“The assignment will be terminated in fifteen days and thirteen hours, Captain. There are no plans or requests concerning an earlier termination of your trial assignment.”
I frowned, raising my head fully toward the ceiling to let them read the confusion on my face. “What about the last ten minutes?” What about what I had just done? Threatening to kill a guard in defence of a faerie? A human guard? It broke at least ten rules, and should the laws be applied, I had to be flogged and demoted. At the very least.
“As per your last conversation with our sponsor, your assignment is to care for the wellbeing of the subject. We are grateful for your service, Captain Harrow.”
My brain stumbled on the new information, which I pretended not to absorb. Indeed, I remembered the last written conversation I had with PDD, where he had basically appointed me as a month-long babysitter. But instead of using his initials, the robot had said ‘our sponsor.’
This was new and unheard of. All missions were funded by the military and as far as I knew, some departments had to wait years for approval to hire an intelligence assignment. The sponsorship of this trial, along with all the secrecy and differences from everything I had been trained to do, meant that PDD, whoever they were, had used private funding to keep Galenor here. To put us both together. I did not know why or how, but it was at least a step forward. Something I could start investigating.
Not wanting to use the tablet to make a list, worried that everything I typed in there had a reflection somewhere else and could easily be spied on, I grabbed a pen and one of the romance novels stacked in my room. Galenor started reading one of them the night before and when he got to the intimate parts, which he felt the need to read out loud to me, I snapped at him and shut the door for the night, kicking him out of the bedroom.
I flicked through the book to find an empty page and started making notes before I lost track of my ideas.
1. PDD – abbreviation?
2. G is from Wind Realm. Why me?
3. Sponsor = private funding?
4. Different guards every time
5. One Cloutie root left.
6. No assignments in the past three days
7. PDD not available when G is away
8. Happy with my outburst - why?
9. Why is G important to PDD?
Nine questions I had no answer to. Nine questions I would put my heart and soul into unveiling before the end of this mission.
I didn’t have much choice but to pick myself up and start my day. The muffins Galenor had baked remained scattered on the floor after the abrupt entrance of the guards, so I picked them all up and put them in the disposal chute, not having the heart to take one more bite without him to share it with.
He had announced that we were running out of food, so after forcing myself to tidy up the room as much as I could, I decided to go food shopping. This way he would have enough to help him recover, at least.
My movements became robotic, I punched in the code and opened the door but could barely see what was in front of me. For some reason, my trial assignment had caught the attention of the unit, because some colleagues stopped me several times to ask me how it felt to live with a faerie and asked me for information about the subject. They knew I couldn’t reveal any important information, but I assumed something was better than nothing and it gave them a chance to go to their bunks and have something to talk about with their roommates.
I walked the hallways like a zombie, too distressed to even care about the questions and conversation around me, about the people who never took an interest in my wellbeing but were suddenly interested in my day-to-day life. My state of mind did not improve in the shop either, where I spent an hour wandering around the aisles and picking up whatever things caught my attention at that moment. I did not have a strategy and must have bought a lot of junk food and ready meals, not wanting to take away from Galenor’s free time and force him to spend longer cooking than necessary.
Before I walked to the checkout line, I added a bottle of red wine to my trolley, something to keep me company throughout the day, and blinked away the minutes until I had to scan my card and go back to the car I had borrowed from the unit.
By the time I drove back, sunset pressed a heavy blanket on the town. I watched people drive home to their families, to prepare dinners and enjoy a quiet night in. Whereas I had to return through a corridor filled with curious eyes and hoped that the fae would be brought back soon and in a state that would at least allow him to walk.
My heart thumped when I reached the familiar hallways that would take me back to this month’s assigned living quarters. By the way the guards gaped at me, something must have happened, and I had to assume it was regarding Galenor’s return. With newly found enthusiasm, I almost frolicked to the door to unseal it, the weight of the carrier bags a light burden compared to the excitement gushing through my body.
My gaze ran across the room, muscles quaking with anxiety, expecting to find Galenor thrown somewhere on the floor, unable to move or even breathe properly. But the living room looked exactly as I’d left it, clean with no signs of blood.
I hurried my steps into the bedroom, scanning my surroundings, taking in the furniture, the bed and the closed door to the bathroom. I opened it in a hurry, not caring what I would find, too desperate to findsomething.
Empty.
Galenor was not here, and it was already dinner time. Which meant they were going to keep him until the late hours of the night or even until morning.
Not really caring about the food but not wanting it to spoil, I filled the fridge with the new purchases, making sure to keep the wine bottle close to me.
Once everything was in its place, I unscrewed the cork and served myself a tall glass. Then I situated my ass on the small chair facing the sealed entrance and started willing it into opening.
