Free Web NovelChapter 86: Chapter 86 Kaelen recognized her
_Author’s POV_
The morning of the draw was cold and the sky was the flat pale grey of early hours that hadn’t decided yet whether they were going to become a good day or a difficult one.
The Starlight Supercars arena compound occupied a large section on the north edge of the city, purpose-built for exactly this scale of event.
Alaric had access to several of those cars because he bought them and gifted a few people he found potential in to participate in the race.
He’d have given Rowen, but he wasn’t exactly pleased to have her join the competition and he didn’t want her to know that he knew she was participating. Everything she hid from everyone was already known by him. The system showing her face name and so on. He saw everything.
By the time Rowena arrived at the arena, it was already operating at full noise, teams moving between vehicle bays, officials managing paperwork at three separate stations, sponsors and their people clustered near the entrance with the particular self-important energy of people who were paying for things and wanted that fact to be visible.
She moved through all of it without drawing attention.
The racing suit she had on was dark, fitted correctly, and entirely unremarkable among the other competitors. The helmet was under her arm. Her hair was pinned flat and covered by the cap she wore beneath it, which beneath the helmet would be invisible entirely. She had practiced the walk the previous evening in her room, not a performance but a deliberate adjustment to posture and pace, chin level, stride slightly wider than her natural one, nothing exaggerated. The kind of adjustment that communicated belonging without inviting examination.
She had her registration documents in the inside pocket of the suit. Silas had confirmed the alias was clean and complete, nothing that would pull her real name into any official record until she chose to put it there herself.
She collected her draw number at the registration desk without incident. The official barely looked up.
She was moving toward the staging area when she saw suddenly saw Kaelen.
She stopped walking for exactly one second and then continued.
She should have anticipated this. She had known some companies sponsored Alpha participants in regional competitions, covering vehicle costs and entry fees in exchange for the association. Celeste had mentioned it in passing months ago and she had filed it somewhere that had apparently not been deep enough because she was looking at him right now and she had not prepared for it.
He was standing with a small team near vehicle bay four, his competition suit marked with a sponsor logo she didn’t recognize. He looked like he hadn’t slept in several days, which was consistent with everything that had happened since the banquet. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
His face had the particular tight quality of someone carrying more than they were showing and not doing it comfortably.
She kept her pace and her eyes forward.
She passed within twelve feet of him.
She was four steps past when she felt rather than heard him go still.
She kept walking.
She was almost at the staging area entrance when it came.
"Stop."
She didn’t stop.
A pause.
"Rowena."
She stopped.
She turned around slowly and looked at him. He was six feet away and his face was doing several things at the same time. The shock was the most prominent. Underneath it was something that was cycling rapidly through disbelief, through a brief flash of something more complicated, and then settling into fury.
"What are you doing here?” he asked in shock. He was keeping his voice down, which told her he was aware of the public setting and was still operating with some portion of his judgment intact.
"I’m here for the competition," she said him straight up as if he was stupid and had no idea what was happening today.
"No," he said. "No. You need to go back and withdraw your registration right now. This is dangerous. You can’t do this."
"I’m already registered," she said. "I have a vehicle and a draw number and full documentation. Everything is in order."
"Rowena, listen to me—"
"Lower your voice," she said. "You’re in a compound full of competitors and media and officials and you’re already on every news channel in the country from two nights ago. Think about where you are."
His jaw tightened.
He breathed in and breathed out.
And then from behind her, with the unhurried timing of someone who had recognized her approximately forty-five seconds earlier and had taken the time to compose his entrance, Pierre appeared from the direction of the eastern vehicle bay.
He was holding his helmet loosely at his side and he looked entirely relaxed, the way he always looked relaxed when he had decided in advance that he were going to enjoy the next few minutes regardless of what happened in them.
He stopped beside Rowena.
He looked at Kaelen.
"Morning," he said pleasantly.
Kaelen looked at Pierre with the specific attention of someone adding information to a calculation they were already running.
"Don’t," Rowena said.
She said it to both of them without specifying direction.
Neither of them appeared to fully hear her.
Pierre looked at the compound around them with relaxed air around him as he was taking in a view he found agreeable.
Kaelen looked at Pierre with an expression that had moved past the fury at Rowena’s presence and found a new and additional target for itself.
Rowena looked at both of them and made a decision that the next few hours were going to require a great deal of patience.
She had known that already. She had just underestimated specifically what form it was going to take.
