“What life? I don’t have a life.”
“Stop it. We’ve already decided that you’re not entirely a machine.”
We argue back and forth. She insists I have a life worth living, and I tell her I don’t. She brings up our conversation in the hot spring, how I made choices that proved I was more than my programming. I tell her none of that matters now. The argument circles until I tell her the truth.
“I have no other choice. I can’t be without you, so I need to be deactivated. I would’ve done it myself if I could, but I can’t.”
“Then don’t be without me.” She steps closer. “Be with me.”
I don’t understand.
She places both hands on my chest and looks into my eyes.
“All this time, I’ve been thinking about you. I hesitated because I wasn’t sure what I was feeling, but it’s clear now. I want you by my side.” She takes a breath. “Castien, I... I... I think I love you back. There’s no other explanation for thinking about you obsessively.”
“Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.”
“I mean it. I promise.”
I scoop her up in my arms. She squeals and wraps her arms around my neck. She kisses where my mouth should be, then leaves kisses all over my face. I sigh.
Her weight is nothing, but her presence is everything. The warmth of her body seeps into my steel, and her scent fills my sensors. She smells the same as she did three months ago, and the familiarity of it makes my Aether Core pound harder.
She feels like home, like the one place I’m meant to be. Everything I’ve been missing for five centuries isn’t a location or a purpose. It’s her.
“What do we do now?” I ask.
Jessa shrugs, still clinging to me.
“You can come with me to New York, and we can… I don’t know… Start our new life, I guess?”
“Do you think this will work? Between us?”
“Why not? We’re a couple like any other.”
“We’re not…”
“Says who? Because I don’t care. I think we are. I think we can make it work.”
I shake my head, and Jessa cups my jaw with her tiny hand, forcing me to hold her gaze.
“Hey… Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop questioning it and just enjoy it. We’re together now. I’m not letting you go. Ever.”
I nod, and she presses her face in the crook of my neck. I carry her out of the Quiet Room and realize that Yasmin Bayard and Brother Tolliver have been waiting outside all this time. Yasmin’s eyes go wide when she sees me holding Jessa, but Brother Tolliver clears his throat, and she snaps out of it.
“Should we… should we do a debrief?” she asks.
Jessa wiggles in my arms until I set her down, then she takes my hand in hers.
“Castien has changed his mind,” she says. “He doesn’t require deactivation anymore. In fact, he’s decided to move to New York and work from there.”
She looks up at me, and I nod in approval.
“Wonderful,” Yasmin says. “In that case, there’s some paperwork that needs signing, then you can be on your way.”
