Invaded (Alienated, #2)(89)

“No,” Troy said with a firm shake of his head. “Not happening.”

“Agreed,” Aelyx added.

Cara took Aelyx’s hand and turned it over, studying his burgundy-stained cuticles. If Jaxen had won, it would be Aelyx’s blood beneath another boy’s fingernails. But since the morning’s deaths hadn’t made the news yet, Jaxen had no reason to believe his plans had gone astray. Cara decided to keep it that way. “We have to try,” she said.

She hoped Aelyx was good at playing dead.


It was chaos as the city scrambled to accommodate twice the capacity of the convention center, but an ice storm was the least of Cara’s worries. Surrounded by her security detail, she and Aelyx waded through the crowd and made their way to the lobby elevators, where Troy planned to help them slip past the soldiers and sneak off to the emergency stairwell.

Within minutes, they’d achieved their first goal. Disappearing into the masses had been disturbingly easy. The three of them jogged up four flights of stairs, and when they reached the landing, Cara paused to prep herself—scrubbing her eyelids and nose with her fists, then squeezing a few drops of Visine along the corners of her eyes.

Troy handed over his iPhone.

“Do I look like I’ve been crying?” she asked.

Aelyx nodded. “You sure he’s here?”

Cara was certain—just like she’d known Jaxen would answer her hysterical transmission begging him to meet her. Whatever his end goal, he’d always been weirdly drawn to her. She turned on the phone’s voice recorder and slipped it in her tunic pocket so the microphone faced up.

“Remember,” she told Aelyx and her brother before pulling open the stairwell door, “if Aisly tries to get inside, block her without looking her in the eyes.”

“Got it,” Troy said. “Pound twice on the wall if you need me.”

“I’ll keep watch from the elevators.” Aelyx gave her a quick kiss. “Be careful.”

Nodding, Cara stepped into the hallway and transformed into character—slowing her steps and slackening her face with grief. She spotted the room number Jaxen had specified, and a flicker of fear tickled her chest. There were no guards in the hall, no signs of life on this floor. What if he hadn’t come? After trading a worried glance with her brother, she turned the doorknob and stepped inside the room, leaving Troy behind to stand watch.

All her doubts vanished.

Jaxen was here—along with a small army. At least a dozen guards, both L’eihr and human, lined the walls of the small boardroom. The confusion must have shown on her face, because Jaxen hurried to embrace her while shutting the door.

“It’s okay,” he murmured into her hair, pulling her uncomfortably close. Cara ignored the urge to ram her knee between his legs and relaxed into the hug.

“I h-h-hoped we’d be alone,” she whispered, hitching her breath for effect. “I d-don’t want anyone to see me like th-this.”

Jaxen stroked her lower back. “Don’t worry, Cah-ra. They can’t hear us.” She rested both hands on his chest and glanced up with a question in her eyes. He pointed around the room at the soldiers, who stared into empty space, arms hanging loosely at their sides. She recognized a few of them from the capital. “They’re in a meditative state,” he explained. “We’re as good as alone.”

Widening her eyes, she asked, “How’d you do it?”

“I have many gifts,” he said with a wave of his hand. “But that’s not important.” He took her upper arms, holding her back as if checking for damage. “Are you all right?”

Cara faked her best ugly cry and crumpled against Jaxen’s chest. “He’s gone,” she sobbed. “What am I going to do?”

Jaxen smoothed her hair, making light shushing noises. “You’re going to let me take care of you. Now that the extremists have killed another of our youth, the alliance will fold. But I’ll see to it that your loved ones are protected on the colony. You needn’t worry.”

“But what about Earth? I c-can’t just—”

“Earth is ruined,” he said. “Humans have made an utter mess of the planet. It’s best to let the elements reclaim it.”

She blinked at him in shock.

“Extinction is the natural order of things,” he explained smoothly. “Weaker species die out while the fittest survive.”

“But I thought you loved mankind.”

“I do!” His eyes widened in rapture. “Humans are wonderfully expressive and creative. I would never let them die out. But can’t you see how they need to be controlled? Look at what they did to the water supply. I plan to relocate the best of your kind—the top scientists, the most brilliant artists—and integrate our people on L’eihr.”

“Only the best? What about everyone else?”

“All is not lost. I may still find a use for the remainder of your kind. If humans are obedient, I’ll correct the water crisis for them—in stages.”

In other words, he’d keep mankind beholden to him by withholding the permanent fix, much like he’d done to David. That must’ve been why he’d tried sabotaging the alliance by killing Aelyx—the one L’eihr who would fight as hard as Cara to save the human race. It was the vilest form of manipulation, but not enough to convict Jaxen of treason. She needed an incriminating admission.