Page 18 of The Champion
“Victor. Do you think he fucked a thousand women?”
The thought made bile rise in my throat. “I need some fresh air. Would one of you walk me back to the Blue Tower? I’ve had enough of this place for tonight.”
CHAPTER4
Tension
Victor
As soon as I saw Freya getting ready to leave the nightclub with her delegation I immediately got up from the couch and dismissed the women who were trying to get my attention. Nothing they did worked anyway.
With Freya my sole reason for coming to this nightclub, there was no reason for me to stay if she left. When I gave Celeste and Isaac the suggestion that we should continue the party on the rooftop terrace of the Blue Tower, they rounded up the Motlanders, who had been dancing for hours. They were eager to walk home as a group, which wasn’t surprising since Motlanders were all about community.
Freya wouldn’t look at me and when I approached her, she moved to walk between her brother and cousin.
The closer we got to the Blue Tower, the more my steps became stomps as if I could push my frustration out through the soles of my shoes and leave my worries in the concrete.
I was well trained in suppressing my emotions but dealing with Freya was driving me crazy.
It wasn’t just my frustration with her for rejecting me. I was also angry with Thor, Mason, and Indiana for limiting her. Without their watchful gaze on her every move, maybe Freya would allow herself to enjoy life more.
With her cold attitude, I decided to leave her alone and made the excuse that I had some work that I needed to check up on. I stayed up for hours, hoping that Freya would come to talk to me, but she never did.
I don’t know how long the others stayed at the rooftop, but the next morning I was the first one in the meeting room hoping to get a few moments alone with Freya.
Again, I was disappointed. She turned up at the last minute with Linea and Indiana and didn’t look my way until the negotiations began. The day felt endless with Freya arguing over any small detail just to annoy me.
We French had hoped for a loan from the Northlanders but their price of a long-term commitment from our side when it came to trade deals in their favor was unacceptable. Thor accused me of acting ungrateful and arrogant, which pissed me off.
The Motherlands and Northlands had natural resources and wealth beyond anything we French could ever imagine.
We were a tiny country that had come to depend on outside support. It was humiliating enough to ask for a loan, but for them to expect us to put away our pride in our nation was a deal breaker.
In the past, Freya had helped soften her brother’s hard attitude toward us, but not this time. It was clear that our fight in the nightclub still bothered her and that she was punishing me through the negotiations.
I pushed back and rejected any request from the Northlands.
It made for an awkward tension between us at the informal get-together in my apartment on Sunday night. When I got a call about a Northlander Explorer making a scene in sector four, the police officer who called me offered to deal with it. It was standard procedure for them to call me first since I had personally vouched for the Northlanders. Originally, it had been an act of desperation that made me accept the responsibility. Our prime minister, Moreau, had been too proud and stupid to accept the generous gift from the Northlands of ten teams of Explorers or more. In the end he had accepted when I promised to deal with all contact with the Northlanders. I could have let the police deal with the situation, but I made a spontaneous decision to go myself. Thor, Linea, and Freya wouldn’t let me and insisted on coming.
We found a lovesick Nman banging on a woman’s door and scaring everyone in that area. The whole thing ended in another breakdown between Freya and me when she told the Nmen that we French didn’t have the capacity to love. I was so hurt and offended that I walked off and left them to find their own way home.
Now that I was back in my apartment, I sat brooding in my chair. Luckily, the get-together had ended after Linea, Thor, Freya, and I left. I was grateful to be alone as I sat looking out of the panoramic windows in my penthouse. Usually, the views soothed me but tonight I was too furious at myself for being affected by Freya Aurelius.
A knock on my door made me get up. I knew it was her before I opened the door.
“Hey.” Freya looked small as she stood outside my apartment with her hands buried in her pockets.
“Hey.”
“Can we talk?”
I stepped aside to let her in and closed the door after her. Freya walked to the windows and stood in silence for a long moment. “Are they power windows?”
“Of course. All windows in this building soak up sun and convert it to energy. Why do you ask?”
She shrugged. “Maybe because it’s an easy question to ask.”
“Compared to some harder ones that you aren’t ready to voice out loud?”
