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It’s dangerous to want him. And it’s stupid. We’re down here, living our little primal fantasy, but that ship reminds me what lies above the clouds that swaddle this mountain.
“You’re going back into your head again.”
“I just don’t think this is going to work.”
I know that there are more things in heaven and earth than me and Zion. The Patron is still out there, and sooner or later, he is going to destroy my happiness all over again.
“Your father,” he says. “Your Patron. Don’t worry about him.”
“How can I not?”
“Because you’re my problem now.”
Chapter Twelve
Tselia
“Enjoy your trip with Zion?”
Tyna is back to taunt me. This time she’s alone. Either she doesn’t need backup, or she doesn’t want witnesses.
“Yeah. We went to see the rock you crawled out from under.”
Zion is out on patrol again, and so here Tyna is. The woman does not give up. Her bitterness is not going to rest until she has gotten rid of me. Zion can’t protect me all the time. I know I have to deal with her myself.
Zion told me not to. He told me to call for him if she came around again. He told me to find company so she couldn’t get to me, but frankly, I don’t care if she comes for me. I have a little something for the tribe’s most fearsome huntress.
Her eyes flash at my jibe.
“You should be careful. I could kill you.”
“You won’t do that.”
I say it, but I’m not sure. She’s gotten more intense since the last time we talked. The closer Zion and I become, the angrier she gets. I glance around, wondering if he is nearby, but nobody is. His house on the ridge is a sentinel’s spot; it offers protection for others, but does not provide it to those inside.
“What makes you so special?” She shakes her head. “I’ve been watching you since you got here. You came from the stars. You have that silver hair, but you are weak and reckless and useless in every other way. But he keeps protecting you. Keeps wanting you.”
“I don’t know.”
It’s the truth. I don’t know why Zion likes me so much. I don’t know why he wants me. I just know that he does. And I know nothing she can do will change that. I have never been wanted the way he wants me. I know what it is to want to be wanted. I know how much she has to be hurting. I can’t make this better for her.
“You should forget about Zion. You should find someone who wants you.”
She doesn’t take the advice well. Her eyes narrow and her teeth clench. She speaks in a hissing spitting tone, and I feel her hatred like a physical thing. These people are primitive, and they do not contain their feelings well.
Zion’s desire for me is brutal and passionate. Tyna’s hatred is just as powerful. It’s a physical thing between us, and I don’t know that it will ever die while we are both alive. The question is, will she act on it?
“I will not forget him. He is mine.”
“But he’s not though, is he?”
She clenches her fist and I brace myself for her to beat me again. This time it’s different. This time I’m ready.
“You’re worthless,” Tyna hisses. “But it’s my fault. If I had been a better shot this would never have happened. You would have died with your mount and Zion would be mine.”
“What do you mean, if you’d been a better shot?”
“I think you know,” she hisses. “You’re so smart, star girl. You know everything, don’t you?”
“It was you. On that gun on the hill.”
“It was,” she smiles, her teeth flashing bright white.
She did this to me. She shot me out of the sky. She could have killed me. She has trapped me on this planet, and she has ensured that my life will never be the same.
“So this is your fault, you idiot. I would never have come down here if not for you. I would never have set foot on this planet. I would never have met Zion and he would never have fallen in love with me.”
“He doesn’t love you.”
“Yes, he does. And he loves me because of you. So thank you, Tyna. You’re the reason Zion and I will be together for the rest of our lives.”
Her smug triumph turns to anger. I see it boil up inside her. She expected to triumph when she told me what she did. She wanted to hurt me with the truth, but the truth is she hurt herself when she tried to hurt me. She destroyed her own life, her own future when she destroyed mine.
“Why did you even do it? You can’t have known what I was. All you could have seen from down here is maybe a sky craft. It must have looked like a big bird or something…”
