"Please don't let it change you," she whispered, the words escaping before she could stop them. "I mean on the inside."
Dimitri's teasing expression faded, turning softer and more serious. He lifted her good hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.
"I'm still me. The same person who fell in love with you in that bar. The same person who would do anything, fight anyone, risk everything, to keep you safe." He met her eyes, and there was nothing but sincerity in his gaze. "I chose you when I was human, Mattie. And that will never change. The body may be changing, but my soul isn't."
She wanted to believe him so badly that it hurt, but she'd learned long ago that wanting something didn't make it true. Despite what Dimitri had said, people could change, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.
Still, it was better to believe him than doubt him. She needed him in ways she had never needed anyone, and it was terrifying.
"Okay, I believe you." She averted her gaze, not wanting Dimitri to see the fresh tears that were gathering in her eyes. She didn't want him to think she doubted him. She didn't want to add her insecurities to the problems he was already facing.
Her eyes landed on the gilded mirror with the broken corners that was propped against the wall. She'd been so excited to restore it, to sand away the damaged areas, repair the ornate frame, and bring back its original beauty, but she couldn't even hold a paintbrush now. Not with her right hand anyway.
The tears started flowing in earnest, rivulets tracking down her cheeks and neck that were soaking into the pillow.
"Mattie?" Dimitri's voice was worried now. "Are you in pain? Should I get more medication? The doctor said you could have another dose in a few hours, but if it's really bad?—"
"It's not the pain." She managed to get the words out between hitching breaths. "I mean, it is, but the pills are starting to work. It's just a dull ache now."
"Then what is it? Talk to me."
She gestured weakly toward the salvaged mirror.
"I can't work on it now. The broken furniture will remain broken like my dreams. Just a pile of junk that no one wants."
"It's only temporary, and you are catastrophizing because you are in pain and still traumatized from the attack." Dimitri reached for the corner of the blanket and used it to gently wipe the tears from her cheeks. "Your hand will heal, and when it does, the furniture will still be here, waiting for you to turnit beautiful again. Unless—" He leaned closer, a conspiratorial gleam entering his eyes. "Unless we escape this hellhole before you do that. You won't be able to take the furniture with you anyway, so why waste time and effort to restore it?"
As if they were ever going to actually escape this place.
She remembered Dimitri saying something just before the attack. Something about gliders floating through the air and adding something about her flippant comment regarding invisibility.
"You said something about gliders," she said. "Before those four monsters attacked us. You said that my comment gave you an idea."
"It did." Dimitri's expression grew animated, the scientist in him awakened, and he was excited to solve the puzzle. "You said we'd need to be invisible and float through the air to escape through the harbor. And I started thinking that we obviously can't become invisible, but we can float through the air on gliders." Mattie frowned. "How? Where would we even get gliders, and where would we glide to? It's an island with hundreds of miles of water separating it from the nearest land mass."
If there were any islands nearby, they were not visible to the naked eye, which meant that they were too far to reach with a glider.
"The supply ships have to come from somewhere. If we could time our escape with a ship's departure, we might be able to paraglide onto it. The idea is only half-baked, and there are a lot of variables to figure out, but it's not impossible."
"The problem is visibility," she said. "Even if we had gliders, we'd be spotted immediately and shot down."
"That's the problem we need to solve. You said invisibility isn't something I can achieve, and you're right—true invisibility is science fiction. But camouflage isn't. Blending in with the surroundings isn't. Where there is a will, there is a way." He tapped his temple. "We just need to put our heads together and think it through."
"A blue paraglider, or maybe gray, depending on the weather, that would blend with the sky and the ocean."
"That's a good start," Dimitri said, his tone encouraging. "What else?"
"Timing? We'd want to go at dusk, when the light is tricky, and visibility is reduced. Or maybe just before dawn."
"Excellent. Keep going."
"The launch point matters. It would need to be somewhere high enough to get good altitude, but also somewhere remote, where there are no guards present."
Dimitri nodded along, his eyes bright with excitement. "The cliffs on the eastern side of the island. They're steep and uninhabited, but the challenge would be getting there without being noticed."
"We'd need supplies," Mattie continued, warming to the idea not because she believed it was actually doable, but because the mental exercise distracted her from the throbbing ache in her hand. "Not just the gliders, but survival gear. Something to keep us afloat if we come down in the water."
"All solvable problems. Not easy, but solvable."
