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‘I’m right here,kara. Always. You’re not alone.’
She fixed her eyes on the play of light against the dark velvet-domed sky. ‘I know.’
‘You’ll be OK. We’ll be OK.’
‘We’ll see.’
They sat on the bench, silently listening to the sounds of the night. Eventually, he pulled her up and led her to bed.
She sank into his arms, feeling drained. She felt him press his lips to her forehead, and she fell asleep, willing that his care would melt away her fears.
Kage
When Harlow had left his bed after sharing her nightmare, he’d panicked slightly.
He’d sent a command via his neural node, and the invisible metanoid force field, already in place around 498, had extended itself to the perimeter of the terrace.
He’d watched from his living room, helpless as she struggled through her pain.
Finally unable to leave her alone, he’d stepped onto the terrace to be by her side, knowing that her healing journey was very individual, and he longed for words to tell her that regardless he’d be there for her. But he wasn’t sure it had registered.
The following day after the attack on her suite, Harlow was stilted and stiff around him, so he stepped back, giving her air. He sent her off to work with some trepidation, worried about her reaction to the assault and his push for her to seek therapy.
Regardless, her withdrawal, especially in the morning, had thrown him. It felt like a cold dash of water on their relationship, especially after the last fortnight of heated bliss with her.
‘I wonder how long this push and pull will last,’ he told Riv.
The two Riders were cruising in Void X towards East Pikani, and Kage was unloading to his brother about his concerns for Harlow.
‘Got to give her time to find her way to you,’ Riv said. ‘Damn, I’ve given my woman over twenty years to get back to me.’
Kage flicked his friend a look. ‘You’re on another level.’
‘Seriously though, wait it out. She’s been through a crazy ride. ‘Sides, remember it took us years to recover from a dark five years of hell, let along the nightmare of our childhood. Now imagine her living a nightmare for fifteen.’
Kage sobered up at the thought. ‘True. Tis a tragedy to live in darkness for any time, let alone fifteen years. I’ll back off; give her the time she needs.’
The men fell silent, lost in their thoughts.
The lights inside the flyer’s cabin were dim as it winged into a deserted section of the tunnels under Eden II.
Earlier, Xion had sent for them, saying they needed to meet him at a specific location. And that he’d have something to show them. Kage felt unusually wary, as he didn’t know what to expect, not unlike his love life at the moment.
He could hear the throb of Void X’s engine roaring outside, but other than that; it was eerily quiet.
As they flew through the tunnel, he tried to distract himself by looking out the window, but all he could see was darkness. This was the first time he’d been this far north of the tunnels. He glanced at his onboard map and noted their position under a mountain range that ringed the wild circumpolar plains of Eden II.
Eventually, the darkness outside the window faded, and Kage spotted the faint outline of lights in the distance.
The tunnel fanned out, terminating in a large underground cave formed by the erosion of rocks over a long time. The inside was dark and damp, with smooth, rocky walls and a high soaring ceiling. Stalactites hang from the top, and lunar bats zipped in the flickering lights playing on the roof. The glimmer Kage had seen came from three flyers, mobile floodlights and torches as security officers milled about the space.
Kage pulled Void X to a stop. The engine cut out, and the cacophony of angry cave crickets filled the air. The oversized lunar insects had long adapted to life in the dark and damp conditions of the underground and were found nowhere else in the System.
Their dried waste coated the cavern floor, and Kage and Riv crunched through it as they exited the flyer and rounded the front of Void X, where a stern-faced Xion met them.
‘What do we have?’
‘Someone you’ve been looking for.’
