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Quint took her hand and led her aboard When they were settled in and buckled up, the crew cleared the hangar, and the engines spun up

In only a fews onto the runway Amara was unused to the speed hich the jet took off, and found herself squeezing Quint’s hand hard as they gained altitude

She felt like soe, but Quint seemed perfectly at ease After only a few an the slow cli altitude, chatter froh the door The two crew an their preparations and checks

After they leveled off, Amara studied the offered menu and selected a e, peeled orange The powerful citrus scent that filled the small cabin was evidence of the superior quality of the food offered, and the quickness hich it was prepared was enough to tell As

She stirred the oate pieces around her plate, but didn’t eat She’d had no appetite since losing Ha her baby had her sto

They sat in silence, A the clouds below as soft, quiet jazz played over the speakers Quint stared down at his phone intently, lookingfor a final exam in a class he’d never attended than his usual confident, assured self

It was a look she’d seen on his face here and there since Ha at his phone She’d never worked up the courage to ask him what exactly it was he was so interested in, but the silence between thee

“Hey, Quint?” she asked

His eyes immediately darted up from the phone to meet hers, his brow raised “Yes?”

Her own eyes widened a bit in surprise at how fast he broke away fro over “Ah, I ondering, what is it you’re looking at, exactly? You’ve spent a lot of ti at your phone lately”

He placed it on the table, leaned back, and waved a hand “I’athered about Frederik and the Orlandos I hadn’t expected the fae as it is Did he ever mention his family to you?”

She shrugged “He said they were pretty well-off That sh to tellfrom a famous family”

Quint gave a low huo around about the attention to those Hearsay runs rampant about wealthy people and fas the tabloids have published about me, both before and after the plane went down?”

“Yeah It was hard to check out at the grocery store or go into gas stations Everywhere, the headlines were just … wrong All of theot worse when they found you” A slight smile touched her lips “You know, one of them said you’d been abducted by aliens and dropped in the middle of the desert?”

He shook his head in disbelief “No, I hadn’t seen that one Maybe I’ll grab an issue e get back with Ha to be that entertaining Incredible”