“I don’t know,” she says. “I wasn’t even aware of it until Tawni noticed it. She thought it resembled a scar on your back, but we both sort of forgot about it. Where exactly is it positioned?”
I run my hand along her vertebrae. “It’s on your spine. Maybe…three quarters of the way up.”
“That sounds like exactly where yours is,” she says. “Let me see.”
Dropping her tunic so it drifts back over her skin, I scoot back and rotate around to face away from her. Her knees are at either side of my hips as she kneels behind me. When her fingers graze my skin, sparks practically fly off of them. I could do this all day.
“Do you feel where my fingers are?” she asks.
“Umm, yeah. I feel them,” I say, holding back the extent of what I’m feeling.
“That’s where your scar is. It’s a curved sliver, a raised bump, just like you described mine.”
“It feels like it’s in almost the exact same place as yours is,” I note.
“It is.”
We sit in silence for a moment, her finger drifting back and forth across my spine. I don’t want to ruin the moment, but I know I have to. “What do you think it means?” I ask.
“Someone did something to us,” Adele says angrily. “Injected a drug, messed with our spines, something. Somehow what they did linked us together, like as soon as we were near each other, we were inexplicably drawn to each other. That’s what the weird scalp-buzzing and spine-tingling was.”
Not this again. “I don’t care,” I say. “I’m glad I found you, no matter how it happened. And now the effect seems to have worn off and I still want to be with you, regardless of who wants us to be together.”
Adele’s sigh tickles the tiny hairs on the back of my neck. “It might not be that simple, Tristan. I want to be with you, but what if it’s your father who wants us to be together, to give him a reason to crush you? Maybe he sensed your rebelliousness and knew you’d cause him problems in the future. A scandalous moon dweller girlfriend would do just the trick. I mean, that’s possible, isn’t it?”
I think about it for a minute. “Anything’s possible with my father,” I say. “And I didn’t exactly hide my rebellious side, so it’s likely he thinks Killen should succeed him as president, as he would carry on the Nailin family tradition of rule by an iron fist.”
“And the only way to do that…” Adele says, letting me finish her sentence.
“Is to either kill me or throw me in jail. But you don’t know my father the way I do. He murdered Roc’s mother in cold blood, Adele. He didn’t need an excuse to hurt me. He could’ve just had one of his men “accidentally” kill me in training, or even kill me in my sleep and then make up a story about how it happened later. But mess with our neurological systems, draw me to a moon dweller girl just to create a scandal? It’s just not my father’s style—too complex and risky.”
“But it’s possible,” Adele says, hugging me from behind.
I shake my head. “No, I don’t think so. I mean, he could have easily done something to me, but how would he have gotten to you?”
“I was trapped in juvie,” she says. “He could have had one of the guards put something in my food, in my drink, something…”
“But your mom seems to know something about it,” I argue. “Otherwise why would she have said that to you—about it being no accident we met?”
Her head slumps and I realize she was hoping for any other explanation other than her mother being involved directly.
I capture her hands across my chest. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out,” I say. Feeling her body against my back, her arms around me, I close my eyes and let the cares of the world fall away beneath her gentle touch. “Do you still want to be with me?” I ask.
A pause. I hold my breath, wait for the hammer to drop, crushing my heart into gravel. “Yes,” she says, and I let out my breath slowly, trying to hide the fact that I was holding it at all. “But I also don’t want to cost you the presidency.”
“It’s already lost,” I say, knowing it’s the truth. “All that’s left is vengeance.”
“We should go back,” Adele says, abruptly releasing me and standing. “It’s too dangerous out here and the others will wonder where we’ve run off to.”
I clamber to my feet and then face her, sweeping my eyes across every inch of her majestic form. She watches me suspiciously. “What,” she says when my eyes return to hers.
“You’re beautiful,” I say.
“And you’re such a guy,” she retorts. “C’mon.” She grabs my hand and pulls me back down the tunnel. For me, despite scars and conspiracies and vengeance, the world is right again. If I die today, at least I’ll die with Adele by my side.
But I don’t plan to die.
* * *
Every few minutes I feel Roc’s eyes on me, but I studiously avoid them, pretending to organize my pack or clean my weapons. I know he wants to talk, to ask me a million questions, but I’d rather not. It’ll only dampen my relatively good mood.
Trevor continues to annoy, however, shooting comments like, “Ooh, the two lovebirds are back together?” or “You two make such a cute couple—when you’re not trying to kill each other.” Adele finally gives him a death stare and he backs off, his hands in the air, palms out. “Easy, wild woman,” he says, “I’m just kidding.” Since then, I’ve just had to deal with Roc’s silent stares.
“We’re going to pee,” Tawni says, grabbing Adele’s hand and pulling her away.
“But I don’t have—” Adele starts to say.
“Yes you do,” Tawni says. Adele glances back at me, a shrug in her eyes, if not on her shoulders.
I’m alone and unprotected. Roc saunters over. “What’s going on?” he asks, and I see Trevor stop rolling his bedding to watch our exchange.
“Nothing,” I say. “All good.”
“It wasn’t all good when Adele beat you up and yelled at you in front of everyone,” he says.
“She did not beat me u—”
“Yes she did,” Trevor comments from across the fire pit.
“Like you did any better,” I retort. The nice, peaceful feeling from making up with Adele is gone, and there’s a fire in my belly once more.
“We’re talking about you,” Trevor says.
“Shut up, Trevor,” Roc says. And then: “Talk to me, T, I’m worried about you.”
“I’m fine, I promise,” I say. “We’re fine.”
“But what about—”
“We’ve worked it out, Roc. We’re moving on—you should too.” My eyes challenge him to say another word, which usually doesn’t even come close to working, but this time it does. Roc clams up, fires a final glare at me, and then goes back to packing for our trek across the Sun Realm.
Adele and Tawni take a long time “using the bathroom.” Trevor occupies himself by swinging his sword around like he’s fighting hordes of angry sun dwellers, while Roc sits facing the wall, just staring. He’s mad at me because I’m keeping things from him. He’ll get over it. I unpack and repack my bag a half-dozen times before the sound of approaching footsteps echoes through the cavern.
They appear through the murk, walking side by side, Tawni wearing a slight grin and Adele sporting a wry smile. From the look Adele shoots me I know: Tawni is completely up to date on the situation.
Roc turns, looks at Tawni, and realizes the same thing. He directs another glare at me, one that says, “See, Adele told Tawni. Why won’t you tell me? You’re supposed to be my best friend.”
“Sorry, buddy,” I try to relay to him telepathically, “There’s nothing to tell.” Clearly he doesn’t get the message as his eyes narrow further, until they’re thin slits of annoyance.
“Are we finally ready to go?” Trevor says, slipping his sword back into its loop. “I think there’s been enough drama for one morning.”