Quills: the Rise of the Northern Matriarch-Chapter 71: Meeting 2

"Oh, shit." Nora said as she reached down to grab it. Kai looked past Cerez at the small woman that was popular among most of the Alphem, Bitas and Gimmel social spheres. She looked smaller and more fragile than the images that circulated either from publicity images from their bonding ceremony. When the veil slipped off, her creamy exotic skin seemed to glow. She looked like a delicate flower. Delicate like the Lilidhs in his Clan's garden, like a rainstorm could wash her clean of her petals. He could see why Kadir, Liem, and Cerez consulted with him and needed enhanced security.

'She's lost her veil. Why do they wear these things in such a breezy environment?' Kai thought. The veil blew in the wind as the guys joked with him.

'Shouldn't they be paying attention to her? She could trip and fall in that dress.' Kai thought. He watched as it caught the wind, and she caught up to it.

Nora chased her veil. It was exhilarating to be away from them. The fleeting freedom was nice. Normally, someone was always taking care of things like this. She had to fight to be the one taking care of the kids sometimes. Nora caught up to the veil. She bent and reached for the veil to pick it up. He had already stepped past Cerez and bent to pick it up. He had to force a smile away from his face when he heard her swear. A small pale hand attached to a slender forearm reached out, as he reached and grabbed the veil. Nora jumped when she saw the large hand. She looked up as the veil was quickly pulled up and met Kai's amber eyes. They were such an enchanting color.

"Here." Kai said as he handed the scarf to her. Nora felt a blush creep across her face as she took in his handsome features up close.

'I cannot believe I am still weak to handsome faces. Ugh, what a curse.' Nora thought.

"Oh," Nora said, looking at the man oddly. She was not ready for this. " Um, thank you. I appreciate it." Nora continued awkwardly. She turned to put on her veil again shyly. She paused, the damn thing was so annoying. "This thing is so stupid," Nora said. "Why is it so popular in such a windy place? It ends up in my mouth sometimes. Such a dumb and pretentious piece of clothing." Nora cursed. She decided to wear the thin garment as a shawl. It had ultraviolet protection and at least would protect her from the sun. They had gone very easy on scented items and her sun protection. They would soon be moving into the building.

"Oh?" Kai said and laughed with a throaty chuckle, she was a little unsuspectingly charming. Nora turned around. He was more exquisite with a smile. He had a very handsome, hypnotic-looking face, as if he were Narcissus himself. Nora felt her face heat up, she was having a hard time with the sight. He looked back puzzled.

"Well, I am right, am I not? You are so lucky that you do not have to wear stuff like this," Nora said back with a laugh in her voice. She shook the bracelets on her wrists and picked up the enormous diamond pendant. Then she picked up her dress to show all the other jewelry on her legs and toes. "Would you believe they chose all this, it is so heavy. I do not normally dress like this. Just for special occasions," Nora explained.

'How am I going to get the nerve to do this? Damn it.' Nora thought.

"They have definitely surprised me over the years," Kai answered. Nora laughed.

"Me too. They have so much energy," Nora said and hung her head shyly. Liem patted him on the shoulders.

"You should cover up Nora, you will get a burn." Liem said looking past the brick wall that Kai was.

"It fell on the ground," Kai explained. "Why not go inside and start the tour, so we can discuss what your security and reinforcement needs are." Kai said in a charming voice to Nora.

"Kadir and Liem have been overseeing the construction and making the decisions. But I could use a drink." Nora said. Kai was slightly shocked.

'Those specifications came from those two? Here I was perturbed about them, and now I am left with more questions. There must be a reason for her to be here other than to consult,' Kai thought.

"Has the staff cleared out yet, Kadir?" Liem shouted.

'I thought that they would have been prepared. Why are they stalling?' Nora thought.

"We are ready to go," Kadir said. He wanted to wait until no one was around to open up a secret passageway. Kadir opened his interface to double-check that they were the only ones in the vicinity. He walked up to the panel and placed his palm on it. The panel slid into the ground. He installed several of these access panels and had staff come in through the main door and through all the hallways and stairways to work on the area. He alternated the construction crews out.

"This was not in the plans you sent me. I have never seen anything like this?" Kai exclaimed.

"Yes. It is based off a couple of concepts. The program creates a randomized route to the residential areas, if accompanied by a guest. However, if it is just us alone, it creates a direct route," Kadir explained.

"You will see how it works as we walk our way in," Liem said, urging them to move. No one outside their family knew this way in or could navigate through the hallways to the residence by themselves. He had designed it himself. Liem and Cerez walked through the door, followed by Nora, Kai and finally Kadir. Kadir closed the panel.

Nora followed the group of men, she was beside Kai. He was much larger than Kadir. Nora dry swallowed. Her palms started to sweat. She felt like a girl in front of the tall and broad-shouldered man. She kept her face portraying a neutral face as if she was going to give a rehearsed speech. Her body reacted in opposition to her desired state, she felt her ears heat up as well. Nora tried her best to keep her cool, but he was another level of handsome. She thought she had been immunized to this already. Liem was the son of a man that almost started a trade war. This was the son of war.

They silently entered the factory and went to an elevator. The elevator went down several floors. They went through to a small entry level in silence. Kadir led the way, followed by Liem and Kai. Cerez looked at her as she followed and gave her a look and patted her on the shoulder. The door automatically opened for them as they walked. Until they entered a doorway and they stopped. Both doors closed as the room began to perform like an elevator. This was ingenious and quite a feat. Nora's eyes widened in surprise as she gripped Cerez's arm.

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"So this is just part of the hallway for anyone else without your identification. Ingenious." Kai praised the building as they descended to the emergency residence below, which was constructed in stages by different crews.

"It's brilliant," Nora complimented. Kadir smiled widely at the praise of Kai and Nora, breaking his normally calm facade. This was his idea, it was based off the Setton gate that was installed at the Allari building and an off-hand comment about invisible doors and panic rooms from Nora.