Page 38 of A Cruel Kindness

It had been pain for the sake of pain. No way out.

Now … now, there was a balm to the agony. A delicate hand wrapped in my own that pulsed heat into my arm and made at least that one single limb feel better.

♣

Bellamy

I could feel my body changing, like a snake shedding its skin. I didn’t feel like myself anymore, but at the same time like I’d just stepped into the most healed version of myself.

Soren’s hand squeezed mine again.

I looked at him through the flashing lights and cruel dark. He looked like salvation. He looked like the most familiar thing in the world to me.

♣

Soren

Bellamy looked shocked. I could barely make out her features while my senses were being assaulted, but it didn’t matter.

I felt her. I had her.

♣

Bellamy

I never wanted to let his hand go. Doing so seemed too painful. My senses were hurting, my ears ringing, my eyes tired.

The place where we touched was warm, cared for.

I didn’t even know if I could speak, but I tried. I opened my mouth, intent on asking him something, but before I got the chance, a wind pushed us from behind, sending us tumbling forward. We stumbled out into bright daylight, the air crisp with something foreign.

We were here.

On another planet.

Muliterra at last.

Chapter 11

Bellamy

If I hadn’t been forced to sit through painfully boring parties and meetings and luncheons while suffering a headache or a stomach bug, I may well have thrown up into one of the buckets Peter had lined up on either side of us, wedged into the dirt.

I whipped around quickly, then tripped as my boot caught in the muddy ground underneath me. I stumbled back into a warm, hard force—surely Soren’s chest.

I let his hand band around my waist. I had more pressing matters. The Bridge on this side, on Muli, wasn’t the industrial, ominous doors that we’d stepped through to get here.

It was nothing more than a small cave, shaded by thick bushes, covered in vibrant orange, purple, and white flowers. They covered the entire sides of the cave, moving up to frame it in a mass of color.

To anyone who wasn’t aware of the power it held, you’d think it was the random formation of the hillside, entirely ordinary. My gawking was interrupted by an arrival of another Match, sauntering out of the cave with ease, not even hinting at any side effects from the Cross.

Over the week, I’d learned who they were. Two women who were as close as sisters born from the same womb, connected by a large rose tattooed into their side. They were paranovs—though someone had told me that their Match was actually about ninety-eight percent.

The taller one, with short black hair and a kind smile, nodded at me as she walked past us with her sister.

Following their movements is what made me finally turn around, to acknowledge my surroundings. Soren let me go, perfectly in tune with what I wanted.

I couldn’t look at him yet. Not after that.