Jamie approached us, and Jack fell silent. “Madeline, can we talk?” Jamie asked. “It’s about your father.”
34
Jack, who was feeling stiff from the cold, opted to stay downstairs, but Jamie and I climbed up to Father’s room. Inwardly, I prepared myself for the sight of his ugly wounds, but it was unnecessary—clean white bandages had been wrapped around the lower half of his face. He was tucked under several blankets and surrounded by black beeping machines that showed diagnostic interfaces of all his body’s systems. A nurse in white nodded at us and left the room.
“Jamie? What is this about? Is Father okay?”
“Yes. More than okay, actually.”
Jamie walked up to one of the machines and pulled up a screen showing three-dimensional DNA strands, spiraling slowly like a ribbon in the breeze.
“This is your father’s DNA. When we ran tests on his cells to determine if any had become cancerous, not only did we find no trace of pre-cancer, but we saw a type of DNA that we had never seen before.” He zoomed in on part of the strand, and used his finger to highlight part of it. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s seamlessly grafted onto the rest of his genetic code. And what is more, we found that the DNA was repairing itself.”
“Is that strange?”
“DNA repair happens every second of every day—repair from toxins and UV rays and the like. But repair at this speed and efficiency from a radiation injury so severe? I have never heard of anything like it.”
“Does this mean that he will make a complete recovery?” I asked. “Does this mean he will be healthy again?”
Jamie shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m going to ask to use the university’s laboratory to examine this further. It’s fascinating. I wish there were still geneticists who could help us, but I don’t know of any, not around here in any case.”
I sat on the bed and stared at Father. I wondered if he knew about his strange DNA, and if he knew that he was going to be all right. That some strange mechanism that lived within his cells was going to save his life.
I held up my hand, pale and slender in the faint light, and examined it. I shared the Landry name and looks with Father. What else did we share?
The next week, Father and Mother were removed to the Lodge, along with several nurses and equipment to help in Father’s convalescence. Father was sedated and placed on a gurney. When they loaded him into the ambulance, I realized that I couldn’t see his mouth under the bandages and had no way to see if he was healing as well as Jamie claimed. I kissed his forehead and sent him on his way with as many good wishes as I could muster.
Mother opted for the limousine. I hugged her good-bye.
“Your father and I will be back,” she said, wrapping her fur coat more tightly around herself. “Once your father wakes and regains his strength, Landry Park will belong to him once more. The Uprisen will never acknowledge Jack as their leader.”
“Maybe,” I said. She looked around the house one last time and sniffed in disapproval. I watched their car leave with a mixture of regret and relief.
But I knew she was right. Jack had plans, of course. Plans to pay the Rootless fair wages and give them legal rights. Plans for hospitals and schools. Plans to build solar panels and wind turbines. Plans that sounded idyllic and utopian, but made me wonder if they were going to be subsidized with blood and suffering.
And now that the Empire had all but revealed their alliance to the Rootless outright, I knew it wouldn’t be easy. The government would never stand for a revolt funded by the Empire and the Uprisen would never stand for an attack on their way of life.
Rumors began to swirl of tanks and plans on the other side of the mountains. Jack seemed certain that it was all for our benefit, but I could not summon up the same confidence. I could only remember the horrible pictures from the battle last year.
“We will prevail,” he said one night at dinner. “Perhaps within a few months, this city will change. And when it changes, the country will see how much better things can be.”
Nobody else at the table was listening. Cara and Ewan were whispering and nuzzling at one end, while Charlie was drawing a picture at the other, his tongue sticking out in concentration. Despite a dip in his exuberance and a certain twitchiness in response to sudden noises, he seemed okay. He was alive. Now Cara and Ewan were tracing each other’s features, as if they’d never seen a thing as wondrous as a face before. Jealousy pinged inside me.
“Excuse me,” I said. “I think I’m tired.”
“Go rest. We have been very busy these past two weeks.”
I set down my napkin and left the dining room for the staircase. Someone stepped out of the shadows and bowed. My heart lifted. David.
But it was Jude, smiling and square-jawed and dashing, but Jude all the same. He offered an arm and I took it. In the insanity of the past fortnight, I had forgotten about my debut, about his determination to marry me and have me be his perfect military wife.
“Sorry for the surprise, but I wanted to speak to you alone. Just for a minute.”
“Of course.”
We walked up the stairs, our footsteps muffled on the lush carpet.
“David told me that you and he had kissed.”
I stopped. “Oh, Jude.”
“And that he had feelings for you.”
“I am so sorry,” I said. “I never meant to lie to you.”
Jude shrugged, but I could see the pain in his face. “I won’t pretend that it doesn’t hurt. I had thought, at least, I had hoped—” and here his fingers found my ring finger. “I would have been a good husband, you know,” he said softly. “Anything you wanted, I would have given to you. Anything.” He leaned in and kissed my hand, his lips warm and dry.
A curious sense of regret tugged at me, along with the feeling I had when I first met him, of having known him before. Maybe I had been wrong in thinking he only wanted me for a partner in his ambition. Maybe he did really care for me.
I swallowed something I didn’t know was in my throat, feeling my chin quiver.
“Go get your coat,” he said, indicating my bedroom. “I will wait here.”
“Why should I get my coat?”
He smiled, a real smile, even though it was thin and small. “Because we are going outside and I’d like to keep my cloak on this time.”
Once I was clad in my coat, Jude led me downstairs and outside, where, in the light of a Cherenkov lantern hanging from the front of the house, David sat in a large sleigh. Two horses stomped impatiently in the front.
“Madeline!” David said cheerfully. “I’ve got enough sake to float this sleigh to St. Louis.”
“I forgot my gloves inside,” Jude said, and disappeared back through the door.
David jumped easily out of the seat and came toward me.
“Did he mention…”
I nodded, unable to bring myself to talk about it directly.
David looked downcast. “I had to tell him. We don’t keep secrets from each other.”
It seemed to me like Jude had kept my debut a secret from David for long enough, but if male relationships were anywhere near as complicated as the relationships I had with the women in my life, then I knew loyalty could coexist with doubt and omissions and outright lies.
“I understand.” David reached for me, and I couldn’t help it, I reached for him, too. His lips were just as warm, just as searching as they had been the other day in the park, and the same white fire as before lapped at everything with insatiable flames.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked hoarsely. “About Cara?”
His eyes dipped. “It was not my secret to tell. I could not risk another soul knowing that our relationship was fake. Initially it was to protect me, but then I began to suspect the truth about her attack.”