King of War Tech novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Act

Imogen was off my lap before the second knock.

She grabbed her coat, shoved the red-penciled pages into her folder, and pointed at the floor.

"Kneel," she whispered.

I knelt.

She took a water glass from the counter, walked to the door and unlocked it.

Her face had changed completely.

It was cold, bored and furious.

Stellan stood on the step in shirtsleeves with the chief of security's replacement behind him.

"Why is the door locked?" he said.

"Because I didn't want the whole garden to hear me," Imogen said.

She looked down at me with disgust.

"He spoke at the rehearsal today, Stellan."

"I saw the engineer's face," she said. "If he's whispering advice to your staff, I want it stopped."

She threw the glass.

It shattered against the wall a foot from my head, and water ran down the plaster.

I flinched.

It wasn't acting.

"You sorry little man," she said, and the words went through me like a blade.

"You will not open your mouth in that building again."

"Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Imogen."

Stellan stepped past her and looked at me on my knees among the glass.

His smile spread slowly.

"I'd forgotten how good you are at this, Imo," he said. "Mother wants you at breakfast."

"I'll come."

"And clean that up, Tarrant."

He left.

His new man followed.

Imogen closed the door, turned the lock, and stood with her back against it.

She was shaking.

I got to my feet, and a sliver of glass crunched under my shoe.

"I'm sorry," she said, and her voice was a mess.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I had to make it look real."

I crossed the room in three strides.

"You threw it a foot from my head."

"I know where my arm goes."

"Imogen."

"What?"

I took her face in my hands.

"Come here."

She came.

She hit my chest hard enough to stagger me, and her mouth was on mine again, openmouthed and hungry.

I walked her backward until her shoulders met the door.

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