Betrayal: Book 3 of the Guardians Saga

Ch. 8.1 From Implosion to Explosion

He straightened his tie and brushed his coat, but it was his confidence that restored his dignified appearance.

Rile saw it all. He could hear Brockner and Gabe, but not what the tiny machine played. It had to be bad to do that to Gabe. Rile followed Gabe at a discrete distance back to the carriage house.

***

Gabe entered the practice area of their apartment. The mat was still on the floor so he sat down to pray.

He tried to clear his mind, but the ugly scratchy voice from the recorder haunted him. The more he tried to shove it away, the more it intruded and the more Brockner's false sympathy grated.

Perversely, memories of times spent with Alex came unbidden, tainted with the certainty that she was using him, laughing at him, watching him lead his brothers into a trap, Dr. Dewey lying on the floor.

Blinded and deafened by his crashing guilt and the clamoring memories, Gabe knocked over the weapons rack. He smashed whatever he could find. The room could not contain his fury and he fled.

***

Rile watched Gabe enter their apartment in the carriage house and lightly tread up the stairs to Alex's. She didn't answer his soft knock, so he let himself in.

The kitchenette and living room were empty, so he peeked in the bedroom. She was curled in a ball on her bed, sleeping.

Rile closed the door and plucked a staff off the stave on the wall in Alex's living room. Cale had installed the holder at Alex's request. Rile wanted to think about what Brockner said while he exercised.

Was Alex manipulating them? He began the first form of staff training. How could she have manipulated him when she was asleep? How could she have manipulated him when she wasn't even aware that her power activated when she slept?

He continued the pattern of thrusts and footwork. That had been a total surprise to her. He would bet his life on that. He remembered how angry and hurt she had been when she found out about her nightly glow.

Rile swept the staff tip along the floor and then brought it up sharply.

If Alex was manipulating Gabe, why was she so insecure? Why did she seem so hopelessly in love with him and at his mercy? If it was manipulation, why was she crying so desolately after he confronted her about it? Shouldn't she just be angry to be found out? Or if the crying was an act, why did she continue it when she was alone? Was she not sure of her control with that power?

She should be: it was powerful stuff. He had already acted like an idiot because of it. That was his fault, not hers. Only one female had ever manipulated him with sex and that would never happen again. He knew the trick of it now.

Rile finished the first form with an overhead block and started the second form.

What was it Alex had told him during their sparring match? "I love you both but I won't play the two of you off each other." Wasn't that the exact opposite of manipulation? Still, she had said that she hadn't known at first.

When had she found out? It had to been after the Anolis world, he was sure of it. How did she find out? Did Brockner tell her? What if he was lying to her as well as them? It would prey perfectly on her neurosis.

Rile spun the staff in the daisy chain pattern that Alex was hot to master. His acute hearing picked up noises and he padded quietly to the front door. He peered out and saw Gabe run out of their apartment. He shook his head, closed the door, and went back to practicing.

Rile twirled the staff with ease, another skill Alex was trying hard to learn. No, he didn't believe she was manipulating either of them, except for trying to make him kill her. She had said ugly things to turn him against her, definitely not seduction.