He rolled me over and onto my back, and there was no more talking. There was only me, and him, and the closeness of our bodies.
Back where it all began, we started a new chapter of our lives together.
Epilogue
Milly
Ella looked overat me pointedly as Kolar got up from the table, excusing himself while the rest of us continued to eat.
“Where are you going?” she asked when I didn’t speak up, her foot searching me out under the table until it made contact with my shin.
“The landing field,” Kolar replied, looking at me strangely when I winced from the kick that was delivered out of sight. “A unit is being shipped out today. Dirk is going to do a review, and he asked me to be there.”
“Oh, right. I remember him saying that,” Ella said, nodding. “I think I’m supposed to go with him, for some reason. Even though I’m not important.”
“You’re important to him,” I said. “Being his mate and all that.”
“I guess,” Ella replied, nodding. “It sure is interesting, being someone’s mate now.”
I glared at her. One time. I told herone timethat I thought Kolar was kind of cute, and now that my slave collar was off and I was mostly recovered, she was just dropping all these hints.
That was my job. I was supposed to be the one who pushed my friends to do things. Being on the other side of it was awkward. I was no good at this.
Flirting? Gah, no thanks.
It’s not that I didn’t want to. I did. I thought. It was strange, realizing that maybe there was a totally different future available to me, one I’d had ingrained into me was impossible for a Grounded.
Now, however, seeing my two best friends go through total transformations, I had a lot to think about.
“Anyway,” Kolar said. “I need to get going.”
“I’ll come with you,” I said, standing up before Ella could kick me again. “If that’s okay, I mean?”
Kolar just shrugged. “Sure.”
I tried not to take his apathy personally. Less than two weeks ago, his best friend had betrayed us all and nearly killed Ella in the process. It was only natural for Kolar to pull back from the world.
But it made flirting basically impossible for my suddenly shy self. Back in the Wilds, in the ranks of the Clippys, it was easy. Jokes revolved around our situation and were all self-deprecating. Things just happened naturally. None of it was forced or tough.
That should have been my first clue, but I was still in a weird place. Between physically recovering from torture at the hands of an elite and having my brain ripped apart when the slave collar had been removed from my neck, I was not myself at all. So I ignored many of the signs.
It nearly killed us both.
“You don’t have to come with me,” Kolar said as we walked through the halls of the Ice Citadel. “I don’t need watchers.”
“Watchers?” I didn’t understand.
“Yeah. You know. Keeping an eye on me to make sure I don’t do anything stupid. I know that’s what you and Ella have been doing, with you around a lot more.”
I chewed on my lip. “Is that what you think this is?”
Kolar shrugged, the braids of his black hair bouncing. “What else could it be?”
Me seeing if you think I’m pretty and maybe want to be mated?
I didn’t say that, of course.
“Youareacting kind of remote,” I said instead, moving slightly closer as we walked. If he noticed, nothing happened.
