you and I belong together. What do you think?”

The pink mouth opened and closed twice, and he could sense a spot on her lower lip where she’d been chewing on it too much. Her arms crossed, protectively over her chest. That frank gaze sized him up in his worldly clothing. He waited; his body as tense as if being strapped in for torture.

ZEUS WAS CHEATING. He knew she had to tell him the truth and he was using it against her. No one else had dared to, even though she knew they all talked about her gifting. From what Beth overheard, they were all impressed with the fact that she spoke only the truth, still none of them had been stupid enough to ask her how she felt when they declared. Or brave enough. For a moment she pondered stupidity and bravery and wondered where the line was between the two. Then she wondered why she was delaying her answer, it wasn’t like she was preparing it, or like she’d alter it to spare either of them. If that were an option she surely might have. The shrug was as involuntary as her reply.

“You’re probably right, unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately?”

“I hardly know you. You do not know me at all—though nobody around here seems to WANT to know someone before they get married. And what is up with that anyway? Is there some sort of law I missed where everyone must be married? Besides that I promised myself I’d never marry a soldier—and you—you’re like the soldier king. On top of that you’re the enforcer of all those laws I’ve been reading about.”

The analogy made him smile, “And you’re like the clan anarchist, I assume?”

Beth grinned then. “Pretty much, I’m fairly uncooperative by nature. We’d be like the dog catcher trying to live with a bag of ferrets.”

Whatever that meant, it made him laugh. “Apparently I’m in love with that bag of ferrets.”

“Shut up. Is that your idea of romantic?”

“Isn’t there anything about me that you find attractive?”

“Yes. I really like your house…Hey! Did you just roll your eyes?”

“I think I did. Is that the best you can do?”

“For now it is. I’m really ticked off at you, Kahtar. I can’t believe you dumped me here like you did. It has been my own personal purgatory.”

“I thought you wanted to belong to this clan!”

“With you!”

Something happened to his heart at those words, and for a moment he wasn’t sure if it was his first heart attack. It ached like it was bleeding, and he could see his pulse in his eyes for several long seconds. Then he went towards her, to embrace her, but she sidestepped him.

“Forget it. I’d just as soon beat you with a chair right now.”

Heart sinking, not sure what, if anything, had been settled he made himself offer, “Do you want me to leave?”

“Heck no, I want you to help me escape.”

“You can come live with me.”

“Ya know, I’m sorry, but seriously wouldn’t you prefer a wife who you knew wouldn’t smother you in your sleep? Because I can’t promise you that I wouldn’t, Kahtar. As a matter of fact, I’m fairly certain that I would.”

Laughing, he went to her closet and started to pull out her stylish luggage.

“Not that I wouldn’t take my chances, Beth, but you don’t even have to join with me. You will have your own room at my house, if you can bear to walk past my weapon collection. Consider it a change in venue. You can always come back here anytime you want.”

“So we’ll just be living together? Quit rolling your eyes at me! I wouldn’t have thought that was allowed.”

“You do realize that we were already living together?”

“No. You were my jailer, I was your prisoner.”

“Are you going to argue everything I ever say?”

“Probably.”

“I’ve declared to you, publicly even. You have not declared to me. It isn’t unusual nor uncommon for any type of partially declared beings to move in together.”

“And not get married?”

“Usually they do, but once they didn’t.” Grinning at her, he added. “So it wouldn’t even count as scandalous and nowhere near anarchy if you were the second to do so. Though, you’re probably the first to move in with a declared just because you like his house.”

Beth yanked a dresser drawer right out of the bureau and dumped the contents into a suitcase, a moment later it was followed by a second drawer.

“It’s not just the house, Kahtar. I think I can safely say that I love you about as much as a bag of ferrets too.”

KAHTAR FLOATED. BETH had objected that his declaration lacked romance, but he couldn’t imagine anything more romantic. Abigail’s advice had been golden, as she’d promised. He was glad that he’d taken the time to change into the red polo shirt and khakis, glad that he’d taken Beth’s yellow convertible instead of the much faster, planet friendly ways there were to travel from the Cobbson compound to his home. Driving through the village and then down the country road, Beth reached over and took his hand without a word, and he floated. Not daring to question or press, he’d simply wallowed in the moment. It felt good, following his heart.

Passing through the veil, watching Beth’s hair swirl in the wind and the ends gather in her mouth it occurred to him that enjoying life as an adult would probably be as good as life could get. Gratitude swept through him. Shutting off the engine in front of his cabin, those knowing blue eyes weren’t on his house, they were on him.

“Was that a prayer? It felt like something left you….”

“Yes. You’re getting to know my heart if you felt that.”

Leaning over the console, jammed with CD’s, old water bottles and hundreds of little sticky notes, she kissed him, just a quick peck on the cheek. It was possible that he’d kissed and been kissed by hundreds of thousands of women in his existence, mothers, sisters, clan, and friends, but none of those had ever affected him like that brief touch of her lips. This went through his heart like honey melting into hot tea and he knew then. Everything would be right between them. He would learn how to be a good husband. Beth loved him. Sitting there quietly he wallowed some.

“Don’t be so self-satisfied, I haven’t returned your declaration yet.”

“But you will.” Kahtar’s seldom used jaw muscles hurt from smiling so widely, it was wonderful.

IN THE MIDDLE of the night Kahtar was rescued from the beginnings of his shade of Golgotha by a strange thudding coming through the wall. Pulling from the memory in a cold sweat, he scanned through the wall. Beth was moving furniture. Slumping against his pillows he smiled. This was yet another first. As the shade that plagued him slid into the past, his future beckoned with a new lure. Beth’s bobbing heart cut right through the wall, lightening his heavy one even now. Their quiet evening together had been spent simply, just watching Beth walk into her room had been a joy. She’d enthused over the craftsmanship of the cabin, it felt as though he’d lain every log and board for her alone.

An Old Guard shimmered into the room and Kahtar obediently slid to the edge of the bed, waiting only to be told which uniform to reach for, the world of Covenant Keeper or Seeker.

“The Elders have returned from Scotland, they want you at the cave.”

The word ‘hurry’ was never uttered by Old Guard, it was implied by their mere presence. Reaching for his tunic he sensed the dark scan of this Old Guard as it moved through the wall. The thudding noise stopped, and Beth’s tremulous voice cut through the darkness.

“Kahtar? Is everything all right?”

Strange. She’d felt it. “Gangbusters.” Shouting through the thick wall he explained, “I need to go out for a bit. I’ll be back later.”