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“Well, you’ll be happy to know,” he said, straightening, “that you won’t be stuck with me for much longer. Tomorrow night, we dine with the Prime.”
That was why he was in this Well-forsaken place.
Nova strode to the pitcher by the bed and poured herself a glass. Her voice raised as though she forced herself to sound cheerful. “Oh yes, I heard about the changes to the schedule. Something about a flight, a dinner, and the last goodbye. Won’t that be awkward? I mean, we don’t even know the person dying.”
“Who told you that?” His brows lowered. Who had she been speaking with? His mind went to what had occupied hers before he’d left, and his anger surged. “You were careful not to ruin our ruse?”
The cup paused on the way to her lips. She lowered it without taking a sip. “If you’re asking if I ran naked and threw myself at the eligible males, I did not. I barely had time to breathe out there. But I did bump into one of the guards. He offered to fly me up to watch the lanterns release from the tree. I politely declined. Is that suitable behavior for a mate?”
He stared at her for a moment longer, knowing he had no reason to be rude, but couldn’t help it. “Have something to eat,” he said. “Then get some rest. We’ll need to be at the top of our game tomorrow night.”
Without waiting for another word, he parked himself in the armchair by the fire and pulled Jackson Crimson’s journal from his bag.
J.C. — Entry 2046 ANF
The Well has always been my companion. She talks to me in sweet whispers, telling me about all the good we can do to rebuild this world, telling me how each soul is a seed with the potential to grow into something magnificent or to wither and rot. But that first kernel of life is always the same. Always fresh and new with a clean slate. Always filled with the possibility of reaching for the stars… or digging down into the ink and spreading darkness.
She sounds like my Estrella. Sometimes I dream it is her whispering sweet promises in my ears, encouraging me to be a better person. Sometimes I dream we’re back in that room, locked away in a world where no one could touch us but each other.
But one lesson I’ve learned in my millennia alive on this planet, from all the people I’ve seen and the places I’ve been, to all the souls I’ve lost who have stolen my heart, and all the enemies who’ve broken it, is this: Unfulfilled promises are just lies.
Centuries ago, I made her a promise. But I still haven’t found her. Does that make me a liar?
ChapterTwenty
Nova let the warm hot tub water do its thing and relax her. Since she’d argued with Leaf the previous night, she’d remained sullen, and so had he. They’d barely spoken a word. Not wanting to rock the boat, she left him to read the journals he kept obsessing over.
With nothing else to do, she’d fallen into a self-indulgent pattern of dreaming about everything she’d lost and missed. Her hope had been inside one of the lanterns as it drifted into the sky. As the evening approached, she realized she’d been holding it together since she’d awoken. She was about to either lose her mind in grief or enter a manic state of denial.
She was alive, yes.
But she was alone.
The mind often refuses to process grief. When her parents died, she didn’t go through their belongings. Their bedroom was exactly how they’d left it when the bombs dropped worldwide. She’d denied her brother’s view of the world. Her fight to clean it up had kept her mind busy with purpose… but like everything back then, it had been a lie.
In the bath, enveloped in warmth, she finally let herself think about all that had transpired in the past few months of her life. She’d learned her twin had used his immediate family circle as his training ground, the same way a serial killer might start with a puppy before moving on to people. Niles played with her emotions, killed their parents, and broke up Jace and her. They found their way back to each other, but then the Fallout changed the world. And now, the nail in the coffin was that she was forced to spend time with someone who looked like that missing lover but was the furthest from his personality.
She wondered if Niles was still manipulating events, somehow laughing at fate playing with her heart.
Outside, strong winds buffeted the Lodge walls and shuddered the foundations. Air howled through vents in the ceiling. It sounded so familiar. She tried to dunk beneath the hot water to hide from a memory forced into her mind. But goosebumps broke out on her skin even in the cocoon of warmth.
Nova’s pulse quickened. She rose up from the water, gasping for air, but she was not in a warm bathroom. The air was not humid from the steam. Air inexplicably froze, and it hurt to breathe. Panicked shouts pushed into her thoughts. She slammed her palms over her ears, but the sounds came inside her head. Groans of pain. Rattled coughs. Distant sirens.
Cold. So cold. Nova shivered no matter how many layers of clothing she’d put on. The Bellagio Hotel’s central heating had stopped days ago. The staff abandoned ship yesterday, moments after she’d checked in. Outside, the fountains stopped spurting, and police patrolled nightly. But they couldn’t catch every panicking citizen from doing stupid, crazy things. Sirens, blood-curdling shouts, and screams had become the soundtrack. The downfall of society was a train wreck… but she didn’t care because she’d made it here—to Vegas, where Jace waited for her in this penthouse with a bouquet of roses and eyes full of emotion. The years and distance between them evaporated from the moment they’d clashed.
They fell into bed, making love passionately, desperately, and voraciously. They’d clung to each other as the sirens wailed outside. They refused to talk about anything except how much they needed each other.
Tomorrow—she had told herself. Tomorrow, she would tell Jace everything about Niles. And she sensed he had things to tell her, too. He would have held onto whatever Niles said to keep them apart. But they both agreed that son-of-a-bitch had no place in their happy reunion. At least not for that night. Despite a world falling apart, they’d found a miracle in each other.
But when Nova woke in the morning, cold and shivering beneath blankets, Jace was ill.
On her journey over, she’d glimpsed television reports about strange illnesses. Some blamed radiation. Others refuted it, saying not enough had arrived here in the States. The government denied anything was wrong. Some blamed the changes because the nuclear bombs had changed weather patterns. The Continental Drift melted icecaps too fast, releasing ancient pathogens that had lain dormant since Pangea.
None of it mattered. All Nova cared about was Jace.
Only an hour had passed since she’d awoken, and he was already unrecognizable in his illness. His eyes and ears were so puffy they’d swollen to half their size. He wheezed with rattling breaths. Surely, this was an infection. It was some bacteria that had affected his eyes and ears.
Even though the hotel’s staff had left during the night, and the sirens today were becoming few and far between, she hoped the pharmacy down the road would still be open. If not, then she’d break in and steal the medication. Jace’s life depended on it.
