Featherlight (27 page)

I hid a yawn behind my hand.
The planning was exhausting, and we had gotten so much accomplished. Gregory,
the man sitting next to John, was in charge of organizing leadership groups on
Earth for any lullary
willing to pretend to be a human leader or
politician. The man whose brandy I had spilt, Jefferson, was going to start
tracking kiren
movements in order to counter any damage they might
inflict.

All of the men were talking
eagerly, and John was the only one who had noticed my yawn. “If you don’t mind,
gentlemen, I must steal Jacqueline from you. We have much to discuss.”

I was grateful to John for
excusing us. My mind was exhausted, thanks to its lack of mental exercise.

As soon as we closed the
chamber door behind us, I said, “I think that went well.”

John snorted, and I laughed.

When we were safely inside his
room, I exclaimed, "Oh, come on! I finally got something accomplished. I
feel so free! Admit it, I was awesome."

"That
was odd how you were able to convince them so easily, especially after
insulting them," he admitted.

I
fell down on his couch and smirked. "It must be my folium charm."

John
leaned against the wall and gazed at me thoughtfully.

“What
is it?” I asked.

“I
have a theory,” he said. “Tell me to do something, anything. Just convince
me."

I
thought for a second and then blurted, "Take off your shirt."

John
smiled at my choice and told me, “Say it with conviction. Do you remember what
you felt after you smashed that glass earlier? Summon that feeling again.”

I
had felt anger, but that wasn't the only thing. I had also felt passion and
bull-headed might.

I
put more power behind my words, "Take off your shirt."

Nothing
happened, and I had sounded completely ridiculous. I tried to remember how
badly I wanted the council members to see my point of view, how badly I wanted
them to understand.

Maybe
if I really wanted John's shirt off, my voice would have the same tone quality.
I briefly thought about how muscular his arms were and how muscular his chest
would be. My cheeks flushed, and the way John’s eyes were silently laughing at
me told me he knew the reason.

Why
in the world did I choose to coerce him into undressing? Thinking about how
much I wanted to see his chest was working, though. I felt the same stubborn
desire to convince him as I had felt talking to the councilmen. This time, I
let desperation enter my voice, and even though it didn't sound any different,
it
felt
different.

"Take
off your shirt."

John's
hand had lifted his shirt halfway up his chest before he realized what he was
doing. I had a titillating glance of his tanned abdomen before he dropped his
hand and ran it through his hair.

"You
just became quite a bit more interesting, Jacqueline."

I
grinned at him, pleased with myself. "Like I'm not interesting enough. So
does this mean I can make commands that people must follow?"

Not
that I would abuse the power or anything, but the thought of controlling others
with my voice gave me a trill of excitement.

"Not
exactly." John smiled and said, "I wasn't strained, but I did have a
strong desire to grant your request. If I had been unaware of the fact that you
were trying to force me, I would have done it without thinking. My guess is
that it stems from wanting to please you. Remember how I said that the folium
brought out the protective instincts?” He crossed his arms and admitted, “We
are attracted to your look and smell more than any other race, so it would
follow that your voice holds some power over us as well.”

"So
back in the meeting, they didn't agree with me because my plans were sensible
or because they truly wanted to help humans? They were agreeing because they
instinctually wanted to make me happy but didn't realize it?"

John
nodded gently. What a bummer. But, then again, I had gotten the lullary to help
the humans, so the means to that end didn't matter, right? Who cares how I did
it, as long as I did.

John
and I reached the same conclusion simultaneously.

"No
one can kno-"

"Don't
tell any-"

We
stopped and I smiled at him.

"I
agree," I said. "Besides, this little trick might come in handy one
day."

Like
it came in handy at the meeting earlier,
I thought. Wow, the possibilities were endless. I needed some time to
think this through.

"So,
Jacque, out of all the things you could have tried to convince me to do, why
that one?" He uncrossed his arms and walked over to the couch.

Uh
oh. It was time to pay up for my command choice.

I
blushed, "It was the first thing that came to mind, I guess."

“The
first thing?” He walked behind me until he was no longer in sight.

I
slumped lower in my seat, suddenly nervous.

“Jacqueline,
do you remember the deal we made in the cabin?” His deep voice came from behind
me.

“Deal?”

“Yes,
deal. The one you agreed to so wholeheartedly.”

“Deal.
Yes, I suppose I remember.” Oh boy, where was this going? He must be talking
about the deal where I agreed to let him take me in exchange for the knowledge
of how to resist a chase. What in the world was I thinking?

“What,
um, what about that deal?” I asked.

“I
will be asking for you to keep your end of the bargain soon, Jacque. Chases are
banned during the festival, but the thought of you being new around all those
men is still not a pleasant one,” he murmured.

Why
the sudden change? He knew that the festival was coming up, and my newness
didn’t bother him yesterday or even this morning. This must be some kind of
political move due to the fact that I could now easily influence others. Just
how much more valuable did I become? Regardless, I had to buy myself some more
time.

“John,
I was taught by the best. No one is going to take me at the festival as long as
I have a say. What if I went under a disguise?” I bargained.

John
put his hands on my shoulders and said, “Perhaps.”

“I
could hide my folium
coloring and pretend to be common.”

“Jacque…”
John started, and I knew what was coming.

“John,
please! I’m not ready yet,” I pleaded as I tucked my knees to my chest for good
measure.

“It
won’t be painful. Far from it, actually,” John said, rubbing his thumbs into my
back.

No,
no, no. I would not let this happen. I threw out my last trump card, knowing
that it was my best defense against him.

“John,
my dad, I just can’t-” I made my voice break before continuing, “He- I was so
scared, you don’t know.”

My words had the desired effect. John was by my side on the couch in
less than a second. I buried my face into his chest as his arms circled me.

“Shhh… What he did was terrible, but you’re safe now. You’re safe.”

Even though I didn’t want to, I believed him. It was hard not to feel
safe with John’s arms wrapped protectively around me. It might make me a lesser
person by admitting that his words helped ease the pain of my past, but so be
it. A large knot of worry unwound itself. I was safe from the chase, for now.

I pulled back, and he said, “I’ll need to talk with my parents and
Rene, but I believe we will be able to dye your wings and hide your eyes with
contacts.”

 “Why am I going to be in a disguise if I
can resist the Chase? Even if I couldn’t, I could
still out-fly most men.” What John also didn’t know was that I had been
practicing flying in my room. It wasn’t a hardcore workout, but I had been hovering
in place as much as possible to keep my muscles strong. It had the same feel as
treading water: It was not hard to do until your body began tiring.

“We
are simply being cautious. There are two men that we’re not sure you could beat
in a chase, and we do not want to find out. All kiren
have a physical edge
over lullary
.
For the most part, since folium
have always been
the fastest race, you would probably win.”

John
made several calls while I waited on the couch, and they ironed out all the
details. While he was talking, I snuck into the kitchen. He watched me with
amusement as I snagged some pieces of bread to eat with jelly. Even though it
was essentially toast, it tasted like heaven. I had just finished spreading the
red goo on John’s piece when he finished his conversation.

“What’s
the verdict?” I asked over a mouthful of deliciousness.

“We’re
leaving tomorrow,” he replied, taking a bite of the toast. “I called up some
food for supper. After we eat you’re to get some rest.”

“But-”
I started to protest at the lack of information.

“The
festival will be at the kiren
capital city, Davor, and I will explain
everything on the flight tomorrow.”

“Have
you been there? To Davor?” I asked.

“Many
years ago, yes. Although I don’t remember much from my visit.”

By
the time I had finished my toast, a man knocked on the door with our supper.
John and I ate the meal in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. I couldn’t
help but compare this dinner to the last supper.

||||

Ever
since Jacque had bid him goodnight, John had been trying to figure out a plan
that kept her both safe and happy. Unfortunately, that was proving extremely
difficult. It went against every one of his instincts to simply be in her
presence without starting a chase, and so it seemed completely outrageous to
bring her to the festival where there would be powerful kiren
and lullary
men. Few would be able to resist chasing her if eye contact were made, and
the few who could withhold would most definitely jump at the opportunity to take
the last folium.

He
couldn’t keep her from the festival, though. Already, tension was brewing between
the three races because of her. Hiding Jacque away in the Tower was not going
to help matters. Besides, they had been trying to reestablish contact with the kiren
for decades, and this was a prime occasion. The only rational decision left
would be to take her before tomorrow so that he wouldn’t have to worry about
the other men, but he knew she wasn’t ready for that kind of change. Her damn
father had almost broken her. Oh, how he wished he could get his hands on that
man.

John
blew out a frustrated breath. Of course, if things went terribly wrong tomorrow
night at the festival, she would be wishing that John had taken her while he
had the chance. Jacque had no idea how much of a gamble she was making by going
to the festival new. Then again, he was as much to blame since he was allowing
her to do it.

Women
, he thought. How in the world was he supposed to
deal with them for the rest of his life?

Part
XXVII

"Keep
your eyes down the whole time. Don't say anything unless you must."

"Chillax,
John. Nothing bad is going to happen," I soothed.

"This
is a terrible idea, and you're going to pay for it after the festival is
done."

I
arched one eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"Just
you wait," he promised. "The introduction will last about two hours.
If there are no threats, then we will return to the room and take off your common
disguise. If there happens to be some kind of danger, then we will need to fly
out of Davor as quickly as possible. I have a small jet waiting just in
case."

He
must have seen the dislike written on my face at the thought of running away
from the festival. John countered, "If it were up to me, I'd want you
locked in your room until the show. Unfortunately, as the Marshal's son, I have
to make an appearance, and I don't trust anyone enough to watch over you while
I'm gone."

I
wanted to argue that I could take care of myself perfectly fine, but I would
rather be at the introduction anyways.

"Jacque,
I want you to know that if anything goes wrong, I will not hesitate and I will
not bargain."

I
knew exactly to what he was referring. If I were threatened with a chase, John
would interfere and start it first. Even though his words should have scared
me, they didn't. In fact, the knowledge that he would be there watching over me
was slightly comforting.

"John,
I promise you I can take care of myself."

"I
know you can," he said.

We
had just buckled our seatbelts on the fastest jet in existence, and I couldn’t
even stop to appreciate that fact. Rene had come up with a plan yesterday to
get me out of my room and into the jet without making a huge commotion. They
had parked directly below my window, and I was supposed to jump off my balcony.
Even though I knew how to fly, it took a little convincing before I leapt off
the 12
^th
floor into thin air.