Release(67)

Winda was hugging her, wiping tears away from her own eyes, and Ariana sobbed against her. She hadn’t cried since it happened, had she? It was good to let it all out, to let it go.

Keirth appeared in the doorway to her bedroom. “Is everything okay?”

Ariana looked up from Winda’s shoulder, trying to get her sobs under control.

“Did we wake you?” Winda asked.

“No,” said Keirth. He was across the room in a second, kneeling next to Ariana. “What’s wrong?”

Winda rolled her eyes. “What do you think is wrong?”

Keirth looked at the blanket on Ariana’s bed dully. “I wasn’t quick enough,” he muttered. “He killed them all, and he almost killed you.”

Ariana touched Keirth’s cheek. He couldn’t blame himself. “Keirth, you saved me. I needed you to save me. Without you...”

He gazed up into her eyes. His voice was soft. “Don’t be ridiculous, Ariana. You fought him off before. You saved me from the gellococcus. It was your brilliant ideas that made things work out on Trioth. You’ve never needed me.”

Maybe he was right. Sort of right, anyway. She hadn’t done too badly. “But I messed up the hyperdrive. And I wasn’t going to fight him off that time. I couldn’t. He had me tied down. I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t do anything. I had to let him do whatever he wanted. I did need you then.”

“If only I’d been quicker.” He shook his head.

“If only I’d hit him harder on Kush,” Ariana said, her voice growing fierce.

Keirth smiled a little. He was still staring into her eyes.

Ariana felt Winda’s weight leave the bed. “Maybe I’ll leave you two alone,” she said, sliding out of the room.

“He’s dead now, though,” said Ariana. “That’s what matters, right? Not how long it took or what we could have done better. And we survived.” And, she thought in wonder, it wasn’t all down to Keirth that they’d survived. She’d helped too. “We survived together.”

He nodded. “We did.”

And their lips came together like magnets. There was none of the desperation of the kiss back on Scranth. It was sweet and comforting. Keirth’s lips were soft and yielding against hers. They broke away from each other slowly, their faces lingering close.

Keirth’s voice was in her ear. “Ariana, you don’t belong with someone like me. After everything you’ve been through—”

She cut him off. “After everything I’ve been through, who else could I belong with?”

He kissed her again.

And they slept, only slept, together in her bed, Keirth’s burly arms wrapped tightly around her. Encircled by him, she felt safe and protected. She fell asleep easily, no thoughts of Risciter troubling her. And she didn’t dream.





Chapter Fourteen

None of them got out of bed until late the next day, when Gordic announced that because they were all hung over, they should spend the day watching vids and eating leftovers. This was fine with Keirth, who still felt slightly bewildered at the way things had turned out the night before. He certainly hadn’t gone into Ariana’s room with the intention of kissing her. Her crying had simply ignited his danger reflex. He’d gone to make sure she was safe. Which was important to him, he realized. Her safety.

Then, somehow, he’d spent the night holding her. That had been nice, actually. Quite nice. He liked the way her small body fit against his. He liked being close to her. Keirth didn’t think he’d spent such a long time being that close to another human being since he was a kid. But he wasn’t sure what he’d done, exactly. He hadn’t compromised her virtue or anything, but he felt like there had been some kind of promise in what he’d done, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to make that promise.

Now that he wasn’t pursuing revenge, he didn’t know what he wanted to do. However, even though Gordic and Winda seemed very happy together, he didn’t know if he could live the way they lived. Keirth had spent most of his life on the move, never staying in one place for too long. He didn’t know if he wanted to give that up. And he worried that whatever he’d done with Ariana meant that he had somehow promised her he would.

Keirth wanted to get Gordic alone, to ask him more questions, like he had the night before, but the opportunity never presented itself. They really did spend the whole day watching vids—all sprawled out on couches in Gordic’s and Winda’s living room. Gordic and Winda went to bed earlier than Keirth and Ariana, leaving the two of them to sort out their sleeping arrangements.