Synnr's Hope - Kate Rudolph Page 0,74

his communicator. That would explain everything.

But when she put the call through, it was a woman who answered. “Who is this?” the woman demanded.

“Who is this?” Lena shot back. Then she remembered he had a sister. “Micia?” she asked. That was his sister’s name.

“I don’t know what your game is, but leave Solan alone. The Zadra family doesn’t need some interloper taking advantage.” The woman ended the call.

What the hell? Why was that woman answering Solan’s communicator? Did he know what she was saying?

Whatever was going on, Lena had to find out.

SOLAN’S HOUSE WAS IN order when he arrived. He expected nothing less. He employed incredibly competent people and they were more than capable of keeping the place tidy while he was gone for a few weeks. But that didn’t mean that he was going to trust them to have it in perfect condition for Lena without checking. He wanted her to be impressed. He knew that she’d seen the place before, but everything was different now. He wanted this to feel like a home for her. Of course, they hadn’t discussed living arrangements yet. Everything had been so simple at the training house. But surely she would want to move out of Crowze’s estate and onto his own, right?

He was instructing his cook on what he wanted prepared for dinner when he realized he hadn’t left a message for Lena. She would know to come to his place. They’d discussed it earlier. But it was probably best to make sure that she would be coming. He left the kitchen and went into his study to make the call. His trott, Stypon, followed close at his heels. The animal hadn’t left his side since he’d walked through the door, so excited to see him again. But before he could call up her information on his communicator, the front door to his house burst open. Lena?

No. He could hear his sister’s voice as she told his butler that she knew where to find him. And find him she did. She closed the door to the study behind her and started pacing back and forth. “You’re back,” Micia said. “When mother heard, she had me drop Stypon off. I hope that was okay.” She looked a bit frantic, her hair falling out of its perfectly coiffed style and her clothes a little bit wrinkled.

“I’m back.” News traveled fast. Of course, his mother had plenty of friends in the military and guard, and he was fairly certain he had seen media cameras at the palace. He had hoped he could have at least tonight alone with Lena before they had to deal with the rest of the world. But clearly his sister needed his help. “What’s wrong?” At his feet, Stypon let out a little whine before curling into a ball and laying at Solan’s feet.

She tapped her fingers together, the nervous motion as out of character as pacing across the room would’ve been. “This isn’t supposed to be a romance. The Matching service said we were compatible. And you know that Matched units go further in society. But now it’s like I care about what she thinks. And I can’t stop thinking about what it would be like to kiss her. I didn’t want this.”

She was talking about Keni, her Match. Solan had thought he’d seen the beginnings of a romance when he met the two of them, and Micia’s plight didn’t surprise him, but he had to wonder if he had sounded so frantic when he was dealing with falling in love with Lena. “Our father may have tainted our view of Matches, but it doesn’t mean all of them are bad.”

“Since when do you believe that? Suddenly you have a new Match and you’re speaking like you’re a different person.” His family knew he had been Matched. There was no way to hide it. But they didn’t know who Lena was. He was going to fix that very soon. But hopefully not tonight.

“Perhaps you and your Match should go away alone for a while. You might learn some things.” If he had never been sent away with Lena, he didn’t know if things would’ve turned out the same. He hoped they would. He couldn’t imagine his life without her now that he had her. But he didn’t know if he would’ve been able to see that if they weren’t isolated. It wasn’t a good realization. He’d been too caught up in his own pain and trauma to see what was