Page 91 of The Stone Initiation
“I’ll take you one day,” he said. “One day when it’s safe, when this thing between us is under control then I’ll take you.”
Silence settled between us, warm and filled with possibilities we both knew that we might never be able to fulfil. I didn’t want to think about that. Didn’t want to dwell on all the ways this could go wrong. All the ways that we couldn’t be together.
“So, tell me, what do the elite do exactly? Are you always stationed here?” I knew the answer to the latter question of course. Romi had explained that the elites’ homebase was the academy. They stayed here between missions and patrol, but he’d never fully explained anything about the patrols or missions, wanting to keep a distance between me and this world. Wanting to protect me.
But it was too late for that now.
“We have sectors we maintain,” Serath said. “The furthest sectors of the Rim where the graynite threat is worse. Have you had your first history lesson yet?”
“Yes, Mirrowind explained the bloodlines and how only the five together can take down the alpha.”
“Hmmm, that’s what they say.”
“You don’t believe it?”
“It’s never been proven. We’ve never had the chance to try, but that’s the theory.”
I wanted to ask more about the alpha and the graynites, but I also wanted to know more about Serath the man. “What’s your favorite food?”
“Food?” I could hear the smile in his voice. “Hmmm… Let me see. Steak, medium rare, and lasagna. I’m partial to a good lasagna, any pasta dish in fact, and potatoes, I love potatoes. What about you?”
My smile widened. “Same. But add cream scones to that list. I love a freshly baked scone with cream and jam.”
“There’s this tiny bakery in Asteria that does the tastiest fluffiest scones. We’ll have to go there one…” He sighed. “I’m sorry.”
My pulse quickened because I wanted him to go on. I wanted to hear more. “No. Don’t be. Let’s…Let’s pretend.”
“Pretend?”
It was silly to play make-believe, but when make believe was all I could have with the male the cosmos had created just for me, then I’d take it. “This is our first date and we’re making plans for more.”
He was silent for the longest beat. Crap, now he thought I was being ridiculous. I should have kept my mouth shut.
“I’ll cook for you,” he said finally. “And we’ll have dinner in the observatory with the night sky all around us.”
I exhaled softly. “What will you cook?”
“Steak, medium rare, potatoes and roasted vegetables, then I’ll fly you to Asteria and we can visit the bakery at dawn for scones.”
I wanted this. I wanted to do these things with him.
He continued to speak. To make plans, telling me about all the small settlements and the special places hidden there where we could go, his rumbling voice soothed away my doubts, allowing me to believe that all the things could be true.
That we could have it all.
SERATH
“Cameron?”
“Hmmm, don’t stop talking,” she says sleepily.
She’s tired. She needs to sleep so she can heal. I should end the call, but I’m loath to leave her. Like this, with the phone pressed to my ear and her voice in my head I can imagine that I’m lying beside her. I can imagine that all the things we’re saying are real possibilities.
I’ve never had anything or anyone that’s wholly mine. Never been wanted in the way I know she wants me. Like this, with her voice in my ear, the yawning loneliness inside me echoes a little less promising me a comfort and fulfillment that I can never truly have.
“I have a boogeyman,” she says sleepily. “When I was a child and woke from a nightmare, he’d stay with me and talk to me until I fell asleep.”
“Did you have nightmares often?”
