The Significant (17 page)

      
“And it led to disaster before,” Rayal
said coldly.

      
“Don’t say that.”

      
“It
did
,”
Rayal insisted. “You pushed your luck with Venus’ mercy then. She will not be
as lenient now. When she finds out, she’ll immediately kill Kailynn and likely
have you removed from power.” Rayal’s voice went quiet. “Which means you’ll be
executed, as well.”

      
Isa lowered her eyes to the railing under
her hands.

      
“You said when, not if.”

      
“You know she’ll find out eventually,”
Rayal said. He heaved a sigh and shook his head. “I will do my best to keep the
information from reaching her mainframe, should any evidence of this get out.”
Rayal hesitated for a brief moment. “However, Venus is not the only one that
concerns me.”

      
Isa dropped her gaze further.

      
“Remus will find out, and probably very
soon,” Rayal said. He turned to Isa. “What will you say to him?”

      
Isa took a deep breath, thinking.

      
“I don’t know.”

      
“You should send Kailynn home,” Rayal
said seriously. “This is far too dangerous.” Rayal’s eyes turned pleading. “I
know you, Isa. The longer she’s around, the more you’ll start to care for her,
and it’s going to hurt more to let her go. But for your safety, and for hers,
you must send her home.”

      
“I gave her the option this morning,” Isa
said. “She refused.”

      
Rayal closed his eyes, trying to hide the
immediate bolt of fear that went through him at the statement.

      
“What do you want me to do?”

      
“Nothing,” Isa said, shaking her head.
“This is something I must do myself.”

      
Rayal’s heart dropped.

      
“Okay,” he murmured.

      
Rayal returned inside, leaving Isa on the
balcony. The Golden Elite closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh, deciding to
stay outside to collect her thoughts.

      
When Rayal approached Kailynn and Tarah,
Kailynn stopped trying to get the caretaker to talk about Isa’s previous
relationship. Rayal nodded once to Kailynn.

      
“You and I should talk.”

      
Kailynn, who had worked herself up into a
frenzy, tried to calm down. She glanced at Tarah once before following the
former caretaker into the guest hallway. When the door closed behind both of
them, Rayal turned to her, his expression conflicted.

      
“Isa said that you wanted to stay here
for the rest of the agreed time.”

      
“Yes.”

      
“And do you plan to have sex with her
again?” Rayal asked bluntly.

      
Kailynn faltered for a moment.

      
“I don’t see how that’s any of your
business.”

      
Rayal took a deep breath, lowering his
head.

      
“You know Isa far too little to
understand the severity of the situation,” Rayal murmured. “Isa is the Golden
Elite.”

      
“I know that,” Kailynn bit.

      
“Yes, but you do not know who Isa is when
she is
not
Golden Elite,” Rayal told
her sharply. “It took five years to get Isa back to this point. She was very
sick for a very long time, and we were sure we were going to lose her. Now that
she’s healthier again, I have been doing my best to make sure she
stays
healthy, both mentally and
physically.”

      
“If you’re worried, I
am
clean,” Kailynn snarled.

      
“I’m not worried about that,” Rayal
assured. “Her physical health is easier to care for than her mental health. As
an Elite, she processes things differently, and this could end up being a very
dangerous situation for the both of you because of that.”

      
“What does that even mean? It’s already
dangerous.”
 

      
“It’s worse than you think,” Rayal said.
“I’ll tell you the truth. We have had past relations with Gihron that went horribly
wrong. They have no qualms about taking the loved one of a leader to bully them
into unfair negotiations. If Gihron really is behind this attack on Caroie,
then you are a danger to Isa.”

      
Kailynn blinked at the former caretaker,
not expecting the explanation.

      
“Isa is the best Elite this planet has
had in hundreds of years. She is actually turning things around in the Altereye
System. I cannot allow you to bring her to her knees.”

      
“How dare you say something like that?”
Kailynn growled. “Yeah, okay, I don’t know her as well as you do and I don’t
have any clue what she does for this planet or the system, but to think that I
could, let alone
would
, find a way to
manipulate Isa—”

      
“You already have,” Rayal snapped. He
rubbed his forehead, exasperated. “She’s already willing to risk her life, and
yours, for this fling.”

      
Kailynn ground her teeth together. “Shut
up,” she snarled. “Yes, she’s risking her life, but I am risking mine. I take
responsibility for my part last night. I came onto her. She gave me every
opportunity to stop, but I didn’t. So if anyone is responsible for last night,
it’s
me.
”

      
“And now you understand why you are in a
position to manipulate Isa,” Rayal said darkly. “She should have been the one
to stop you. Instead, she put everything in your hands. She gave control of her
life to you.”

      
“I have known her for three weeks. Like
hell she’s handed her life over to me. It’s not like Venus already knows.”

      
“Venus is not the only one you have to
worry about,” Rayal warned. “I am very protective of Isa, but I am not as
protective as Remus. If he discovers what happened, there’s no telling what he
will do.”

      
“He’s the one paying for me to be here,”
Kailynn growled. “What did he
think
would happen? Clearly you guys haven’t been paying close enough attention to
her, because she is obviously in pain and she
needs
someone to talk to.”

      
“Don’t you
dare
accuse me of not watching out for her,” Rayal snarled, leaning
forward. “You only know a fraction of the situation. You haven’t the slightest fucking
clue about how to help her.”

      
“And you do?” Kailynn retorted. “I’m here
for her now. I was there for her last night when she was drinking herself into
a coma.” Kailynn glared at Rayal. “You’re right. I don’t know everything,
clearly, but that’s probably why she wants to be with me. You guys are treating
her like she’s fragile and thinking that every little thing is going to make
her pain worse, but do you really think she would do anything like that? She’s
not that stupid.”

      
Rayal hesitated, staring at the
Significant, the words slowly processing in his brain.

      
“I mean,
fuck
, why are you jumping down her throat about this? She knows how
much shit we’re in. She doesn’t need you to tell her. And yeah, she’s in pain.
But it seems to me like she’s trying to hide it because she doesn’t want you
worrying over her because that makes her feel worse.”

      
Rayal could do nothing but blink at
Kailynn in surprise.

      
He studied the look in Kailynn’s eyes. He
had been worried when he heard of the plan to have Isa spend time with a
Significant. However, staring at Kailynn, and recalling the way Isa had kissed
the younger woman’s forehead earlier, had Rayal nervous for a different kind of
reason.

      
Rayal lowered his eyes.

      
“This is even worse than I thought…”

      
“How?”

      
“Because I can see why Isa turned to
you,” Rayal murmured. “You’re right. She wouldn’t come to me or Remus. We’ve
spent five years treating her like she’s made of glass. I know she’s still not
healed. And she knows that too, but she would never admit it.” The former
caretaker looked at Kailynn. “But you don’t even need her to tell you that
she’s in pain. You know it. And you seem to know how to help it.”

      
It was Kailynn’s turn to blink in
surprise.

      
“There is nothing I can do to change
Isa’s mind on the situation. If she wants you to stay, nothing I say or do will
change that,” he continued. “It would be better for you to leave. She has given
you control of the entire situation. You should take it and change things
before it gets worse. If you don’t, I understand. You’re being paid a lot. But
Kailynn,” Rayal’s eyes hardened, “if you do anything to hurt Isa, I will kill
you.”

      
Kailynn retreated a step.

      
“I won’t,” she said quickly.

      
The two returned to the living room.
Tarah was anxiously waiting for someone to walk back in. Isa was still outside,
looking over the city. Rayal smiled thinly at Tarah and nodded once.

      
“I’m going to take over your kitchen,” he
said. “I need to distract myself.”

      
Tarah nodded quickly, her eyes dropping
to the ground after her gaze met Kailynn’s.

      
Kailynn stood awkwardly where she was,
throwing a glance out to the balcony, wondering if she should talk to Isa.

      
“Kailynn,” Tarah said suddenly, causing
the Significant to turn back to her. “I’m really sorry,” she murmured.

      
“I know,” Kailynn said, sighing. “I get
it. You didn’t know what to do.”

      
“I really didn’t,” Tarah admitted. “I
just…I’m scared. I had to tell someone.”

      
“It’s alright, Tarah,” Kailynn assured,
trying to force a smile, though she was not sure it was convincing. She was not
angry with the young caretaker. She understood why Tarah had told Rayal. But so
much had changed in her life in the previous day that she was disoriented.

      
Kailynn was about to press Tarah more
about Isa’s previous relationship, but the balcony doors opened and Isa walked
back into the room. The caretaker immediately turned to her and bowed her head.

      
“Miss, I apologize. I am so sorry.”

      
“There is no need for apologies, Tarah,”
Isa assured, walking to the bar and placing her empty water glass in the sink.
“I understand that what happened last night was a great deal to process.”

      
“I still wish to apologize,” Tarah
insisted.

      
“I accept your apology,” Isa said. “I
apologize as well, for putting you in this difficult position.” She glanced
around the living room. “Where is Rayal?”

      
“In the kitchen, Miss,” Tarah answered.
She bowed her head and turned, knowing that Isa was discreetly asking her to
leave the room. She ducked into the kitchen obediently.

      
Isa’s eyes turned to Kailynn, who found
herself lost in the blue color more so than she had been before. The color
seemed even more stunning that morning.

      
“Are you alright?” Isa murmured, a
comforting smile touching her lips.

      
“Yeah,” Kailynn said too quickly. Isa’s
smile widened and Kailynn chuckled nervously. “I mean…a lot has happened really
suddenly.”

      
“It has.”

      
Kailynn looked at her feet, trying to
think of something to say.

      
“Isa…I—”

      
The gentle tone of Isa’s phone cut
Kailynn off. Isa reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, using the
earpiece.

      
“Remus,” she answered. Kailynn’s stomach
dropped in fear, even though she knew there was no way the Silver Elite could
know what had happened the previous night. “Yes, I know, my apologies. Rayal
came to see me and I got caught up.” Kailynn stood awkwardly, waiting for the
conversation to be over. “Thank you,” Isa continued. “No, no, I’ll do it now.
It’s alright.” Isa nodded. “Very well. Thank you, Remus.”

      
She hung up the phone and removed the
earpiece.

      
Isa glanced at Kailynn.

      
“I must work,” she said quietly.