Sean
“I’m going for a walk,” I announce as soon as I’ve helped Molly load the dinner dishes into the cabinet to be sterilized.
Immediately, Mum looks suspicious. “A walk? Where? Alone?”
“What difference does it make?” Molly demands before I can answer. “Sean’s gone for plenty of walks at night without you interrogating him. Now, just because he might like a girl, you treat him like he’s six years old.”
To my surprise, Dad also comes to my defense. “Molly has a point, Lili. I see no need to discourage Sean from making friends with the new Echtran students, or even dating one of them. Where’s the harm? Either we trust Sean not to get himself into trouble or we don’t.”
Mum glares at all of us for a second, then shrugs and turns away. “Very well. But don’t blame me if people start talking and you don’t like what you hear.”
I figure that’s the closest thing to a blessing I’ll get, at least until she knows Kira better. Grabbing a light jacket I head outside, then send a quick text to her:
Want to go for a walk?
It’s only been a few hours since I last saw Kira but I already miss her enough that I don’t want to wait until tomorrow to see her again.
Her answer comes less than a minute later.
Sure. Where do you want to meet?
I’ll head your way now.
She sends back a thumbs-up and I start walking toward Diamond Street—the same route we took last night, in the rain. Tonight it’s perfectly clear, though noticeably cooler.
When I reach the arboretum I pause, smiling reminiscently about the miracle that happened on this very spot less than twenty-four hours ago. I honestly hadn’t believed I could ever feel this way about any girl other than M. If anything, what I feel now for Kira is stronger. It’s also different, in ways I find hard to define. It’s almost like Kira fills an empty spot inside me I never knew was there.
For the first time, I wonder if what I used to feel for M was really love at all. Shaking my head, I start walking again—and see Kira coming toward me.
“Hey,” she says softly when she gets close. “I, ah, didn’t feel like waiting.”
Grinning, I reach for her hand, anticipating, then enjoying the sensations that flow through me at her touch. “I’m glad. Gives us that much longer to be together before we have to go back.”
“My thoughts exactly.” But though she returns my smile, she seems a little agitated.
“Anything wrong?”
She walks with me in silence for several seconds before answering. “I’m not sure. I…had a long talk with M today after our Taekwondo class.”
“Oh? What about?”
Her chuckle sounds forced. “You, sort of. She was worried I’m only pretending to like you, to get back at her for embarrassing my parents. And that you might get hurt.”
Though I’m touched M was concerned, it sounds enough like Mum’s dire warnings that I’m also irritated. “What did you tell her?”
“That I’m not pretending.” She smiles up at me, but there’s still a shadow behind her eyes. “I, um, also said she was a great one to talk after the way she hurt you by leading you on, pretending she wanted to be with you when she didn’t.”
“Did she explain why?”
Kira nods, not looking at me now. “She said it was part of a deal she made with the Echtran Council to keep them from charging Rigel with kidnapping after the two of them ran away. She, um, also told me stuff about your Uncle Allister that was…pretty hard to believe.”
“I’m sure everything she told you was true.” I can’t keep the contempt I feel for my uncle out of my voice.
“You mean if she hadn’t made that deal with the Council, he might have—”
“Wiped Rigel’s memory—or worse. Yeah. He and Lennox, the former Governor of Dun Cloch, were so keen to take Rigel out of the picture permanently, they tried to take what they called ‘justice’ into their own hands.”
What I don’t say is that I made things even harder for M and Rigel afterward with my campaign to convince M she should be with me for real. Kira doesn’t need to know just how hung up on M I used to be. Even so, she seems surprisingly upset now.
“You…you really think your own uncle would have done that?”
“I found it hard to believe at first, too, but the Council launched an investigation and all kinds of nasty stuff came to light about him. I mean, he was never exactly what I’d call likable. Loved to order people around, a complete stickler for all that Royal privilege crap, but…” I shake my head in disgust. “I’m ashamed now to admit he’s related to me.”
She squeezes my hand and looks up at me, her expression sympathetic now. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, Sean. A cousin of my dad’s used to be one of Faxon’s bullochts. He’s in prison on Mars now, and well-deserved. No one should be held responsible for what other members of their families—or fines—do.”
“Yeah, well, my uncle and Lennox are among the worst of those overly-ambitious Royals I mentioned before. Good thing all their plotting backfired and landed them in prison where they belong. Being Royal is probably the only thing that kept them from having their memories erased.”
Kira looks puzzled now. “In prison? Are you sure? I, um, saw them both in Dun Cloch.”
“You saw them?” I ask in surprise. “Just…walking around?”
“Not walking around, exactly, but staying in a regular house. A nice one, too, definitely not a prison. Maybe they’re not supposed to leave it?”
I snort. “Nothing like the jail cell they put Rigel in, then. I should talk to Mum about that. Seems like with that much freedom they could still be dangerous. Was Gordon Nolan running around loose, too?”
“I never saw him. Pretty sure I’d have recognized him from the feeds, since he was one of those Royals vying for Acclamation last spring. M did mention something about him working for—”
“For Uncle Allister and Lennox—at least, M thinks he was behind that attack on her last month, even though the attacker claimed to be a Populist. Guess we’ll never know for sure, since the guy died in prison before they could probe his memory. He might also have sent those Duchas men to kidnap M in Ireland, right before we left for Mars. He’s definitely the one who hacked the security footage on the Quintessence and leaked it—that video of M and Rigel kissing, I mean.”
Remembering how gut-punched I felt when I first saw that video on the ship, my throat tightens for a second—but only for a second, because that memory barely bothers me at all now. What does bother me is the way Kira’s staring up at me, her eyes wide, almost like she’s scared.
“But most people think the Populists were responsible for both of those attacks, don’t they?”
“Yeah.” I’m already holding her hand but now I cover it with my other one, eager to reassure her. “But…maybe you were right about the real Populists not promoting violence. Could be people like Uncle Allister and Lennox and Gordon were just using them as a smokescreen for their own attempts to take down M.” Something else to ask Mum about when I get back.
“Exactly like I suggested before.” But she doesn’t seem nearly as pleased about my giving her that point as I thought she’d be.
We’re on a relatively deserted stretch of Diamond Street, so I pull her into my arms. “Hey, don’t worry. I haven’t mentioned your Populist views to anybody else, and neither has Molly. Nobody thinks you’ve done anything wrong.”
She rests her cheek against my chest, though I can tell she’s still tense. “Thanks, Sean. I just—”
“It’s okay. Really.” I tip up her chin with one finger and lower my lips to hers.
For an instant she stiffens and I’m afraid she’ll pull away, but then she relaxes into the kiss, returning it with equal passion. If anything, the sensations coursing through me are even more intense than what I felt with her last night. More…binding. Which is as scary as it is exhilarating.
She’s smiling again when we finally break apart, to my enormous relief—but then she abruptly sobers again.
“I should get back. And I probably shouldn’t have… But thank you, Sean. You’ve helped. More than you know.”
Startled by her sudden change of mood as well as her phrasing, I frown. “What do you—?”
“G’night, Sean.” Now the smile looks forced. “I’ll…see you at school tomorrow.”
She turns and walks quickly toward her apartment complex without a backward glance.