Page 75 of Guiding Desire

Something didn’t feel right about this, and Senlas slowly but surely pushed Orrey into one of the training rooms that had an open door. HeFeltaround the room, making sure there was nothing there to trip Orrey up, and there wasn’t, only Orrey didn’t want to be pushed into safety. He was listening too.

“This isn’t drama. I thought we had a goal. I thought we’d been working toward that goal for years.” Alesa’s words were calm enough, but his voice trembled with barely controlled tension.

What the fuck is going on here?Senlas thought.

“I don’t understand why this tiny complication annoys you. I told you I can handle it.”

“Why? It’s fuckinginfluence. They always get more influence like that. Fucking S-classers.”

“Alesa. I thought you were fucking one of them.”

“For gain. I can still hate the lot of them on principle.”

Senlas frowned because it didn’t make sense for an A-classer to hate an S-classer. There weren’t enough of the latter, and the former weren’t that much weaker to begin with.

“Fine. Hate them, but don’t forget to reserve some of your hate for this entire city and every complacent mind in it.” Senlas tensed. He felt Orrey do the same, heard the tiniest hitch in his breath. “We worked long enough—too long—to get what we wanted. And that team—we are just acting against them sooner than we’d planned. Our friend is happy to help.”

“I want all of them gone, all but Coldis. He’s mine. He will be.”

The other speaker sighed. “In time. I should go now, and so should you. We didn’t have to meet like this only because you want to spill your upsets at my feet.”

“My upsets? This could set our plan back. It’s not an upset, and I didn’t come here looking for comfort. I need your reassurance; I need to know all of it will have been worth it.”

“Faith, Alesa. You know it will. I need to go.”

Senlas didn’t think. He covered Orrey’s mouth with his hand,Pushedboth of them into the dark training room, andLiftedthem up to the ceiling, finding the darkest corner. Orrey made not a single move, didn’t try twisting away, but his grip on Senlas’s hand turned to steel.

They waited, the female-sounding person’s footsteps quiet but still leaving a small echo. “Lights off,” Alesa said, and the brightness from the room he and whoever had used ebbed. The Guardian walked by the room Orrey and Senlas were hiding in, swearing under his breath.

Senlas still didn’t let them down. He waited but moved his hand away. Orrey kept quiet, even when, after almost half an hour, Senlas put them on the ground again, Orrey didn’t speak. He let Senlas lead the way, out of the Grounds, let Senlas shove him into the auto-drive a touch less gently than was appropriate.

Once the door fell shut behind them, Orrey said, “Did we just hear Guardian Alesa plot…against our team?”

Senlas sighed. “It should’ve been just a quiet night. I hate parties.”

“He plotted. Against our team.”

“He fucking did.”

“What do we do?”

“Tonight? Nothing. Tomorrow, we tell Coldis, see if he has any ideas.”

Orrey swallowed, looking uncomfortable in the auto-drive’s artificial light. “When he said…all that…it really was Alesa?”

“Yes.”

“Why would one team leader say that about another? Why would he…does he mean to escalate this to violence? A Guardian?”

“Aren’t you Covenant blessed. Kitten, we are not wishing wisps who kindly do your bidding and never harm a soul. We are quite human.”

“Well…” Orrey said, then fell silent.

Without a doubt, his Conduit was receiving the worst welcome to Conduit-hood in the history of the institution.

19

ORREY