“Don’t,” he said, holding a hand up to stop her. His eyes glinted with anger. “It’s not safe.”
She pulled her foot back and strived to wait for him. When he moved into range, she threw herself into his arms. He caught her up in a tight embrace.
“I didn’t like that. I didn’t like what happened at all. How could you do that to me? I was so worried.” Water and whatnot soaked through her clothes but she didn’t care. All she cared about was his strong arms around her. “How could you be so reckless?”
He patted her back gently, playing with the ends of her hair. “There’s nothing reckless about me. I knew exactly what I was up against. And you should’ve stayed inside!”
“Inside where? My estate?” she sniffled, rubbing her face against his nanosuit, feeling his ridiculously honed chest against her cheek. “Technically I never left it. I’m still inside it right now.”
“You know what I mean,” he grunted above her.
“Is it dead? Gone? Forever?”
“Almost…”
She pulled away. “Almost?”
“Follow me.”
“Why?” she asked.
“I have something to show you.”
Moss led her back around the pool, stopping briefly to pick up his knife. He held her hand firmly in the other, cutting a path for them through the alien landscape.
Lucy closed her eyes and pretended they were no longer within the estate, that she and Moss had met hundreds of years ago when Loxuria was first discovered and they explored the tropical eden alone. A glistening waterfall would be just beyond the trees.
He squeezed her fingers gently, disturbing her fantasy. She quickened her pace.
Bit and pieces of plant-like gristle were scattered about but there was nothing left alive of the monster that could hurt them. Although a few of the wayward feelers seized restlessly now and again.
Too soon the spired trees and the giant flowers of the grounds blocked out their view of the house.
He stopped them at a shallow, muddy den, where the back foundation of the pool had eroded away. The only thing remaining of the monster was the impression it had left behind, where its petals had shielded it from any eyes that may happen upon it.
Moss stepped aside and kneeled. “Look.”
Lucy moved up beside him, using his arm to balance. Silence filled the space between them.
9
Moss breathed in Lucy’s scent, trying to firmly solidify it in his memory. He’d be leaving soon now that the job was done, but he strove for more reasons to linger. Showing her this was merely an excuse. He could have removed and transplanted the flowers without her ever knowing.
“It had babies?”
“Sprouts,” he confirmed. “The creature was nesting and protecting its sprouts.”
“I’ve never heard of a flower doing that…”
“There’s a first for everything,” he agreed.
Lucy kneeled beside him. “I’ve seen these flowers before. They’re not meant to be here but I brought one in anyway, and my parents hadn’t cared. It was just a flower at the time. Something small and beautiful, like these. I never meant any harm.”
“And you caused no harm, not where it matters.” He squeezed her hand. “Where did you find it?”
Lucy sighed deeply, tiredly under his perusal, and looked back over her shoulder toward the direction of the house. “Outside the gates, in Loxuria’s natural forests.” She smiled slightly at him, meeting his eyes. “I was impish back then. I only obeyed when I wanted too.”
“We both know that’s a lie.”
