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But she had to tell him. It was long past time to come clean. This wasn’t how she had pictured it, but even if she died today, she didn’t want to do it without having been honest with the man who would have been her mate.
“They’re after you,” Gage said.
She nodded.
“I guess there are a few things I don’t know about you yet,” he said.
“Yes,” she admitted. “I’m sorry.”
“When we get out of this, you will tell me everything,” he said. “A mate’s job is to share your troubles.”
“You still want to be my mate?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said, his violet eyes darkening. “Of course I do.”
“I’m sorry,” she said again, tears sliding down her cheeks. “I had no idea something so serious could happen.”
“Don’t be,” he said gruffly. “I have something to share with you as well. This should put it in perspective.”
She smiled through her tears, wishing she could be worthy of such a mate.
A moment later, the trees thinned, and the castle came into view.
Naomi’s breath caught in her throat.
When they last saw it, the castle had been a sturdy-looking thing, constructed of massive, mossy stones and roof slates the size of mattresses. Flags had flown from the turret.
Now it was clear that the only parts of the castle that were real in the way she would consider something to be real, were the parts they had been able to touch.
A moat still ran around the building, with real water in it and a wooden drawbridge, though it was a simpler contraption now. The metal ornamentation must have been projected onto it.
The big wooden front doors were there, and she could see the stone outlining the living spaces and the second floor.
Everything else was scaffolding and sheets of plain composite for hologram projection. The tower was a simple wooden platform with stone parapet Oberon must have known they might want to touch.
There were no flags, there was no moss. The castle looked like the set of a movie that planned to rely on a lot of computer effects over a green screen.
Could they really defend it?
“It’s still better than being out in the open,” Gage said, as if reading her thoughts.
As the hoofbeats slowed, Naomi was surprised by the almost complete lack of sound. Other than her own ragged breathing, the place was utterly silent - no birds sang, no crickets chirped, no wind whistled in the trees. And she was struck again by just how much of the place had been under Oberon’s control, and how much was lacking without him.
The thought of his last words before the bomb sent a chill through her.
As long as I’m online, the Center is completely safe.
23
Naomi
Naomi paced the great hall, watching Gage examine the weapons at their disposal as Athena rested on a makeshift bed nearby, drifting in and out of consciousness.
“Could be worse,” Gage muttered, though whether he was talking to her or to himself, she had no clue.
The poor man probably worked in a glassy office tower every day. He had no more knowledge about this stuff than she did. Although…
She wandered over to look at the bows laid out on a wooden side table. Their shafts were a polished wood, and when she lifted one it felt like the weight was about right.
