Catastrophic Attraction - Eve Langlais Page 0,51

for the journey back, but he didn’t mind the time to clear his head and even enjoy his freedom again.

Once back in the ruins, Roark found it difficult to stray far over the next few weeks given a series of incidences requiring his attention. He never did quite make it back to monitor the tree himself. Not that it would have mattered. Those that checked for him didn’t report any yellow ribbons.

Theona had come into his life and left it. While he missed her, at the same time, with her gone, he’d managed to recapture the excitement he felt when he saw the possibilities ahead of him, especially when a group of eight straggled in. Five men, three women, four children. Nomads ready to try a life that didn’t involve packing up and finding a new spot lest the predators mark them.

About a month after his return, the budding city suffered a spate of bad luck. Hunting crews came back empty-handed because their catch had already been stripped from the traps. Crops they were counting on were torched before they could reap. A well went dirty. Then another. And another.

So many bad things hit the tiny settlement that it brought grumbles and murmurs that perhaps they should leave. Eden was cursed.

The very land itself was fighting them. Only then did it occur to him they might have a spy. The group in Eden had swollen to almost two hundred people now. Too many to keep track of, although he’d met them all. He’d shaken their hands but not looked inside their minds at their actual intent.

Up until this point, he’d played very little with his mental power. Mostly because he couldn’t forget his mother screeching—"Get out of my head!” He was more than happy given the angry place she harbored within, first resenting the husband that died, then hating him when she found out he had another family in the city.

It was how Roark first learned he had a brother.

He learned to stay out of heads after that and stuck to lighting fires and shaping water. But the incidences kept happening. A few families left. He had to do something.

Despite it being something he’d avoided, almost three months after Theona left, he started peeking inside people’s heads. Not those he’d known since the beginning. He trusted them. But the newer folk.

Like that man who didn’t say much but he’d seen around. Bald, with an earring. No one recalled seeing him hanging with anyone. No one called him family or friend.

Antisocial? Possible. And yet, when Roark cornered the man and said, “We need to talk,” the man pulled a knife.

The suspected spy glanced wildly left and right. “Come near me and I’ll gut you.”

“Is this your admission of guilt?” Roark asked, keeping his gaze on the knife, but his mind pushing… His name is Serpo. He’s been sent by the city, hired by some Enclave highborn to sow discord among the Marshlanders.

At the confirmation he’d hoped was paranoia, Roark recoiled and stared at the man. Stunned by the knowledge.

Serpo didn’t hesitate. He stabbed Roark, might have killed him, too, if Roark hadn’t thrust himself into Serpo’s head and commanded he stop. The brutal injection of his will killed the man. Roark might have felt sorrier if he’d not realized that the Enclave sending Serpo practically constituted an act of war.

After that, Eden established tougher rules for admittance. Newcomers were grilled, not only by the people but then peeked at by Roark. They killed two more spies after Serpo.

Things became calm again. Enough that he finally managed to make it to the tree he’d left Theona at almost four months ago. It had been long enough that he’d convinced himself he missed her. He sat at its base and wondered what she was doing. Obviously better things than returning to him. He camped there for three nights. He couldn’t have said exactly why.

Yet he’d assumed it was fate when he awoke the morning of the fourth, finally ready to go home, and heard the sound of an engine. Not just any engine, his old chugging and spitting motor. He barely dared to believe when vehicle came to a stop, the helmet came off, and the white-blonde hair swung free.

Theona smiled at him. “Isn’t this a coincidence.”

“What are you doing here?” he’d replied somewhat dumbfounded.

She held up her hand and dangled a yellow ribbon. “Coming to see if you meant what you said.”

“It’s good to see you.” He’d taken a step toward Theona,