"Yeah."
"I don't know if mine is. And we don't know if Lynne's is…yet," he joked and winked at Caleb. Then he coughed and laughed as Lynne's elbowed him in the ribs. "Lynne!" he complained.
"Don't insinuate things," she said in a high voice.
"I would never," he said and smiled. She just melted, and I could see why. Kyle had a new light to him, something I'd never seen on him before. He was so stubborn. He could have been saved a lot of heartache if he'd just waited for her. He thought he was in love with me, but he wasn't. He was in love with the idea of being in love; of imprinting, of starting a new life and being the man of it. I really was happy for him now, and he never looked at me the way he was looking at her.
Caleb rubbed my arm and silently agreed with me.
"And just what is going on out here?" a man's voice said.
"Busted," Kyle said and we all sat up to face our discoverer.
Six
"Rodney!" Caleb laughed the bumped fists from where we were sitting. "You found us."
"It wasn't very hard, man. We always ran up here to get away from the girls. But this time you brought them with you." He smiled at me. "Hi, Maggie, long time no see. And Lynne, you're still here? Kyle hasn't driven you away with his not-so-clever wit and lack of charm yet?"
"Shut up, man," Kyle said and pushed his leg as he sat down with us.
"So, you used to come up here, too, and escape all the girl drama?" I said and chuckled when his cheeks turned a little red.
"Nah," he refuted. "It was always these two the girls wanted. The Jacobsons are hot commodities around here."
"Bull crap! You had them eating up those stupid 'I'm a cowboy' stories and you know it," Kyle yelled. "The one about you saving your sister from the bull was classic. Classic!"
"Eat me," Rodney said, embarrassed.
It was pretty funny how they all kind of talked the same and said the same things. You could tell they'd grown up together."So," Rodney said, clearly looking for a subject change. "I guess I'm going to be your escort for the rest of the week."
"Mine?" I said in surprise. "What for?"
"Well, the assembly doesn't want you to be alone if you're outside of your room. So anywhere you go, I'll be with you."
"Why can't Caleb be with me?" I asked and suddenly turned to Caleb to read his mind, but he had me blocked off.
"You haven't told her yet?" Rodney asked. "Sorry, I just thought you would have."
"Told me what?" Caleb sighed and sat up when I did. "Told me what, Caleb?"
"I asked Rodney to volunteer to be your escort because I knew you'd need one. Because…when we have our trial tomorrow, they aren't going to let me get off."
"What? I…" What was he saying? "Why are you closed off?"
"I want to explain it to you," he said gently and cupped my face, "not have you read it out of my mind and blow up the greenhouse because you're pissed."
I looked up and saw that the glass was rattling in the door next to us. I took a deep breath and gave him a face to tell him to go on.
"You're the Visionary, they won't- no, they can't, by law, punish you. Just like the assembly members can't be punished unless it's something that was done in front of another assembly member." He sighed, his breath warming my face. "But me? They are going to put me in a cell tomorrow."
"How do you know that?" I said, my blood warming in anger.
"Because I know the laws. No one can murder another clan member, for any reason, not even self defense."
"But it wasn't self defense," I croaked and cleared my throat hoping I wouldn't cry. "You killed him to save me."
"I just don't think it will matter to them. And I wanted someone with you, someone that I trust, so you wouldn't be alone and… scared."
"For how long?"
"When they find someone guilty of something, we have a hearing and then we're put in the cells so that we can't enjoy the week with everyone else. Before I leave, they’ll have another hearing to see if I'm banned forever."
"So, if you kill a guy they put you in a cell and don't let you party? Really? That's the punishment?"
"It's not the only punishment," Rodney chimed in. He gave me a sympathetic look. "He's not allowed any visitors, at all, for any reason."
His meaning smacked into me.
"I won't be able to see him. He won't be able to see me. He'll be in withdrawal the whole week."
"So will you," Caleb growled. "I'm going to try to work out some kind of deal with them. I doubt they'll tell the Visionary to just go and be in pain. They'll probably let me see you for a few minutes a day, just for that."
"This is ridiculous."
"But it's coming. And I wanted to make sure you were taken care of."
"But what about you?" I whispered. He tipped my chin back up when I tried to duck my head.
"I'll be fine. I knew what I was getting into coming here."
"I'll fight them on this," I told him and squared my shoulders. "I'll do something, I'll-"
"Don't, baby. Just…do what they say. Rodney will be with you every day and Dad won't let them do anything crazy."
"Neither will I," Kyle spouted.
I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do.
"I'm so mad at you for pretending that everything was ok." I sniffed. "That's why you made such a big deal about coming to me tonight. I wondered why you'd risk it."
"I would have risked it regardless of what happens tomorrow," he said roughly. "I didn't know your room was charmed. I didn't want you to be in withdrawal in the morning, but I guess that was in vain anyway."
I peeked to see the others trying not to look at us, so I spoke in his mind instead. We’re a team, you said so yourself. So why are you still keeping things from me?
I didn't want you to spend the whole night upset.
But this isn't something stupid and trivial, Caleb. Didn't you think it might be worse for me to not know and then have them throw this on me tomorrow? I'd have busted all the windows in the place. If you warn me, I'll handle myself better. I don't like losing control-
I know, I know. He pulled me to sit on his lap and I didn't protest, though he thought I might. It physically hurts me to make you unhappy. I wanted to spare you even a minute's worth of hurt. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but I will always protect you, even if you get mad about it. I picked the lesser of two evils.
So, what now?
He chewed on his lip. I don't know, Maggie.
Don't say my name like you're disappointed in me.
I'm not. He looked at me closely. "I could never be disappointed in you. You didn't even do anything wrong."
"But I did, didn't I? If I hadn't freaked when we got here and been so weak and…scared, you wouldn't have felt the need to hide it from me and protect me."
"That is not why I did it. And I don't think you're weak." I looked away because looking into his blue eyes when he was so sincere, so intense, made me want to burst into tears. But he wasn't letting me have it. He pulled my face back up. "Look at me. You are the strongest person I know. What's inside of me, my imprint, my need to protect you, has absolutely nothing to do with what happened today. I think you handled everything great, considering that we were totally blindsided and betrayed.""But I'm scared," I whispered.
"That doesn't make you weak." I just stared at him and fought my emotions. He caved, folding like a deck of cards. He pulled my face to his, a constant that I have learned to appreciate so much. "Baby, I'm sorry. I know that you hate to lose control. I was being selfish. I just didn't want you to worry about me all night."
"I understand," I said, and I did. "And I don’t want you to worry about me so much."
"Unavoidable and unthinkable." The corner of his lip lifted, his dimple winking at me like it always did. "You don't really want me to be one of those lame boyfriends, do you? Forgetting birthdays? Letting your calls go to voicemail? Being late to pick you up for the movies?"
I laughed and shook my head. "No, I don’t want that."
"Then you've got to take it the way it is. I'm the tyrant. That's not going to change, baby."
"I know," I sighed. "And I don't want you to change. I'm sorry. I love the tyrant, mostly."
He chuckled and shook his head. "No, you don't."
"Maybe not," I agreed and smiled, "but I don't want you to change."
"You still mad at me?" he said and cocked his head to the side. His hands slid up and down my back in a soothing motion.
"No. And you're not going to be mad at me tomorrow when I let the council know that this is idiotic and I try to stop them, right?"
"Try away."
"Good," I replied and leaned against him, pressing my face into his neck. "Ok, everyone. The awkward moment had passed. You can all talk now."
"Thank, God!" Kyle yelled. "I was about to seriously pretend to be asleep over here."
"Ditto, dude," Rodney laughed. "Even though technically it was my fault."
Caleb kicked him with his foot. "Yeah, it kinda was."
We all laughed and settled back into a companionable silence as we lay back in the grass again. Then Lynne broke the silence. "So, does anyone know what we're doing tomorrow?"
"Well," Rodney started and rubbed his short, brown hair, "from what I was told, the hearing is definitely one thing."