The Coalition (Book 1)

Chapter 12

The sandbags held and the rain finally relented at dawn. Shai walked back to the Hill House alone, with her soggy leather boots smacking the muddy road. She got as far as the bottom of the hill when the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She pushed off her hood and turned slowly around.

Aliah stood on the side of the road a few feet away, watching her. He walked towards her, the grey light of the early morning casting long shadows across his face.

"How long have you been watching me?" Shai asked and squared her shoulders. He shrugged and came closer. Gooseflesh formed along both arms and she sucked in a breath.

"I heard you had some trouble so I came to find you." His face came so close to hers that she could see the tiny lines that creased the corners of his green eyes. A small smile teased at the edges of his mouth, making her heart hammer. Heat rushed into her cheeks. His intensity pulled at her, drew her in. The heat in her cheeks became a full-bodied flush. Her knees wobbled. Brain-fog from lack of sleep mixed with the sudden shot of adrenaline. She stepped back and managed to drop her eyes.

Breathe...

She had twenty days remaining in Lael. She wasn't about to get caught up in confusing feelings for her best friend. It would only make it worse when she had to leave him.

"A little trouble? You could say that. Missing kids... flooded river...and Sileas's infraction. Where were you?" She sipped the air, forcing her breathing to slow down. Then she raised her eyes to his. The pale light of the rising sun washed his face in a rosy glow, lightening the green of his eyes. He smiled.

What does he find amusing? She crossed her arms in annoyance, as well as to still the fluttering in her stomach.

He came closer and draped his right arm across her shoulders. His face became sober. "Walk with me."

She shouldn't be with him. Not after last night.

She shook her head. "Look at me, Aliah. I need to go to the Bath House. I'm cold and wet. Not to mention dirty."

The weight of his arm around her increased as he pulled her against him and began to walk slowly, forcing her to walk. "Look, I want to apologize." He paused and the fluttering in her stomach became a pulsing frenzy. Being caught this close to each other would get them both into trouble.

She stepped away from him, dodging his arm as he tried to pull her towards him.

"I don't need your apology, Aliah. I need an explanation. Sileas said you found her when she broke into the Chapel. She showed me a letter you gave her, a Recruitment letter!" She spat out the last word then took a breath before continuing. "You Recruited her, Aliah? What is going on? Why do you keep sneaking off at night into the woods? Tell me!"

A hurt look crossed his face and guilt gnawed at her. But it was easier to be angry with him than to keep trying to push aside the strange feeling in her stomach.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Shai. I never saw Sileas. And I never gave her a letter. I sent a letter to you,asking you to meet me so I could talk to you. I don't want any more secrets. And I certainly didn't come back here last night. I left after I carried you to bed."

"You don't want any more secrets? That's funny, Aliah." She looked down at the ground and pushed at a pebble with the toe of her boot. "Well since we're telling secrets let me tell you something. I've been having those visitations again. Even after you made me promise to send him away." She looked up at him but he looked away, his face unreadable. He never spoke of the past, keeping it sealed like a tomb.