We will survive, he tells me firmly. Then he pulls me to him and kisses me.
We had sat at opposite ends of a bathhouse before, each dwelling on thoughts of the other. We had kissed once in a dream state, something that felt so tangible that I thought it was real. We had shared a stolen kiss in the shadows of a thoroughfare street, afraid for more. But this moment is different. Not stolen. Not in fear. Just… us.
Red’s lips on mine, our bodies close together, here in a real grove under a real night sky. He leans into my touch, then wraps his arms around my waist. I kiss him harder in return, my breaths shallow. In spite of his grief, I feel safe in his arms, unbreakable. He shifts to kiss my cheeks, then the line of my jaw, then my neck.
I run my hands down his arms, then gently against the bandages wrapping his sides. His movements turn faltering now, his gaze shy. He is new to all this, I realize, having spent most of his youth trapped in thelab institute. So I stop and take his hands in mine, then guide him. We say nothing to each other. There is no need to.
The Federation can do everything in its power to destroy the bonds that tie family together, human decency, love. But it cannot break it. There is a level of power in this small, intimate moment that Constantine, with all his armies and his experiments, can never touch. Here, we are invincible.
Red kisses me again. I can feel the edge of my shirt sliding up. My hands run along his skin, feeling his scars from the traumas inflicted on him, sensing the human beyond that that the trauma couldn’t touch. He lets me slide his coat off before he tugs my own shirt up over my head.
He is so warm. I feel myself falling into his embrace, and then I realize that I am lying in the grass, and he is hovering above me, his face perfect and framed by stars, his hair brushing the side of my face.
I don’t know, really, if this is love. It is a feeling they have tried to rob me of for so long. But if this isn’t love, I don’t want it. Red here in my arms, the quiet of the world around us, the secrecy of this moment.
This is what I want.
Afterward, we are quiet. His fingers comb through my hair. His breath is warm against my cheeks. We stare up at the stars together, neither of us willing to speak, each afraid to break the spell. Soon we will have to leave this magical place, but for now, we stay enveloped in our private cocoon and try to imagine that this is the world we live in. I look from the stars to him. Red’s eyes are distant. Despite our link, I can’t guess at what he’s thinking. I wonder if he is imagining some future that has us in it. I’m afraid to think it, but I still dare myself to.
The Premier can conquer every nation in the world in his desire forpower. He can try to erase who we are, our love for our families, our devotion to each other, everything that matters. After all, the Karensans care only about Infinite Destiny, their desperate quest to touch every inch of the land.
But there are some powers you can’t have.
37
TALIN
I don’t want to leave the thicket. I can’teven remember the last time I felt this close to someone else or savored the sense of security it could bring. Red’s breathing is even and light. I lie against his arm and stare up at the night sky, trying to memorize the constellations. Our limbs are still tangled together, the heat of him still rippling through me. He brushes an idle hand along my arm. I run strands of his hair through my fingers, wondering what it must have felt like before his Skyhunter transformation turned the hair metallic and brittle.
It used to be light brown, he tells me through our link.
It’s the first thing he’s said to me in a while, and I turn my head so I can see his face.And soft as feathers, I’m sure, I tease.
Oh, it’s a tragedy you’ll never know.He glances sidelong at me.
I murmur a laugh, and it feels so good that I tell myself to remember it forever. When I look at him again, he’s smiling serenely. I can feel the ebb and flow of his emotions against my thoughts. Some of them make me blush. Under it, though, he’s tense, and I know the feeling because it bubbles within me too.
The instant we step out of this space, the rest of the world returns.
Finally, Red lets out an uncomfortable cough and stirs so that he can look at me.Can you…,he begins, then stops, as if he doesn’t know how to continue. I can feel where he’s going, though.Can you sense Constantine right now?
I reluctantly let my thoughts loose and force myself to concentrate on the ever-present beating of the Premier’s heart in my mind.Always, I tell Red after a pause.
Can you sense his emotions?
He is being careful with them, I answer,just as I am. But I think he’s afraid.
At that, Red snorts in disbelief.I hope he’s cowering in some corner.
I’m quiet. I think about the night I’d found him in that secret chamber in his greenhouse, his hunched figure over his desk, all those frantic maps and drawings pinned above him. I think of the dark circles under his eyes, the constant undercurrent of his fear that his time is coming to an end.
He’s still just a man, I finally reply.And he comes with all its insecurities.
Red senses the sober emotion in me and turns to look at me.What do you think his next move will be?
He knows Cardinia will fall, I answer.And survival has always been his goal. We just have to get to him before he finds a way to escape.
Red narrows his eyes.He won’t escape. We’ll trail him until he’s cornered.
