"What is this? You’re hurt?" he asked Aliscent, but his eyes were trained on Vesperin.
"It’s nothing," answered Aliscent. "Merely a little misunderstanding over her duties to you and the resistance."
He hummed, sounding unconvinced. "Are you cold?" he asked when she shivered.
Vesperin shook her head, but he took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders anyway. She resisted the urge to bury her face in the collar. His shoulders were broad; beneath the coat, he wore only a plain shirt with laces.
Why was he being so nice? She was merely an object to him—nothing more.
"We expect intelligence on the first of the month, every month. I’ll have an agent go out to the agreed-upon meeting place when the moons are high. You’ll leave the required trading items there, as well. The agent will leave a list at every meeting, to be fulfilled by the next, or Vesperin comes back to us," Aliscent stated the demands Vesperin assumed the man already knew well, for he merely dipped his chin sharply.
They said their goodbyes, and Vesperin was led into the carriage first. It was warm inside, and she shivered on the leather bench, staring at her lap so she wouldn’t have to look up at him.
She didn’t even know his name. But now he owned her.
The carriage rocked as they left, and she didn’t look back at the base or Aliscent. She didn’t want to give her godmother the privilege.
"Vesperin," the man said, "I hope this arrangement is something we can both find peace in."
"Peace? When you’ve bought me? The last thing I will ever be for you is a good little companion." She looked up and met his eyes. "I am clearly nothing to you, or else you would have at least told me your name."
Surprise lit up his soft brown eyes. "Apologies. I assumed Aliscent had told you already." He paused, tugging his gloves off. "My name is Kiton Blackfall."
They were quiet the rest of the carriage ride, until they stopped at a lonely cobblestone street on the outskirts of the city. The fog was thicker here. The clouds of steam rose high in the distance. He emerged first, then stood at the small door of the carriage, holding out his hand for her.
"Take my hand. This is a partnership. I will not harm you."
Perhaps it was the way his voice did not falter, or maybe his reminder that this was a partnership—they both benefited from this arrangement; though, the resistance arguably did more than him. He only got her out of it while risking his life to aid the resistance.
For not the first time, Vesperin wondered why her? Why risk so much?
She exhaled, shifting on the leather bench until her iron heels dangled over the drop of the carriage. She met his eyes, then placed her hand in his.
It was instantaneous.
The way everything stopped, right there on the cobblestone drive. She fell from the carriage into his arms, and together they fell to the ground. She was bundled in his chest, quaking sobs falling from her lips as her eyes watered.
He held her and held her there on the ground, two words, said with reverent hunger:
"We’re Soulbonds."
It wastheir first life together.
That was why everything about it was so precious and slow.
Those first days, they did nothing more than get to know each other—who they were without fighting and the roles they’d been forced to play.
One night, over dinner, while steam curled beyond the fogged windows and a brass bulb flickered on the table between them, Kiton shared with her that the reason he risked everything was because a part of him, somehow, knew that she was his.
Vesperin traced her fingertip over the faint impression of the yellow glow from the bulb. "That’s ridiculous. How can you endeavor to know such a thing? You’re not a Celestial."
"I may not be a Celestial, but the first time I saw you, it was at a gala hosted at one of the regime’s family estates. I was drinking a glass of briux, imported from Sangreal, and saw you sweet-talking a general," Kiton shared, tone melancholic. "Your eyes met mine while your hand was on his chest, then you looked away so quickly. It made me wonder if you even knew who I was. I wanted you. At the same time, I started to grow… discontent with the way everything was being handled. The people, the torture. I wanted to change. That’s when I sought out the resistance. And when I saw you at a resistance meeting. You didn’t even seem to recognize me."
Slowly, he reached for her hand, and she let him hold it. "After some time ingratiating myself within the resistance, Aliscent proposed to some of the men that she wanted to… use you as a bartering chip. A pure Aetherborn, in exchange for intel. One of the men who expressed interest—he would’ve used you until nothing was left. He was only in with the resistance to play both sides. He wasn’t loyal. And he wouldn’t be loyal to you. I did everything I could to make Aliscent understand: it should be me who has you."
Vesperin drew in a sharp breath.
"I offered the best price. Double the medical supplies, triple the food." Kiton’s eyes were warm pools of burnished sunlight, with the way the bulb flickered between them.
