The Skin Thief

Chapter 30

"Did you hear?" Leo asks me as soon as I sit down at my desk.

"What?" I ask and force the smile onto my face. He pulls up a chair and I fiddle with my computer to try and look busy so he won't see my shaking hands.

I scold myself. If I act nervous, I will only make them more suspicious.

As I entered this morning, I dropped my ID card twice and the fingerprint scanner didn't work the first time because of how sweaty my palms were. Once I was through security, I calmed down a little bit. Especially when I walked into the office and didn't see armed guards waiting there for me. Still, I can't help that little niggle in the back of my mind telling me they're coming to get me. It takes all my effort not to keep glancing at the entrance to the office over and over.

Stop, Rowan. You're being paranoid. You did a good job last night. You aren't a suspect and you never will be.

"What do you do in the morning?" Leo asks. "Do you not turn on the news?"

"Not really," I lie. "I like to listen to music."

"You're a political analyst who doesn't watch the news?" he asks.

I laugh. "I keep myself up to date, don't worry. I just don't want to be bombarded with politics and information right before I'm about to do an eight-hour shift wading through more information than my brain can handle."

"Good point," he laughs. "Anyway, you must know of that lawyer, Daniel Vasco?"

"Yeah, I know of him," I reply calmly.

"He was found dead in his office last night," Leo says and shakes his head. My eyes widen.

"What?" I gasp and somehow manage to sound convincing. "How? Who?"

"I don't know," he shrugs. "But, personally, good riddance. What he did to that poor man and his daughter..." he trails off and shakes his head. "He should have been in prison. Corrupt arsehole."

"His death is going to upset a lot of people," I say.

"Yeah, especially the people we worked for. They're desperate to go to war and Vasco was one of their key players."

"I still find it crazy that corrupt politicians and unethical lawyers like him can find loopholes and play dirty tricks to get laws changed so they can have their way," I say.

"Absolutely," Leo agrees. "I mean, the legislation was put into place to protect us. It should be difficult for our government to declare war and enter other realms. The system shouldn't be so fragile that the dirty tricks of shady powerful lawyers can change the laws."

I smile, glad I have found someone who seems to be against a war with my realm.

"What are you two chatting about?" Serena asks, smiling a little too widely. Leo, who is facing away from her, rolls his eyes at me. I hide my smile.

"We were just talking about Vasco," Leo says, turning to her.

"Oh, it's awful, isn't it," she sighs and shakes her head. "I hope they find someone to take over for the important work he was doing."

I grit my jaw and Leo crosses his arms.

"Or our politicians can just abide by the law," Leo states.

"The law is old, Leo," she says, her voice laced with a strange 'I know better than you tone'. "The Second Realm is mounting an attack and we need to be able to defend ourselves without having to do pointless paperwork and jump through leaps and hurdles."

"The laws are in place to stop corrupt leaders entering other realms when they don't have any right to," Leo argues.

"Oh for goodness sake, not this debate again," another one of my colleagues, Mia states as she comes to a stop at my desk.