“Sometimes it’s really hard to face the truth.” A part of Camellia had always known Marigold wasn’t telling the truth about the night of Camellia’s disastrous escape attempt, but she’d refused to acknowledge her suspicions. She loved Marigold like a sibling, and she’d clung so desperately to that familiar bond. It was so much easier to lie to herself than consider the horrific possibility that Marigold didn’t love her the way she loved Marigold. Or that Marigold didn’t feel that same loyalty toward her.
Lily nodded. “I should have made Ryland understand how important it was to me to capture the memories of our son growing up. Things that have nothing to do with science. I shouldn’t have let his words hurt me to the point of trying to hurt him back. That’s what it was, I was striking out at him for his refusal to listen to me and the horrible things he accused me of, and then I just let it get too far. I was afraid to tell him what I’d done.”
“You know you have to have this conversation with him, Lily,” Camellia said as gently as she could. “He’s angry right now, and he’s hurt, but you two have to talk to each other. You have to do it for your son and for the two of you. If you tell him the truth, everything you told me, he still may be angry for a while, but he’ll forgive you. If he’s everything you’ve said he is, then he’ll forgive you.”
Camellia hoped what she said was the truth. She was fading fast. Really fast. “I’m sorry, Lily, but I’m so tired. I need to find a place to sleep. In spite of the circumstances, it was really good tosee you. I hope we meet up sometime again.” She had no idea what she was planning to do or where she would be staying, so she wasn’t going to commit.
She glanced up at Kyle, who immediately came over to help her off the floor. Only then did she realize Kaden and Tansy were close, most likely waiting to ensure that Lily was taken care of. Camellia was too tired to do much more than lift a hand in a wave before following Kyle down the hall and through the maze that led to the outside parking lot.
13
Jonas had a sprawling cabin on the very outskirts of the fortified compound Team One had built together. Each of the men had their own home, mostly because they required alone time, but the main building at the center was easy to defend. The homes had escape routes leading to the fortified building as well as to the roads, the surrounding forests, the vehicles and all forms of transportation.
Jonas’s cabin was one and a half stories with extremely high ceilings. Each log was meticulously scribed to lock into place with another. That was no small undertaking. Kyle told her they’d all helped. They’d used wood that was naturally dried. The forest was old, and trees would stand for up to five years after dying. Jonas had an affinity for the trees in the forest, and he seemed to be able to find the right logs for the cabin. By using the naturally dried wood, it made the cabin sturdy and extremely stable. There was no moisture to dry out so that the wood would shrink, causing structural problems. Kyle explained the process to her as he gave her a quick tour of the house.
There was no doubt that Jonas lived there. His presence permeated every room. There was masculine strength throughout. The flagstone flooring was cut from giant pieces, while the floor-to-ceiling fireplace was made of smaller pieces of flagstone. Huge windows everywhere provided breathtaking views of the mountains and forests, bringing the outside indoors. The bathrooms were modern, and everything was very clean. Given Jonas’s constant effort to stay calm and in control, the immaculate, well-ordered tidiness of his home didn’t surprise her.
After showering, washing her hair and pulling on fresh clothes from her backpack, Camellia wandered outside to the huge verandah. It was covered by a thick roof that would shade occupants from the morning sun. A very large lounge—big enough to be a bed—sprawled invitingly along the wall.
“I’m sleeping here, Kyle. Just tell him that.”
Kyle gave her a salute and stepped off the porch.
“Thank you,” she called after him. She honestly didn’t know if he was going to stick around until Jonas came back, but it didn’t matter. She was tired. Kyle could do whatever he needed to do.
Camellia curled up on the wide lounge, listening to the sound of the wind in the trees, her feet bare. If necessary, she could leap over the banister to bury the soles of her feet into the soil and hear what the land had to tell her. Gray and Blue were close by, each perched on top of a broken snag just inside the interior of the forest. It gave her comfort to know they were close.
Several small shrubs near the entrance to the house spread their branches invitingly toward her. She recognized those leaves. There were no blooms on them yet, but she recognized the shrubs instantly. Jonas hadn’t planted her, but Middlemist Red was close to him, watching over him. He just didn’t know it yet. She drifted off, smiling at the thought that there were so many things that Jonas didn’t know yet. And they were good things.
She woke sometime later to find him smiling down at her. He looked tired, the lines in his face cut deep. As a rule, Red was antiaging, and in spite of the many types of animals and reptiles Jonas had to deal with, the plant kept him looking on the younger side. Camellia cupped the side of his face gently.
“It was a hard night for you, wasn’t it?”
He shrugged and sat on the lounge, nudging her over as he bent to remove his boots. “Just another night. I could use some sleep. Why aren’t you inside?”
“I like the night.” She turned so she was sitting and waited for him to lie down and put his head in her lap. She could feel the raging headache pounding in his skull. She massaged his temples. “How much time do we have before we have to leave?”
“How did you know?”
She gave him a faint smile. “I knew we only had a couple of days anyway before the conglomerate sent their army. They aren’t going to be happy we eliminated their scouts, so they’ll probably move up their timeline. Of course we’ll have to go back out.”
He closed his eyes. “You don’t have to go, Camellia. It might be safer if you stay here. Or if you go to the garden and weave your illusions.”
“Maybe,” she mused. “And maybe we already had these discussions, Jonas. Go to sleep. If we’re going back on the trail soon, you need to be fresh.”
He caught her hand and brought her palm to his mouth, pressing a kiss to the center. “We have a day or so, more time than I originally thought we’d have, but Ryland wants us to take out their leaders, who are apparently the only enhanced members of their army.”
“That makes sense, but you can’t do it tonight. Just rest for now. You need it.”
“You do realize I’m falling in love with you.”
“You haven’t seen my bad side yet.”
He opened his eyes and looked at her. “You have a bad side?”
Camellia bit her lower lip and nodded slowly. “I do, Jonas. I’m very, very sorry, but I do. I wish I was that sweet, compassionate woman you envision in your head, but I’m not.”
He didn’t laugh at her, and she was grateful. She wanted him to know the truth of her. Yes, she could be very compassionate and empathetic, but she had other traits in her as well. Just as Whitney had enhanced Jonas, he had enhanced her. She was already a fighter.
