She needs her sleep.Conversation could wait until morning. Tamping down his disappointment, he dropped his towel. He started to get into bed naked but dug out a pair of undershorts from the shopping bag on the dresser and donned them.
He’d no sooner settled in than she rolled toward him. “Thank you so much for your help. You did everything.”
“As you said, we’re in this together.”
“Would you be insulted if I said you—and Grav—aren’t like the other Progg?”
“As long as you think that’s a good thing—no.”
“It’s a very good thing.”
He suspected he and Grav were outliers, deviants. Their actions would have led to execution for treason. Everyone marched in lockstep, committed to the goalof empire building. No one questioned the goal or criticized the General Ministry. Conscientious objectors did not exist.
“Would you be insulted if I told you humans are nothing like we believed them to be?” he said.
“Not if it’s a good thing,” she parroted. He could hear the smile in her voice.
“It’s a wonderful thing.”
She scooted closer, her scent and body heat wafting over him. His arm settled around her naturally as she fitted herself next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. A peace spread from his thumping heart throughout his entire body down to his toes.
“Is this okay?” she asked.
Glorious.“Even better than a warm shower.”
* * * *
Instinct directed her to curl up next to Rok, and, as soon as he’d put his arm around her and hugged her close, serenity and rightness settled over her.We belong together.Despite seemingly insurmountable differences, they’d connected at the very start and every moment since then had strengthened the bond.
He’d been so solicitous and attentive, catering to her every request. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her. She’d insisted she could handle things, butbeing able to lean on him while she recovered was just what she needed.Just what the doctor ordered.
I want him in my life. I want to build a future with him.What the future would look like, she didn’t know, but they could take it one day at a time.
Despite having every reason to distrust each other, they had come together so easily, so naturally like it was meant to be. Lying in his arms feeling safe and protected, it would be easy to dream their life together would beeasy, and everyone would accept Rok, judge him onhischaracter and not the massacre, but she wasn’t that naïve. Scarred by what had happened, some people would be unable to accept their “interracial” relationship, and they would lash out in fear and hatred.
But she drew courage and optimism from Laurel and Grav who’d set an example for others to follow. She hoped she and Rok could set an example, too.
Human history had been defined by strife and violence—war, conquest, genocide, slavery, racism, oppression. Feuds had carried over for centuries. The Progg hadn’t done anything to humans that people hadn’t done to each other first.
Humans were vicious and merciless.
And kind, self-sacrificing, and merciful. The question was, what would the human race choose to be going forward? Would they choose to be their worst selves or their best?
She wanted to be her best.
The apocalypse had granted them a do-over, erasing a history of grievances and resentments. The fight for survival had united them. If they did not allow new animosities to take root, they could build a better world representing the best of humanity. Hatred and vengeance were the default, but grace and forgiveness were the answers.
Grace and forgiveness started with a single person extending his hand.
Hatred was corrosive; it destroyed the hater from within. What the invaders had done was unforgiveable; to grant an indulgence would be an injustice to all of humanity. She prayed that someday there would be a reckoning. But she did not have to allow self-destructive hatred to finish what the Progg had started. She would move on. Rebuild. Live. Love.
She found she didn’t hate Zack or the rest of the trio for what they had done; she pitied them for the trap they’d set for themselves.
If Rok could be the decent man he was after what had been drilled into him, then she could be a better person, too. He had proven people were not innately evil; they were taught to be so. She could tell he loved her; he just hadn’t said the words. And one day soon, she would say those words to him.
She could have hated him. But she didn’t, because somehow, through him, she’d found grace. Of everything he’d done for her, he’d given her the ability to move on, and thus, find peace.
Chloe snuggled closer to him and drifted off to sleep.
