Beneath the Fallen City - A Dystopian Fantasy Romance

Chapter 14

Veridian scratched his head and continued, "Seara came back a little later with Alec. She was quiet, and it looked like she'd been crying. Alec said Kayla started remembering things. He told me Kayla wanted to be alone for a while and asked me to come back here."

Carl frowned, his unease growing. "You didn't talk to Kayla?"

Veridian threw up his hands in frustration. "No. Alec said she didn't want to talk to anyone. Next thing I knew, I was on my speeder heading back here."

Carl shook his head. "This doesn't make sense. There's no way Kayla would have told you to leave. She's always been adamant about not being separated from you."

"I thought so too. But maybe remembering her past changed things? I don't know. It seemed to make sense at the time."

Carl drummed his fingers on the table. Jinx rested her hand on Veridian's arm. "Veridian, why don't you call her and find out if she's okay?"

Veridian pulled out his commlink, but Kayla didn't answer. He sent a message asking her to contact him and closed his commlink. His shoulders slumped. "I shouldn't have pushed her. She told me she didn't want to go to the towers. I should have listened."

Jinx shook her head. "I'm sure everything's fine. She's probably just sleeping. You can try her again in the morning."

Hope filled Veridian's eyes as he raised his head. "You think so?"

Jinx offered him a reassuring smile and nodded. "Yes. You should get some rest too. You look exhausted. We'll find out what's going on. Don't worry."

"Yeah. I guess." Veridian stood and muttered a goodnight before heading out of the room.

"Anyone else think this reeks?" Xantham said when he was gone.

Carl nodded. If there was one thing beyond reproach, it was Kayla's loyalty to Veridian. "Kayla wouldn't have sent him away. I don't care what she remembered."

"Maybe you should go to the towers a day early," Jinx suggested. "Go check on her and find out what's going on."

"That's not a bad idea. We're low on inventory anyway. I could use that as an excuse," Carl mused. "In the meantime, we should get some rest. Maybe Kayla will call Veridian in the morning and straighten this out."

They murmured their agreement. Carl said goodnight to the group and headed back to his office. Pushing aside the inventory list Jinx had given him earlier, he pulled up a copy of Kayla's OmniLab contract. He stared at her picture for a long moment and then shut it off in annoyance. He was acting like a lovesick teenager.

You were the one who encouraged her to go.

Mentally kicking himself, he headed to his bedroom. He pulled off his shirt and threw it on the floor in frustration. Resting his head in his hands, he sighed. Sleep would be a long time coming.

* * *

Several hours later, Carl woke to the sound of his commlink. He grabbed it and flipped it open. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes and read the message from OmniLab.

So they narrowed down the selection of potential traders.

The message requested his presence at the towers in two days for the final decision. He studied the qualifications of the proposed trader candidates and chuckled when he saw Rand's name on the list.

Carl scrolled through the rest of his messages and was about to close his commlink when he noticed a draft message marked urgent. He couldn't remember creating an urgent draft. Curious, he opened it up and stared in shock at the short message.