Page 51 of On A Rift's Edge
Kaveh opened his mouth to speak, then stopped himself. He reached out to touch Remi’s knee.
“Maybe I could go back and talk to Arimanius.” Kat knew how stupid those words sounded to the two men in front of him. Remi had been a professional con artist and had psychic powers. Kaveh could generate poison flames from his hands and turn into a dragon. If the two of them couldn’t do anything to rescue Lyall, what could he do? The mafia boss had been right. Kat was useless. “I’m not planning to appeal to his better nature, because he doesn’t have one, but I could try to negotiate with him.”
“Absolutely not.” Kaveh shook his head. “Lyall did this for your sake. Arimanius intended to keep you even after he forced Lyall into servitude again. I’m sure he planned on using you to force me to hand over the control object. If there was one thing Lyall and I agreed on, it was that we wouldn’t trust each other’s clans with the device, much less Arimanius.”
“I’ve been trying to think of a devious plan to fix this, but my father runs cons, he doesn’t fall for them.” Remi came to the sofa and put his arm around Kat’s shoulder.
Remi was skittish about non-sexual touch, and this was the first time he had hugged Kat. Remi had changed himself, and for the better. Kat had tried to change himself, and it had ended in disaster. He had used his fake relationship with Paul to avoid admitting his true feelings to Lyall and had been directly responsible for the hellhound being trapped again. Falling for bad boys, not falling for the right bad boy—at this point the only thing Kat hadn’t tried was becoming a bad boy himself.
“I can count the number of times Ari’s been scammed on one finger.” Remi held up his middle digit in the general direction of the window, and presumably, his father.
That jogged Kat’s memory. Lyall had said something similar when they were lying in bed together, both too close and too far away.
“I think it’s best you stay in the monstertown for now.” Kaveh’s tone had softened toward him because he didn’t want to hurt Kat’s feelings. But right now Kat wasn’t respectful of his own feelings. Grief, guilt, shame—what use were those emotions to him now? He wanted to be angry, not sad.
“There are things I can do.” Kaveh rose from the chair and picked up his hat. “The guardians can help me send a message to Lyall’s clan. Even if his alphas exiled him, the abduction of the Matchmaker-chosen partner of one of their clan mates should provoke a response.”
“After the chat with the guardians, we should also kick Zale out of town.” Remi stood up to join Kaveh. “He’s been hanging around the saloon, drinking beer, and bugging me about the control object.”
“I’ll stay here, then.” Kat tried to sound resigned and exhausted, which wasn’t difficult.
Kaveh came over and rested his hand on Kat’s shoulder. “I know this has been awful for you, but you need to give me and Remi time to work on the situation.”
Kat nodded, dropping his eyes to the floor. Time wasn’t on Lyall’s side.
“Promise me you won’t go off and do anything on your own.” Kaveh’s tone was gentle, but he couldn’t hide his concern.
Kat looked up into his friend’s eyes, and for the first time in his life lied without hesitation or guilt. “Don’t worry. You know I wouldn’t do anything like that.”
Finding Zale wasn’t difficult.The Colony enforcer was sitting slumped at one of the tables in the monstertown saloon, a multipurpose space that acted as a coffee shop, bar, restaurant, and meeting space.
Kat waved at the woman behind the counter, who had green hair and skin and made amazing iced lattes.
“Would you like to try my latest coffee special?” she asked, her voice reminding him of the rustling of leaves in a warm breeze.
“Yes, and another round for him.” Kat pointed at Zale, who lifted his head and stared back at him in surprise.
Not wanting to lose his nerve, Kat strode over to the table and took a seat. A mostly empty mug of beer sat next to the half-kraken. Zale didn’t look great. His eyes were bloodshot, with dark circles underneath. Kat knew he was a dangerous riftperson, but Zale was giving off vibes of despair, not aggression.
“Mind if I join you for a drink?” Kat put all the cheerful energy he could into the question.
“Yes, I mind.” Zale mumbled those words into his beer. “Leave me alone. I’m knee-deep in shit as it is. I don’t need to get in more trouble by talking to you.”
The barista brought over another foam-topped mug and plopped it down next to Zale before she went back to make Kat’s latte.
Kat pointed to the drink. “I’m buying.”
“In that case, okay.” Zale took a swig of the beer. “What do you want? You’re cute and all, but I don’t need more trouble from your dragon buddy or your hellhound boyfriend.”
“You don’t sound happy about Lyall working for the don again.” Kat felt throwing in mafia slang was appropriate, given the circumstances. “Neither am I. Maybe we could reach a mutually acceptable understanding.”
Zale stared blankly at him, and Kat decided to rephrase his offer using smaller, less complicated words. “You help me, and I’ll help you.”
“You can’t help me.” Zale paused for a minute as the barista came over to serve Kat a latte that came with a pale blue vine that wrapped around the glass. A flower unfurled over the drink and a teardrop-shaped piece of purple ice dropped into the coffee, turning the drink a delicate shade of lilac. “The don is furious with me for letting that Azdaha friend of yours keep Remi as his boytoy, and he wants to snatch Lyric. But I don’t know if that’s what Lyric wants.”
It was Kat’s turn to be confused. “Kaveh’s in love with Remi. He’s not forcing him to stay here. Also, who’s Lyric?”
“The person in that glowing dildo thing.” Zale and Remi did have some things in common, like associating everything with sex. “Lyric talks to me and tells me things they want. Like more old-school rock to listen to or their plans for revenge and destruction.”
