Gwiette is hauled out of her home in the middle of the night and taken off world, turning her into a power supply for a lab or something else she could not see. Her power is painfully stripped from her until a man with shadows in his eyes comes in to rescue her.
Nyral has lived more than his share of time, but he knows that Gwiette is part of his timeline the moment he sees her. Her rescue is his job, but watching over her recovery is his pleasure. He will be in her life and she in his. His instincts are never wrong.
More From Tales of the Citadel
Tears were not doing her any good. Gwiette Lonkastil was pinned to the wall by manacles, and the sporadic pull drew her excess charge from her body and sent it into the power plant.
They had come for her two days before her appointment at the investigation centre. Gwiette jerked as the power surged out of her again. Two days would have gotten her to safety, and the resistance had promised to have a substitute in place to take her interview for her, leaving her family free and clear.
That wasn’t what had happened. They had come for her in the night, rousted her family out of bed and hauled her into the street in her nightgown, their hands covered with rubber gloves. Her younger sister had stared at her in shock as she was pulled to her feet and forced to stumble barefoot down the road into the collection transport. The eeriest part was that not one of those who entered her home said a thing.
She stiffened against the surge of power leaving her body again. This was going to be a short future. Her body wouldn’t last long at this rate.
* * * *
Lafeil Lonkastil entered the teashop and looked for the woman with the blue hair. She smiled nervously and ordered. “A Lemial Spice tea, please.”
The woman with blue hair nodded. “I will have to bring it out to you. Take this number to booth six and wait. I will deliver your tea in five minutes.”
Lafeil nodded and took the order number, placing it carefully on the edge of booth six’s table. Now, she had to wait to be contacted by the resistance.
She waited for the five minutes, looking around at the government agents who entered and left the shop with regularity.
When the woman brought the tea, she sat across from Lafeil. “What can I do for you?”
“My sister was scheduled for an interview tomorrow. They took her last evening. I don’t know where she is or how to get in touch with her.”
The clerk blinked and her features got a little blurry for a moment. “What do you mean, they took her?”
“They came to our house, hauled us out into the street and took her away in her nightgown.” She looked around and was surprised that there was no guard coming to sweep her away.
“Don’t worry. Our booths are lined to avoid psychic residue spill over. As long as you keep your voice conversational, you are fine.” The woman asked, “Did they say where they were taking her?”
Lafeil shook her head. “They didn’t say anything; they just took her. I don’t know what to do or who to tell.”
“Thank you for passing along this information. It will be acted on.” The server nodded and gave her a short smile, returning to the counter without another word.
Lafeil blinked at the woman and quietly got out of the booth, leaving the teahouse without looking back. She needed to find some help for her sister, and if the resistance wouldn’t do it, she would.
