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“What else did he say?”
“That he wanted results. Now.”
He swore under his breath and she clutched his arm.
“What’s going on? What’s this all about?”
“Let’s go inside. We’ll talk there.”
His face was grim as he ushered her into the house, but his eyes burned as he looked her over, as if reassuring himself she was unharmed. He gently removed Raja from her shoulder and put him in his box with a carrot, but for once the kedji didn’t immediately start eating, his big eyes trailing back and forth between their faces. Then Celenk poured a glass of wine for each of them and sat down opposite her at the table.
“You don’t have to do whatever it is he wants,” she said fiercely. “We could just leave here.”
He took her hands in his, squeezing lightly.
“You don’t understand. I’m already doing it.”
“Doing what?”
He sighed and sat back, loosening his belt. Surely he didn’t think… His belt slipped free to reveal a second narrower belt beneath it, this one holding a small device with a tiny flashing light. Oh. Not what she’d expected, but from the grim look on his face, something much worse.
“What is that?”
“It’s a survey device. It surveys the land as I travel across it and sends the information back to another machine.”
“A survey device?” She gave him a confused look. That’s what this was about? “What are you surveying?”
“To be honest, I don’t really know.”
Her stomach started to churn again.
“Then why are you doing it?”
“Because that’s what I was hired to do. Because that’s why I’m here. That’s my real job.”
“You lied to me,” she whispered.
“Not exactly. I did come here for a job - just not the one working on the farm.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better? I trusted you!”
His face was a stone-like mask, but she could see the torment in his eyes. She refused to give in to pity.
“I didn’t lie to you, Lottie. I just didn’t tell you everything.”
“Why not? Didn’t you think I had the right to know?”
He looked down at his hands.
“Would you still have come with me if you knew what I had been hired to do?”
“I… I don’t know.”
If she’d known before they set out, of course she would have refused. But after they’d spent time together - after he’d kissed her and touched her? She wasn’t as sure as she would like to have been. Her stomach churned again as the additional implications of what he had been doing sank in.
“You didn’t just lie to me; you lied to our friends.” The friends who had started to feel like family. She felt sick. “You’re conspiring with someone against them.”
“No, I’m not,” he said defensively. “I’m simply gathering information.”
