Ultima’s heart leapt in her chest. Heremembered some of the things they’d shared if he could call her‘beloved’ surely? “You ordered me to—to destroy thetraitor.”
He frowned, seemed to be searching forthe memory. “I cannot ….”
Ultima leaned down and kissed himlightly on the lips. “Give it time, Tau. You arehealing.”
“These two are awake,”Emily called out.
Ultima squeezed Tau’s hand and thenrushed to the beds where Xi and Quan lay. Grasping one hand ofeach, she kissed Xi and then Quan. “I’m so glad to see you’reawake.”
Xi and Quan turned to look at oneanother and glared, which unnerved Ultima.
“You don’t … remember eachother?”
It transpired that they did, but bothrecalled a point in time when they had been fighting overher—squabbling. After a few moments, though, they began to realizethat they were not in a place they expected to be and ceasedhostilities to question that.
Emily decided it was time to dismissthem from the hospital tent—which was pretty much overwhelmed fromthe final battle.
“They’re all cognizant oftheir surroundings. They should be strong enough to leave undertheir own steam. And there is no way to tell when, or if, they willrecall the things they can’t currently remember. You should takethem back to the place where the four of you sheltered. That mighthelp. I’m afraid to admit, I have no real clue of how to attendtheir … kind.”
They were very ready to be unhookedfrom the medical devices that had been monitoring them and to getup and dress themselves.
They had problems with the clothing,Ultima saw to her dismay, but she helped them figure it out andchecked them when they were dressed and they left to reach theshelter while there was still enough light to see.
Or for Ultima to see.
The battlefield was still litteredenough that it was difficult to cross, however, and it was fulldark before they made it to the building they’d lived in forweeks.
Ultima couldn’t see that any of themlooked like they remembered it. They all looked it over curiouslyand then pointed out that there was little there forcomfort.
“Maybe we can work on thattomorrow?” Ultima said, smiling faintly at them.
Tau nodded and turned to Xi. “Youshould take first watch.”
Ultima was on the point of arguing,but she realized it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea until theybegan to restore order.
In the post war, when the soldiers hadbegun to disperse, there was a rise in disorder as people lost thesense of cooperation that had held them together and began tosquabble over dwindling, almost non-existent, resources.
Surprise and then anticipation filledher when she saw that Tau had fixed her with a look of intent as heundressed. Her fingers shook as she struggled out of her ownclothing and waited for him on the pallet.
He settled beside her, coiling aroundher in an embrace, his expression unreadable as he studied herface.
“Did I ever tell you howdeeply grateful I am for whatever providence brought me toyou?”
Ultima felt her chest expand to atightness that made it hard to breathe. “No,” she saidfinally.
He smiled faintly and then dipped hishead to trace the bridge of her nose with the tip of his, kissingthe spot between her eyes when he reached it.
“I almost missed mychance, did I not?”
Ultima swallowed with an effort. “Whydon’t you just … tell me now? Or, even better, show me?”
“With gladness,” hemurmured.
Chapter Eleven
“It’s ironic,” Emilymurmured as she checked Ultima with her stethoscope.
“What is?”
