MY HAND’S SHAKING ASIRAISE IT TO CURVE MY PALM AROUND THEback of Mia’s neck, brushing my thumb across her cheek to erase the gleaming track the tear left behind. And then one of us makes a sound—me, I think—and I’m leaning into her, every part of me utterly alive.
A shock and a shiver run through me as our lips meet, and a piece of me is noticing how soft her lips are, while the rest of me spins out slowly. I’ve wanted this so badly, and now, as her hands come to rest on my chest, I’m perfectly aware of the thump of my heart, the press of her fingers through my shirt, the warmth of her skin.
I haven’t kissed that many girls before, and I’ve never been that sure of myself, but this is effortless. Mia’s hands press harder against my chest, and I take a step back until I’m leaning against the wall. Then her hands slide up to curl around my neck, and mine are at the curve of her hips, and she’s lifting up on her toes to chase a deeper, hungrier kiss.
She’s perfect, this girl in my arms. This is nothing like the hurried kisses we’ve shared before, in the moments before risking our lives. Now, I lose myself in her, my fingers finding a sliver of skin at the hem of her shirt, sliding in beneath the fabric so my fingertips can trace up her spine.
I don’t know how much time passes before we stop, both breathing quickly, our eyes meeting. I know I’m wearing a foolish smile, and hers isn’t so very far behind mine, and I want to gaze at her forever.
“Hi,” I murmur, because I’ve forgotten all the other words except that one.
“Hi,” she murmurs back, and then we gaze at each other for just a little longer, as she slowly comes down from her toes to rest on the flats of her feet once more.
“We should go to bed,” I say quietly, and the instant the words are out, I hear them again, and my eyes widen, and I splutter a noise that doesn’t appear in any language I’ve ever learned. “Deus, I mean we should go tosleep, it’s been a long day, and we have another in the morning, and—”
Mia saves me from myself by lifting her hand to cover my mouth. “Quit while you’re ahead, Oxford,” she suggests, a smile playing across her lips. “I’m with you. One step at a time is fine by me. Let’s go to sleep.”
“We should be rested, in case we want to try this again in the morning,” I say, trying for gravity and falling short.
“Count on it,” she replies, tugging me toward the bed.
In the end, though, I can’t sleep. Mia lies in my arms, her slow, even breathing marking out the tempo I should be following. We had a couple of false starts in the going-to-sleep business, but eventually we conquered distraction long enough for her to pass out, and I wish I could do the same.
My heart won’t let me, though. I know it was just a kiss, onlya kiss, but it wasn’tjustanything. There’s not an ounce ofonlyin a moment like that.
It was everything.
She’smy everything, my safe place. Tomorrow, we’ll have to rise and face the world once more, face border crossings and the IA and the knowledge that the Undying are on the verge of invading, and that my father’s behind endless layers of security, and wonder when our luck will run out.
But tonight, Mia lies here in my arms, and I know we’re making a promise to each other. This moment, as I hold her, I’m echoing back the promise to me that she made on the train.
Amelia Radcliffe, I’m with you. And I’m not leaving you. Wherever we go, we’ll go together.
GISELA SENDS US OFF IN THE MORNING WITH A MASSIVE BREAKFASTof eggs and thick slices of spicy sausage, freshly baked rolls with marmalade and honey, and coffee strong enough to strip the enamel from our teeth. Neal eyes us speculatively over his roll, and I know I’m probably blushing, but Jules just grins at him and tucks into his breakfast.
The day is bright and sunny, and once we’re off the gravel road again, I curl up in my seat behind Neal. Luisa’s driving us, since Gisela has work, so we’re not all crammed in the backseat like before. I’m still basking a little in the warmth of last night, and I lean back in my seat with a sigh.
Neal’s half turned around in his seat so he and Jules can exchange barbs and teases—they act the way I imagine brothers would act, and I feel a pang as I watch them. The world can’t support siblings anymore, not with the resources Earth has. My parents broke the law by having Evie, but she’s always been everything in the world that’s important to me. I can’t imagine my life without her.
It’s easy to say the single-child rules are unfair. Easy to know Evie and I are right to stick together. But so much of the world is starving—for food, for medicine, for electricity, for education—that indiscriminately bringing more kids into a world that can’t feed them … that can’t be right either. Jules and Neal are proof that close bonds exist outside of sibling relationships. And true, theyarefamily—but at this point, Jules and I are family too. Even if our world can’t support large biological families anymore, maybe there’s something to be said for found families. Chosen ones.
I watch out the window, my thoughts meandering lazily, and I’m breathing more easily than I have in a long time. In the distance I can see Dresden, past the highway and across the river. Even this far away, I can see it’s an astonishingly beautiful city—I’m ashamed to admit even to myself that I’d never heard of it, and imagined some dinky, forgettable place. But there are graceful domed buildings, and towers that look like something out of an ancient fairy tale, and a stone bridge with archways for river boats to pass beneath. I find myself wishing we reallyweregoing there as tourists, so we could just take it all in.
Except … wearen’tgoing there, are we?
I sit up, blinking. The city’s in the distance, vanishing behind us, and we’re on a highway.
Heading away.
“Jules.” I grab for his arm, and something about my tone makes him stop mid-sentence and look at me. “The city’s behind us.”
Jules leans across me, craning his head to look out the window. Ease and humor vanished, he demands, “Where are you driving us?”
Luisa is silent, her eyes on the road ahead of her.
Panic sears through me, and I’m half a breath away from fumbling at the door handle, despite the idiocy of leaving a moving car speeding down the highway. “Stop the car!” I harden my voice. “Let us out, we’ll hitch from here.”
Neal levels a hard stare at Luisa. “You said you were driving us to Dresden.”
