He pushed himself up and walked out of the room. Kira reached past the pillows to where the bed was still warm from his body, and she squeezed the sheets, wanting so badly for it to be his hand. Desperate to run after him, she forced herself not to move until she no longer heard his footsteps.
Kira waited a few more minutes and then tiptoed down the stairs. Outside the sky had just started to turn blue, and Zayne walked into dusk toward the lake. Tears wet her eyes. She touched her fingers to the window, tracing him, the closest she could come.
Whatever haunted him in his sleep, he wouldn't let her know. He wouldn't let anyone know.
CHAPTER 41
Luke
Ciondo
833 P.C. [Post-Collapse]
It had taken Luke four hours to drive to the coastal town with the teaching hospital that didn't seem a high enough caliber for someone with Nadia's talent. In the moments before she saw him, he watched her, amazed by how much she looked the same and how different as well.
Nadia didn't move or speak when she first saw him. Her hands had tightened on the files she held, but otherwise, no change. Her thick black hair rested over her shoulders, and her light brown eyes stayed on his. She looked more beautiful than he remembered.
“Luke.” The name sounded neither friendly nor hateful. The indifference of it stung.
With a hand in his pocket and his injured arm in a sling, he walked forward.
“Apologies for not calling ahead,” he said. “I thought you wouldn't answer.”
One thin brow lifted. “How considerate to not give me the chance to turn you down.”
He smiled despite the jab. “How have you been?”
Nadia placed her files on her desk and leaned against it for several seconds before sitting. “I'm enjoying my banishment just fine. Sit if you want.”
Luke pulled out the chair, letting himself believe they were talking together as they used to and that he hadn't lost her forever. “You can come back to the capital.”
“Please.” She crossed one leg over the other. “Why are you here? It's been three years with no word.”
“I'm not sure how to tell you the truth.” It was rare that he didn't have a solid understanding of his own behavior. “I've been thinking about you. It always bothered me that I didn't speak with you one last time.”
“I didn't want to talk.”
“At the time, I didn't either. I can leave if you still don't.”
With her arms crossed, she looked uncertain and unguarded. He worried she'd tell him to go home, but she shrugged. “We can talk.”
“How are you truly doing?”
This seemed to soften her. Nadia knew him well enough to understand he wouldn't ask if he didn't want to know, and it wasn't often he wanted to know how someone else was.
“I'm busy. Stressed out and exhausted.” A little smile lifted her lips. “I love it. I finally get to operate on my own. Two more years, and I'll be completely done with my program.”
“You're finishing early.”
“Work helped me cope.”
She wore her hair longer than she used to, and she looked thinner. He hoped that it was from being busy working, and not because of insecurity. Nadia had a perfect body at any weight. If Zayne leaving her made her question that, he'd kill his brother.
“What about you? How are the girls?”
“They're big now. Doing well. It was hard for a while. Still is some days.”
“Sorry about you and your wife.”
