No.
But you thought I did.
Is that what you think?
I laugh a little.That’s what I think, I answer. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to tease her, to feel even a spark of amusement, that I breathe deep, as if I can savor it in the air.
She studies me with a bemused look, the weight in her eyes a little lighter.And what else are you thinking?she asks.
I smile, then turn quiet.I’m thinking about the future, I finally reply.
She doesn’t answer.
I’m thinking about if we win, I go on.If the Federation can be stopped. I’m wondering where we’d be, what we’d be doing.
Talin turns her gaze briefly away to peer down the thoroughfare, her eyes hitching on each monument along the way, each piece of some lost society.
I’d be on a farm with my mother, she says at last.She’s growing something green and lush. I’m walking down a street lined with broad-leafed trees.Her eyes return to me.With you.
My heart is so still, it feels as if it’s stopped breathing.I’d be riding in a carriage alongside you, I tell her.To that future home.
She smiles, and through our bond, I can feel her cherishing that dream.
Dancing with you after dinner, she adds.
I glance up at the sky.Lying in the middle of the road at night, pointing out the moon with you.
I’d be doing this.Talin reaches toward me, and I feel the cool smoothness of her palm touching my cheek.
And I’d be doing this, I answer. And I lean forward to touch my lips to hers.
I pull back anxiously, suddenly embarrassed that perhaps I’ve done it wrong.
Talin smiles at my hesitation, her eyes softening. Then she kisses me, longer this time, her guiding us. My emotions are heat and light, searing through our bond. She feels like everything that has gone missing in my life, joy and love and laughter and companionship, all flooding back into me at once.
This is home. This is what I’ve been searching for. What I stayed alive for.
I have no idea how long we linger like this. All I know is that when we finally pull away from each other, I can see the faint mist of our breaths curling together in the dark.
Well, she says through our bond.I didn’t think it’d be likethat.
I tried my best, I protest, and her whisper of a laugh comes out again.
Don’t die, Red, she says, and her tone is so sad that it breaks my heart.Keep the others alive. You hear? Because when I go—She pauses abruptly, as if realizing she’s about to say more than she’s comfortable with.Because when I walk into that future, I want to make sure you’re in it.
I look at her and realize that I’m willing to do anything in the world to protect her. That if everything fails, if this city burns down, if Constantine has us all imprisoned, I will still stand between her and the Premier. I will die before she does.
We’ll all be in it, I tell her.I promise.
How?
Because I love you, I answer. My words echo through our link, resolute.And this Federation is not going to make me lose another loved one.
She meets my gaze. Whatever it is that she can’t tell me, I can see the fire of it dancing in her eyes.Then let’s go make sure of it, she answers.
27
RED
