And she kissed him back, giving him everything in return.
A soft knock at the door broke them apart.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Wei-Lin said dryly. “But our four hours are almost up. Time to move.”
Melissa groaned, burying her face in his chest. “Five more minutes.”
“We don’t have five minutes.” But he was smiling, a real smile that felt foreign on his face after so many years of careful control. “Come. Let’s go get Robbie and prepare for the next step.”
They dressed quickly, stealing glances at each other, sharing small smiles that felt like secrets. When Melissa opened the door, Wei-Lin was waiting with an expression caught somewhere between amusement and impatience.
“I’m not going to ask,” she said. “Because I really don’t want to know. But you might want to fix your hair before Sarah sees you.”
Melissa’s hand flew to her head, and she grimaced at the tangled mess. “Right. Good point.”
In the main room, Sarah had Robbie cradled against her shoulder, patting his back gently. Katie sat beside her, looking more alert than she had since they’d escaped—still quiet, still watchful, but no longer vacant.
“He woke up about twenty minutes ago,” Sarah said, handing the baby to Melissa. “I fed him from the supplies you showed me. He seemed happy enough.”
“Thank you.” Melissa pressed a kiss to Robbie’s forehead, and the baby cooed, his dark eyes focusing on her face. “For everything.”
Sarah’s smile was knowing. “We women have to look out for each other. Especially now.”
Becsul gathered their meager supplies, his mind already turning to the challenges ahead. The route to the southern docks. The checkpoints they’d need to avoid. The cargo hold where they’d spend the next several days hidden among shipping containers.
But underneath the tactical considerations, a warmth burned in his chest that refused to be extinguished.
Mate, he thought, watching Melissa soothe Robbie with practiced hands. My mate. My family.
He’d lost everything once—his parents, his siblings, his childhood home to the Red Death. He’d rebuilt himself around duty and discipline, around service to a cause that had slowly revealed itself as hollow.
Now he had something new. Something worth protecting. Something worth fighting for.
And he would burn the entire Council to the ground before he let anyone take it from him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The maintenance hatch groaned as Becsul wrenched it open, revealing a darkness so absolute it seemed to swallow the dim light from the room behind them.
Melissa tightened her grip on Robbie, her son pressed securely against her chest in the makeshift carrier Wei-Lin had fashioned from spare fabric. He was awake but quiet, his dark eyes watching everything with that alert curiosity that never failed to both amaze and terrify her. Too young to understand danger, she thought. Old enough to sense it anyway.
“The tunnel network runs beneath the old city,” Becsul said, his voice pitched low. “It was built generations ago for emergency evacuations. Most of it has been sealed off or forgotten.”
“But not by you,” Wei-Lin observed.
“Not by me.”
He dropped down into the darkness first, his body disappearing from view. A moment later, a soft blue glow flickered to life—some kind of handheld light source—and Melissa could see the outline of a narrow passage stretching into shadow.
“It’s clear. Hand down the child first.”
Melissa hesitated for only a heartbeat before lowering Robbie into Becsul’s waiting arms. His large hands closed around her son with impossible gentleness, cradling him against his broad chest, and something in her chest unclenched at the sight. He’ll catch us, she thought. He’ll always catch us.
She dropped down next, her feet hitting packed earth with a muffled thud. The tunnel was cramped—she could stand upright, but Becsul had to hunch his shoulders, his head nearly brushing the ceiling. The air smelled of mineral dust and age, overlaid with something sharper. Machine oil, maybe. Recent passage.
Sarah came next with Katie, the girl’s thin arms wrapped tight around her mother’s neck. Then Wei-Lin, pulling the hatch closed behind her with a clang that echoed through the narrow space.
“This way.” Becsul transferred Robbie back to Melissa and took point, the blue light casting long shadows on the rough-hewn walls. “Stay close. The tunnels branch in several places, and some of the side passages are unstable.”
