Free Gentle Chains (The Eleyi Saga Book 1) by Nazarea Andrews Page B

She turns back to the computer panel, long fingers
skimming and tapping commands. “Find a seat,” she says over her shoulder. “Tin,
have you purged the system?”
    The bodyguard murmurs, making it clear he hasn’t. She twitches, impatient,
and addresses the Leen. “How many of my father’s people are waiting?”
    “There are two of Senator Harvine’s staff waiting for the Leen.”
    Her voice is tight when she asks, “And cybertulres?”
    “Two dozen.”
    She nods and straightens. “Upon docking, initiate shut down. No one is
allowed access to the Leen. Dump all records.”
    “Ill advised.”
    She snarls a curse, and Tin looks up from the computer. “The records are
clean.”
    Some of the steel slips from her spine and she nods, relief washing over
her. She glances over her shoulder at me, and smiles, a tiny, sharp smile.
“Ready?”
    I swallow hard and nod. The Leen bumps ominously before coming to a
rest. I hear muffled voices, the shriek of spacecraft whistling overhead. I can
feel hundreds of thousands of souls, all of them buffeting me like a tiny piece
of driftwood on a wave, tossed in a sudden maelstrom of emotion.
    I gasp, and Sadi is at my side, so quickly I am not sure when she moved.
I want to shake her off but there is a game to play and I am desperate. The
cool quiet of her mind is a bliss that I hide in. She shivers as my psyche
brushes hers, deeper than I have before. I breathe, focusing on the emptiness,
forcing the other minds away, forcing my gifts away until they fade into a
constant white noise that I can ignore.
    “You okay?” she murmurs, her breath brushing against my skin. There’s an
intense intimacy about this—about my mind wrapping around hers. It would take
nothing at all to alter everything about her—I shove the thought down.
    There are lines I won’t cross. Instead I squeeze her hand and ignore the
jolt of her psyche as I flash her a weak smile.
    “I’m fine.”
    “We can wait, if you need,” she offers. I straighten, wincing as pain
lances through my head. I grit my teeth and shake my head, pulling away from
her mentally.
    Looping her arm through mine, she plasters herself to my side, startling
me, and gives Tin a miniscule nod. I don’t have time to protest before the ramp
slides open.
    We step off the Leen into a balmy summer. I have a heartbeat to take it
in—the wide open space dock, the soaring arches of the city, the pale violet
sky, the exotic birds and colors, the distant palaces and the monstrosity that
can only be the Capitol building, where the vast Senate sits and decides the
fates of people across the galaxy.
    And then a vid screen is in front of me, and questions are being
shouted, an incoherent babble. Sadi is being swarmed by the screens, tiny and
pecking. Somehow, they pull me away from her, and I shove my mind out, pushing
aside the psyches around me as I reclaim her arm, pulling her into my embrace.
She lets a smile turn her lips and goes on tiptoes to kiss my cheek.
    The silence is stunning. Sadi settles back on her feet. “I would like to
introduce my consort, Juhan’tr of Eleyiar. I’m sure you have questions, and we
will give one interview. Please speak to Tinex about that.”
    I try to ignore my anger and the unmoving screens as she laces our
fingers and tugs me to where the Senator’s people are waiting.
    “Hello, Larkin,” she says coolly, kissing the older man on the cheek.
    “Sadi. Your father expected you home some days ago.”
    She pauses, her head tilted. “I was...detained.”
    The small bald man has a neat air about him, and I let my mind brush
his. A man of order and rules, who lives by lists and knowledge—and one
completely thrown by my appearance.
    I have no place in the Senator’s neatly ordered life, and Larkin doesn’t
like intrusions.
    “Is there a problem, Larkin?” Sadi asks, her voice silky.
    He visibly flinches, shakes his head. “Then let’s go home,” she
suggests, a smile curving her lips.