I cut him off with my mouth on his. Just like last night, everything feels perfect when I touch him. “My mind…is made up.”
He grins, but before we can dash away, I hear a voice coming down the stairs. “Brother!”
I rush up to Kirin. Seeing him walk without a cane has been the greatest gift of all. “Kirin!”
“What is happening? And how did you do…this?” He waves his ankle around and I chuckle.
I touch his shoulders. “I am not allowed to say. Just considered that a…goodbye gift.”
“Goodbye?”
“You were always a better fit to be the heir than I ever was. And some day, you will be a benevolent emperor, I am sure of it.”
“But what about you? Where are you going?”
I shake my head. Then, I remove my jade necklace and one of my silk hair ties. “Take care of Liberty and the other horses. Tell Father…that I fell into the magma pits of Charcoal Mountain.”
Kirin takes my offerings and squeezes them tight. “But…but…” He looks behind me to Carmine, then back at me. “But how can I be the heir? How can I do this?”
I shake my head. “Kirin, you are so wise. The only thing holding you back was your body, and now you have it.” I lean my forehead against his and breathe him in one last time. “I love you, brother, but it is time for me to forge a new destiny.”
“You never did like it here,” he admits with a grin. We both chuckle and I hug him again. “May the gods bless you, Kurun.”
“I will see you in history books, Kirin.”
He chuckles. “So you will be reading about me in the West?”
I dash back to where Carmine is waiting for me. “Much further!” I shout over my shoulder. With a laugh, I take Carmine’s hand and lead him past the city gates towards the forest. I do not know where—when?—I will end up. The only thing I know for sure is that our future awaits.
PART 6- CARMINE
THE TEMPORAL BEAMis usually a smooth ride, five seconds of flashing lights that feel like nothing. But it’s different when clinging to a second person. And it’s worse with the fear of doing something wrong. We bring artifacts lost in time, not people.
Yet here I am, arriving back at the loading dock while clinging to the sexiest guy I’ve ever known. Prince Kurun clings to me as we appear on a platform of light. Above us is the blue glow, and electric halo, an integral part of the temporal beam. I take a deep breath and step back from holding Kurun.
After giving him a once over, I nod, content in knowing he’s in one piece. Then, I check my scanner and review the historical timeline. When I read that nothing has changed with the Xing Dynasty, my shoulders sag in relief. Kurun doesn’t exist in the time we came from, and his brother is—was? —always Xing Kirin the kickboxing prince. Our gambit actually worked!
“Mei ye ses? Ngoi dei bin do?”My relief is interrupted by Kurun’s words. I shake my head and give him a finger to have him wait. I readjust my universal translator, a round blue device that fits into the palm of my hand, then tap him in the neck with it. In moments, his words slur and morph into our universal language.
“What was that?” he asks.
I beam. “Now I can understand you. And more importantly…” I grab him by the shoulders. “We made it.”
He laughs in delight, takes hold of my hips, and leans his head in. We kiss, right there in the loading dock, without a care in the world. For the first time in my life, I feel complete.
When we pull back to take a breath, he gazes at me in concern. “Wait. Are you sure we did not destroy all of time?”
I shake my head. “Nope. So far, history has remained, and your brother rose to power.”
He bites his lip, despondence overcoming him. “Oh.”
I wince. “Is that bad? I’m sorry if—”
“No, no.” He rubs my arms and smiles. “I agreed to this. I am just…he is the only person I am going to miss. I was much closer to him than father, so…”
Sympathy fills my heart. “Hey, maybe we can borrow a temporal beam to bring you back to visit a week after we left.”
He ponders my words, then shakes his head again. “No, Carmine. I wanted a new life, one of adventure.” He turns and gazes out at the loading dock: bright blue orbs illuminate the high ceiling. Personnel walk by, gazing at their scanners. Some have robotic appendages, and some ride on antigrav karts. Everything probably looks fantastical and bizarre, even if he was born before the 23rdCentury, let alone the 6th. “And now with you, I have it.”
