His dark gaze found mine and he smirked, nodding for me to follow him.
Something about the action felt familiar, though I couldn’t place it.I didn’t think, I just reacted.
I ran.
“Mercy!”Valory called after me, and I heard Endor’s footsteps thudding on the ground behind me, but I couldn’t focus on them.
Miles shifted through the crowd, like a red herring, and I knew I couldn’t let him out of my sight.
My leg muscles tightened, my heart beating like a drum as I made my way through the people, running as fast as I could.Valory and Endor called out to me, but their voices were white noise.I slipped through the station, ducking and turning and following Miles until I realized I was lost.
Valory and Endor had disappeared, and I was surrounded by people.
So many people.
I sucked in a breath, my lungs aching from my run and the onslaught of adrenaline.The world shifted like a light switch going on and off, dark and light, dark and light.
The sun disappeared, giving way to darkness, and then darkness ebbed as the sun took its place, over and over.
I couldn’t breathe.Something about the dense crowd and the ever-shifting planes made me feel more than overwhelmed.
They made me feelterrified.
A hand settled on my shoulder, cold to the touch.
I looked up, startled by the contact, but when I saw familiar dark eyes, every muscle in my body loosened, and the earthquake stopped.
“Mercy.”Miles’s smile was like seeing the actual sun.
The shift of day and night echoed around me, blurring reality with what I feared were hallucinations.
He couldn’t really be here, could he?
“Miles...”I breathed his name as I reached out to touch him, grazing my fingertips over his jaw.
His skin was smooth.Cold, but smooth.
Like marble.
He settled his hand over top of mine, using his free hand to pull me close.
“Are you real?”I asked, the world around me like white noise.All there was, was the beating of my heart, and the touch of his hand on mine.
He squeezed my hand, the chill spreading like ice.
“What do you think?”he asked, as he leaned down and softlykissed me.
His lips were cold, like his touch, and I knew what that meant.
His hand squeezed my hip and his chill was a stark contrast to the heat running through me.
I grabbed his face with both hands, overcome by emotion, by his touch.
I slid my tongue into his mouth, needing to feel every bit of him I could before he disappeared.
When he broke away, he leaned his forehead against mine.
I wanted to speak, but words were difficult.I laughed, but it was not humorous.It was a laugh of despair, of pain.
