Cal froze, putting his hands on either side of her head and pulling her face closer to his. “Are you a Seeker?” he asked louder than he should have. He saw her flinch, but that didn’t stop him. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? Which one? Do you fuck with memories? No, you must be the one who makes people see things, right?”
Cal felt his fingers become wet and realized that tears were rolling down her cheeks. He let her go again then turned away, self-revulsion making him feel like vomiting. “I’ve felt like I’ve been hallucinating since the moment I met you. That must be it.”
When he turned back, she was gone. The room was empty. Cal felt like howling, like punching a wall. It took him several moments to get himself under control. He still felt weak from the level of pleasure he’d taken with the waif with the big blue eyes. He hadn’t even gotten inside her, and still, it was perhaps the most powerful climax he’d ever experienced.
That proves it, doesn’t it? She must be working some kind of spell on me.
Cal walked into the hallway, retracing his steps, looking for signs of Gemmaline or his brother. He came around a corner, back into the main corridor, and saw an office door open. Dr. Dunkel was exiting, adjusting her clothing, a shell-shocked look on her face. She met his eyes and then turned away, hurrying down the hall.
He wasn’t surprised when a moment afterward, Juston stuck his head out into the hall from the same office. He caught sight of his brother and waited while Cal approached.
“A little one-on-one therapy session with Dr. Dunkel?” he asked casually.
Juston frowned. “I guess you could call it that.”
Cal wanted to be angry but couldn’t. After all, he’d just spent the last half hour similarly engaged. “Did you find out anything?”
Juston shook his head. “I was scanning through files on the console when I heard Gemma shouting outside. It gave me enough time to put everything away. I figured I’d play it off as my aversion for authority, so I propped my feet up on the desk and leaned back in the chair, and that’s how the good doctor found me.”
“But that’s not how she left you,” Cal said with a hint of irony.
Juston’s eyebrow quirked upward. “No, it’s not.” His brother’s face took on a lost look. “It was strange. When I kissed her, the lights went out.”
Cal nodded. “Yeah, there was a blackout. Complete and total. No backup systems came on to compensate.”
“Yeah, but I felt like somehow, it was connected.”
The corners of Cal’s mouth turned down. “You’re saying you think the doctor had something to do with the blackout. Did she say or do anything?”
His brother’s face hardened. “Not exactly. It was just an impression I got.”
Cal could tell his brother was holding something back, but he didn’t press him. He’d share or he wouldn’t. Just like Cal didn’t plan on sharing how he’d spent the last hour.
“We need to talk somewhere private,” he said, putting a hand on his brother’s arm. “Now.”
“The ship?”
“Yeah,” Cal said, and the pair began moving down the hallway toward the guard booth and the exit. When they passed the common room, he was surprised to see that Gemmaline was not at the window as usual. The thought that he might have truly hurt the girl caused his heart to beat harder in his chest.
You can’t think like that. She’s entangled in all this. For all you know, she’s playing you.
A spymaster couldn’t trust anyone, and that included beautiful young women with haunting eyes. In fact, they were basically at the top of the list, just above Vanfian females. At the guard booth, he told the security fellow that they were returning to his ship to retrieve a few more personal items for his brother.
The guard shook his head, informing them that it wasn’t allowed. Once a patient was committed, it took a doctor’s order to allow them to leave. Cal rolled his eyes. “We don’t have time for this,” he said. “Brother, take care of this please.”
He watched as Juston’s eyes turned red. He instructed the guard to allow them exit and to forget this exchange had ever happened. The guard happily buzzed them out, and they made a rapid departure.
Once in the ship, Cal headed to the controls. “I’m going to run a diagnostic to make sure that nothing is out of order here. Then we can get to talking.” A quick scan said that no listening devices were detected. Cal set the controls for a more in-depth scan, wondering idly if the blackout at RPS had affected any of the ship’s systems.
“What did you want to talk about?” Juston asked, then held up his hand. “And before you start, I’m going to ask you now not to lecture me about the doctor. She was more than willing to—”
“I don’t care about that. Fuck whomever you want, just don’t let them fuck the mission.”
Juston nodded, throwing himself into one of the seats beside the control console. “Then what is it?”
Cal settled into the seat across from him. “My powers. They’re gone.”
“What?” Juston’s mouth made an O of surprise. “You’re joking, right?”
