Page 153 (1/1)

I stay silent This isn’t a conversation--she’s not expecting ue or tell her it’s not her fault I just listen

"They wanted to usearea My parents wanted no part of the rebellion, so they refused And the sympathizers killed them for it" She ss, hard, and steadies her voice "They were people we knew, Flynn Neighbors Coworkers People you’d say hello to in the park And because they picked a side in a war that wasn’t even theirs, they shot two people while their eight-year-old daughter hid under a counter"

Slowly, I ease in closer to her "That’s why you hate it when I call you Jubilee Because that’s what your parents called you"

"I don’t hate it anyain Her voice, when she can continue, is wrenching "You’ve ruinedas quickly as hers, frustration and longing twisting together, like a quick-burning fuse

"I was fine before you turned up here and dragged me into the swamps" Her voice rises, halfway between tears and violence "I was supposed to have no soul--I was supposed to be dead Jubilee was supposed to have died with her parents, in their shop in November; Lee was no more than a drea to drown out the sounds of raised voices I move toward her, unable to resist; her eyes are wet, her face flushed, and I can finally look at her, want her, letto ashes in mya little as it catches "You’ve ruined et rid of you" Her voice surges again as I reach out, curling ers "You won’t leavetonot to look at her I can’t look away "You think I want to be here with you?" I reply, ht now, I’d chase you?"

She gazes back at e "Wouldn’t you?"

"You knoould," I snap, surrendering "And I have no idea why that’s such a problem"

She jerks her arm free and backs up a step until she hits the door "It’s a problem because I’d let you!" she blurts Then, after a harsh breath, she murmurs, "It’s a problem because I’d want you to"

I move after her and duck my head to find her lips with ainst , arrief, desire, anger, and beneath it all, a desperate hint of hope, and I can feel the sharing of it in the energy that wells up between us I dragbare skin and the dip of her spine as hers tighten in ainst ain as if we’d been parted for an eternity

With a strained noise she breaks away and turns her head to stopup the kiss where we left off Her breath coainst the door,hers This is what I want

"God, Flynn, we can’t" She’s panting the words "We can’t"

I bend my head to kiss her beneath the line of her jaw, and I feel her body shift againstwhat she said the night I brought her back to the base The night I washed the blood fro real in all of this This is real"

"We’re enemies That’s what’s real" Despite her protests, her aro I press a kiss to her teainst her dark hair

"I’m not your enemy, Jubilee Chase," I whisper "And I don’t think you’re ain My hands burn where I touch her, everything else fading away into the background, drowned out by this, by her, by us

The es, and as if the shift broke the erous"

"Don’t care" And I don’t, finding bare skin at her neck beside the chain of her dog tags, hearing her lose her words as I nip, push her collar aside to find the juncture between her neck and shoulder, kiss her soft skin

Her body arches against h, she goes still, and I lift rief in her eyes

"Flynn, we can’t" Her lips are flushed, eyes dark, but as she ss and tries to collect herself, I can see the deteraze "It’s not that it’s too dangerous for us, Flynn It’s too dangerous for them If you had to choose, if it came down to it, ould you save? Your people, or me?"

She lets ertips down the sather hts I picked my side in the cavern e ran fro to save this girl, or was I trying to stop a war? I can’t let myself think ahead to the day when I’ll have to choose one or the other