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“Let’s hope it’s just talk.”
Nova stood up to leave, a little relieved that Elizabeth didn’t look too worried about it.
“What’s going on with Altair?” Elizabeth asked before Nova reached the door.
“He’s fine,” she said.
“Are you still… Am I going to have to make room for him on the ship too?”
“No,” Nova said, surprised that Elizabeth would even be willing to do such a thing. “I told him I wasn’t ready to be his wife.”
Elizabeth nodded and waited. Nova hadn’t talked to anyone other than Altair in weeks. And it’d been years since she’d had a friend—well, aside from Altair, but she couldn’t tell him about her hidden identity. Did she want to share her feelings with Elizabeth?
“I hate lying to him,” she said, testing the waters.
“Do you always feel that way when you are spying on someone?”
Nova sat back down.
“Maybe a little, but I always picked marks who were jerks, and I always felt that they deserved being made fools of because they were such bad people.”
“And Altair is agoodperson?” Elizabeth made an obvious effort to keep her facial expression neutral, but she couldn’t hide the disbelief from her voice.
“He’s too broken to be good or bad. And whenever he makes an effort to heal, someone comes along and smashes him to pieces again.” Nova had a hard time controlling the emotion in her voice. “I can see a part of him healing every day that we’re together. He’s happy being with me. I hate that I will be the one crushing him next.”
Elizabeth shook her head, still in disbelief.
“Every day on this planet, I see women falling in love with their husbands after having sworn that it would never happen to them. I always attributed it to the fact that they’re a match. But I have to say, I really didn’t see it coming in your case.”
“I’m not in love with Altair.”
Maybe Nova shouldn’t have said anything to Elizabeth. She was twisting her words.
“But you like him. And you don’t want to hurt him. Bringing Altair down a few pegs was supposed to be the cherry on top of bringing you here.”
“What do you plan on telling him when I disappear?”
“I was going to let him think you ran away. Let him look for you for the rest of his life.”
Nova’s heart constricted into a tight knot.
“Is there any way we could fake my death instead?”
Elizabeth didn’t look excited about the idea.
“Fine,” she said. “We’ll try to think of something.”
“Thanks,” Nova said.
She opened the door and walked out. She looked back at Elizabeth and caught her shaking her head with a smile on her face.
* * *
Nova counted the days until she could leave with eagerness and apprehension. She had a week left when she walked through the front door after work to find Altair sitting on a chair facing the door. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he had a blank expression on his face. The table hadn’t been set for dinner, but instead a folder lay on top next to him.
“Who are you?” His voice had a hard edge to it that Nova hadn’t heard in a long time.
She looked from the folder to his face. Her stomach twisted into a knot. What did he know?
