[2023 Wattys Shortlist, 2023 Amby Awards winner, Featured 3 times in Wattpad Picks lists]
Kaleth has worked as an agent of Luxarx for years. What the average person might see as an exciting, dangerous job has become the routine, and the only thing...
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Nira felt like she had trouble breathing, but she couldn't tell if it was from fear, excitement, or something else. Her hands were shaking slightly and uncontrollably as she watched her boyfriend finish talking on the phone.
The fact that Nef had been working with some super-secret organization hadn't been even half as surprising as the voice on the other side of Nef's phone. Because she knew that voice.
Nira had only talked to the man once when she had been seventeen, and she had almost forgotten about that. She hadn't thought about it for years.
Thinking about it now, it was shocking that her mother had let her talk to an Enorian, much less an aristocratic one. At least, Nira had assumed he was, judging by the way he'd dressed and spoken. She had seen him talking to her father more than a few times as well. He had visited them more than once, Nira was sure of that. Some diplomatic meetings, she had been told. Looking at the current geopolitical situation, though, they hadn't been successful.
Nira couldn't remember much of anything except for the conversation she'd had with the man. He had talked to her like, well, like she was an ordinary teenager. The only other person who had treated her like that at the time had been her father—maybe that was why Nira recalled the conversation so easily. Or maybe it was also because the man had spoken to her in her own language fluently, which was incredibly rare since they had a common language, and there was no real reason to learn another one.
"What would you like to do when you grow up?"
"You know who I am, don't you? Who I'm supposed to be...."
"Yes, I know who you're supposed to be, but who do you want to be?"
And so she had told him. Nira wasn't sure why she had done that. Maybe because he'd seemed so sincere? Because he'd talked to her like she was an actual person? Thinking about it made her wonder, though. Had the man been involved in her relocation to Enoria? Nira wished she could ask her father, but that was impossible.
"Okay, I'll just get the laptop from my car," Nef said into the phone and almost ran to the door. Nira decided to wait for him as a sign of trust. He could take off in his car and never see her again, but she felt their relationship needed this. Especially when she imagined how it would go if Nef ever found out the truth about her. Nira shuddered a bit.
Just then, a realization hit her, and she ran out of the apartment, yelling Nef's name.
"What's wrong?" he asked, as he stopped halfway down the stairs.
"We can't stay here," she said, finally catching up with him, and they both continued running to the car.
"What? Why?" Seeing Nef confused was a rather rare occurrence.
"You said your brother wanted you to stop helping these people." Whoever they were. "He might make our apartment his next stop to make sure you can't do...whatever it is you're gonna do." Nef blinked at her a few times as if he was surprised that Nira had thought of that, and she couldn't decide if that made her feel insulted or proud.
