Fly or Fall

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kitarliah emerged from her room, running a hand through the long strands of her ash blonde hair, trying to untangle the knots. She readjusted her utility belt, tightening the strap that went around her waist then she zipped up her white leather knee-high boots. She was late.

She ran down the brightly lit hallway, her boots clicking against the white tiled floor. She could already hear her mother's reprimanding voice in her head. Disappointment. The word resounded in her mind leaving behind a familiar jab to her chest. She turned down the next hallway hoping she'd be lucky, maybe she could sneak into the imperial dinner without her mother noticing. Pretend she'd been there for hours.

Fat chance, a small voice in the back of her mind snickered. She huffed before she rounded the last corner and slammed right into the armor cladded shoulder of a Valek soldier and stumbled back.

Just my luck, she cursed internally. "Seriously," she muttered out loud.

"I'm sorry," the soldier turned. "Kit?"

Kitarliah's scowl quickly dissolved at the sound of the familiar nickname. Only one person called her Kit. She looked up. Sorin. He stood half a foot taller than her peering down at her with lit pale jade eyes.

"There you are," he said, his voice deep and raspy. "I heard you were back."

She scoffed. "You say that as if I had a choice in the matter."

He rolled his eyes. "How long was it this time?"

She shrugged. "Two weeks."

"Too long," he ruffled her hair. "I missed you."

With narrowed eyes she said, "Oh really," and folded her arms over her chest. "Did you miss me or did you miss having someone else to keep our mother's attention?"

He laughed. "You do such a great job at it. Look, a few hours home and you've had a boy caught sneaking out of your room."

Her face flushed and she turned away from him walking towards the door to the reception hall. "That had nothing to do with me," she said her voice raising an octave. She cleared her throat and Sorin came to stand next to her.

"Uh-huh," Sorin said unconvinced. "Explains why no one could find you after it happened."

"I was in..." her voice trailed when her eyes met Sorin's. She always found it harder to lie to him when he was looking at her like that. Like he trusted her. It was his mistake, he should know that by now. She wasn't the kind of person anyone should trust. "What did mom say about it?"

Sorin shrugged. "Not much," he clasped his hand around the handle of his blaster which was holstered at his hip. "She's more concerned with the fact that whoever your friend was, he left with one of the prisoners from the restricted floor."

"He is not my friend," she said calmly, matter-of-factly. She spoke as if the very idea of the two of them being friends was ludicrous.

Sorin cocked a tawny brow. "So, you do know him."

She frowned. "I didn't say that."

He sighed. "She's going to question you about him."

She rolled her eyes. "I have nothing to tell," she said fiddling with the strap of her utility belt. The thing was bulky and felt awkward hanging around her waist. She shifted from leg to leg trying to adjust to the weight of it. "Some boy broke into my room and then helped some prisoner escape. I don't see how any of that has to do with me."