But the night wasn’t quite over yet. He still had one little surprise up his sleeve.
“You’re going to have to close your eyes,” Lee said, stopping when they reached his dorm. He turned fully around to face Kat.
“What? Come on,” she whined. He could see the sleepiness on her as well, with the droop of her shoulders and the lazy smile on her face. They’d definitely spent too much time away. But he refused to open the door until she agreed.
“Fine,” Kat relented, crossing her arms over her chest. Even her will tonight seemed to be nodding off. “But if you are trying something silly…”
“Just close your eyes, Kat.”
When he was sure she was doing as she was told, he scanned his hyperband at the door and let the portal slide open. He’d been careful to clean under his fingernails a couple times after visiting the greenhouses to ensure there wouldn’t be a trace left to tip her off.
“After you…starflower,” he whispered, his voice trailing off, down through the grated floor, that last word quiet enough she may not have even heard it leave his lips. “Easy does it,” he said as he guided her over the threshold. “I unearthed this during that Kafron raid all those months ago. I just had to record one final diagnostic before I was able to take her out this afternoon.” He tugged gently on Kat’s fingers until she stood hesitantly facing his desk.
“Kafron—with that rotting creature?” She wrinkled her nose, but she kept her eyes closed as she swiveled her face upwards, as if hoping the light could tip her off on the nature of her surprise.
“You can open your eyes,” he said.
He’d removed his holoblock from his desk. Removed everything from its surface so only the flower could claim this sliver of space.Her flower.
Kat was still. So still that he had to take a physical step around her to confirm she’d actually opened her eyes. He didn’t know what to make of her silence.
And then he saw their glassy expression. The water pooling along her eyelids.
A smile tugged at his lips as he cleared his throat. “Think of it as a little start-of-term present.”
“Lee,” she said, softly. She turned to him, and there were those beautiful, pale greys. “But I didn’t get you anything.”
He huffed a breathy laugh into her hair as he folded her into his arms. “Trust me, here,” he said, resting his chin on her head while the warm flutter of her heart beat against his. “You standing here in this dorm with me… That’s more than enough.”
She let him hold her as a stray tear escaped down her cheek. And as he chased that trail reverently with his lips. She was salty and sweet. He pulled her in tighter as her ear brushed his cheek.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” she said finally. Lee chuckled, releasing her so that she could go inspect the star flower. A second bloom had since budded against the leaf’s axils.
“She’s so beautiful,” Kat cooed, tracing a fingertip around the flower’s shadow. She ran the pad of her thumb across the delicate leafing, hovering just above its fiery-red pollen center and its transparent moon-dust petals.
“She is,” Lee agreed. But he wasn’t looking at the flower as he traced the pink bow of her cheeks and her curious smile and the tangle of vanilla-blonde hair tumbling across the edge of his desk.
“What’s its name?” she asked suddenly, angling just her face towards him.
“I’ve been calling itChlidanthus Aster,flower of the stars. Or—”
“Starflower,” she breathed. A knowing look graced those grey irises as she peered up at him. The teasing nicknames… They’d all been leading up to this moment.
Eyes still wide and bright, she shook her head. “I can’t believe you saved it.”
“As if I could’ve let it suffer out there with the dark rays and those poor, malnourished beasties.”
He meant it nonchalantly, meant to turn away and give her some space to enjoy her present. But as she flicked her eyes back to the star flower, he could only watch her again in awe.
Out of all the cadets he could have met here, all the cadets who could have crashed into his life, he’d found her. Perhaps the one soul who truly understood him.
As the day finally caught up to him, a yawn slipping from his lips, Lee pulled her in for a quick kiss. Flipping on some music, he lay back on his bed with his hands behind his head, watching her watch her flower.
Kat slipped over before long to join him, burrowing into his side. He grinned into her hair when she angled her body so that she faced the desk, and he slid an arm around her. With Kat tucked in here beside him, safe and sound, he had everything he’d ever need. Now to make peace with the rest of his life.
CHAPTER 17: KAT
KAT SET her alarm for a half hour earlier than usual. And when it buzzed, instead of lying there, she leapt out of bed, flinging on the lights.
