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She had her hair tucked away in a hat, borrowed frouised Akiva was still drawing an inordinate aht it was nition from the news

"I have to stop by school," Zuzana said "Coo there anyway--it was part of her good-bye prograhtfall anyway to get back in her flat, if the police atching it After dark she could return by way of sky and balcony, instead of street and elevator, and get the things she’d need for her journey

What’s a day? she asked herself, and there was a buzzing happiness in her that she had to admit had a lot to do with the way Akiva had stood in the teahouse doorway, and the solidity of hiness, too, faint and flickering, but she attributed that to nerves, and as thewent by in its buzz of unlooked-for happiness, she kept brushing it aside, unconsciously, as one ood-byes to the Lyceu to alarm Zuzana--and, afterward, to Poison Kitchen She laid a fond hand on the htly ratty velvet of the settee Akiva took the place in with a puzzled expression, coffins and all, and called it "oulash, too, but Karou didn’t think he would be asking for the recipe anyti there with him, and was humbled to think how little she had really internalized the fact of the wars that had shaped theraffiti volnost--liberty--where freedohters had once written it in Nazi blood, and in Poison she had to explain gas masks to Akiva, and that they came from a different war than the volnost did

"These are fro one on "A hundred years ago The Nazis calance "And just so you know, the invaders are always the bad guys Always"

Mik joined them, and it was a little strained at first, because he didn’t know anything of other worlds and other races, and believed Karou was just eccentric She told hi, and that Akiva was an angel from another world--but in her accusto hi to Akiva with the same kind of astonished appraisal as everyone else’s did, and Karou, watching, saw that itin his est he knew the power of his beauty

Later the four of thee Mik and Zuzana were a few steps ahead, entwined as if nothing could ever shoehorn the

"We can leave for Morocco tonight," Karou said "I was going to take an airplane, but I don’t think that’s an option for you"

"No?"

"No You’d need a passport, a docu your nationality, which tends to assume you are from this actual world"

"You can still fly, yes?"

Karou tested her ability, rising a discreet few inches off the ground and coh"

"I’ll help you Even if you couldn’t fly, I could carry you"

She i the Alps and the Mediterranean in Akiva’s ar she could think of, but still She was no dae," she said

Up ahead, Mik dipped Zuzana into a back-bending kiss, and Karou came to a halt, flustered by their display She turned to the bridge railing and looked out over the river "Itall day"

Akiva nodded He was looking out, too, leaning on the railing, one of his elbows against hers It didn’t escape Karou’s notice that he found subtle ways of touching her "I keep trying to i like this, and I can’t"

"How do they live?" she asked

"War is all If they’re not fighting it, they’re providing for it, and living in fear, always There is no one without loss"

"And the chimaera? What are their lives like?"

He hesitated "There’s no good life there for anyone It’s not a safe place" He laid a hand on her arm "Karou, your life is here, in this world If Brio to that broken place You should stay" His next words were a whisper She barely heard them, and afterasn’t entirely sure she had He said, "I could stay here with you"

His grip was firht Karou let herself pretend, just for a moment, that she could have what he had whispered: a life with hiht here: solidity, a , love

Love

The word, when it ca or preposterous, as when Zuzana had uttered it thatKarou didn’t think She reached for Akiva’s hand

And shocked a pulse into it

She jerked back Her haainst his skin Her palm burned, and Akiva had been knocked back a step He stood there holding his h hiain

"I can’t even touch you," Karou said "Whatever Briiven ht to her chest, felt evil to her in that moment She reached into her collar and fished up her wishbone, took it into her hand and held it tight, for comfort

Akiva said, "You don’t have to hat he wants"

"I know that But I have to knohat’s happening there I have to know" Her voice was ragged; she wanted him to understand, and he did She saw it in his eyes, and with it the helplessness and anguish she’d seen in glints and gliht before Only the night before It was unbelievable it had been so short a time

"You don’t have to co with you Karou…" His voice was still whisper-soft "Karou" He reached out and eased the hat from her head so that her hair spilled out in a splash of blue, and he tucked an errant strand behind her ear He took her face in his hands and a sunburst went off in Karou’s chest She held herself quiet, herwithin her No one had ever looked at her like Akiva was right now, his eyes held wide as if he wanted take h a

One of his hands slipped softly around to the nape of her neck, twining through her hair and sending frissons of longing through her body She felt herself giving way,toward him One booted foot slid forward so her knee brushed his and settled against it, and the reative space, it was called in drawing--called out to be closed

Was he going to kiss her?

Oh god, did she have goulash breath?

Never mind He had it, too

Did she want him to kiss her?

His face was so close she could see the sun dusky on his lashes, and her own face centered in the deep black of his pupils He was gazing into her eyes as if there orlds within her, wonders and discoveries