Page 55 of Rifted Hearts
Kaveh owed him.
“Kat, if you agree, I’d like to ask Lyall to stay with you and the children until the threat has passed.”
An expression of pleased surprise flashed on Lyall’s face, and Kat’s relieved smile left little doubt he was in favor of the plan. Maybe Lyall would be a better type of bad-boy boyfriend, or perhaps this infatuation would be short-lived. Either way, it was for Kat to decide, not Kaveh.
Lyall looked over at Remi then back at Kaveh. The hellhound must have known he wouldn’t stand a chance against four drakones, but he wasn’t the type of guy who would back down from a promise to defend someone he cared about.
Kaveh respected that type of loyalty.
“I give you my word no harm will come to Remi.” Kaveh put his hand on Remi’s arm, and this time the streamer did flinch. “He can return to his cabin, and I’ll set the guardweed to keep him inside. In the morning, Javier can take him into town using the horse-drawn carriage if the rift boundary hasn’t returned to normal.”
“You’re the youngest of our clan and in no position to make these types of decisions.” Rhys sounded choked with anger and fury, likely due to Kaveh defying him. This was a blow to his ego, and Kaveh’s ex-lover didn’t take those well.
“And I am the head of the clan.” Xiang Jao’s tone brooked no further argument, and Rhys bowed his head even as his eyes flashed with anger. “If the hellhound was compelled to come here and has no further ties to the Colony, I have no issue with him leaving our lands when the security of everyone has been assured. The rift expansion has become unstable, and it may take some time to reverse it. As for Arimanius’s son, it appears you, Kaveh, have been most injured by his actions. If you’re content with letting the ratkind spy return to his father, I will not stand in your way.”
Remi had been staring at the ground during that speech, but when she finished, he gave a sullen nod.
Kaveh pointed toward Remi’s cabin. “I’ll take you there now. You and I need to talk.”
23
Remi stood outside the door to his cabin, silent and miserable, and waited for Rhys to come out. The asshole had insisted on searching his room for dangerous Colony weapons before allowing Kaveh to lock Remi up inside it. The drakone returned and did little more than grunt in Kaveh’s direction before leaving the two of them alone.
Kaveh still said nothing.
Remi hated the silence. He’d rather have Kaveh scream at him or tell him what a lying piece of shit he was or maybe even hit him.
Of course, if Kaveh lost control of his summ for a moment, he could kill Remi with a touch. That was what Remi had thought would happen when Mabel had shoved him forward as Kaveh’s hands were blazing with green fire.
Remi should have died in Kaveh’s arms. He certainly had done enough to deserve it.
Instead, Kaveh had believed Remi’s lies over and over then made sure Remi got back to the ranch safe while he risked his own life trying to help everyone but himself.
At least now Kaveh knew the truth.
Remi was a manipulative serial liar who twisted love and desire into a tool he could use to control people, and that was all he ever would be.
They walked through the damaged cabin door, which Rhys had left gaping open, and Kaveh finally spoke. “Was there anything we did together this week that meant something to you?”
Maybe silence was better than this.
“I was doing my job.” Remi hated the way he sounded, sullen and whiny. “The Colony’s the only family I have. I’m not a fighter, and I can’t intimidate underworld enforcers. What I can do is make almost anyone want me, for a little while, and that’s a valuable enough skill for Arimanius to keep me around.”
“You’re not answering my question.” Kaveh waved a hand at the strands of guardweed, and the vines swarmed over the door, closing it behind them.
“Why does it matter?” Remi walked over to sit on the bed. The covers were rumpled from their lovemaking, but the sheets were cool to the touch, the warmth of Kaveh and his own body together long gone. “I came here to find out the secret of how you control the rift. My clan and yours are enemies, and spying is what enemies do.”
“Stealing, lying, using your ability to make people like and trust you—that’s what you call a good day’s work?” Kaveh leaned against the wall. He didn’t act angry, although Remi knew he was hurt and furious. He sounded like he wanted to understand Remi, maybe so he’d never make this sort of mistake again. “You said you didn’t take the control object, but you came here, lied to me, and manipulated everyone around you so you could steal our knowledge about altering the rift boundary. That’s whatthe control object does, and that’s why your father wants it.”
“If the control object can manipulate the rift, why did your clan put it in the base with the phantoms?” Remi stopped, information he had been too frightened and overwhelmed to analyze coming together in his mind.
The Saguaro Rift drakone clan should have locked up the control object in their keep. Instead, they had put it inside the base, where Kaveh had said no members of his clan could enter without damaging the cordon keeping the phantoms captive. Maybe the deadly invertebrates had been used as involuntary watchdogs for the object, but that seemed risky. The jellies could have learned how to use it themselves. Now it had been stolen, and the phantoms were rampaging throughout the riftland. The two things had to be related.
Kaveh shook his head. “I don’t know, but that’s not what’s important right now. We’re talking about why you think using your psychic ability on unsuspecting people is acceptable.”
“Is imprisoning an entire clan inside the base and starving them into cannibalism to expand your territory acceptable?” Remi thought back to his strange nonverbal exchange with the phantom at the base and the raw fury pouring from the creature’s mind. Now things were making sense, and it was even more awful than he had thought. “The control object had to be near the phantoms because it fed off them, forcing them to devour one another to stay alive.”
Kaveh stiffened. “That’s not possible.”
