Page 131 of The Garnet Daughter
“Of course not, but you should not stay until the last moment. What if you can’t leave? What if you are stuck when it is time for me to fold?”
“Then you fold without me, away, somewhere safe.”
I step in front of him where he leans over the control station. “August, I’m not doing that. The plan we made is you leave with the ship, I make sure First Son attacks from land, and then I fold to you. 99 and Ferren have held up their ends of the bargain, as difficult as it was, so now we need to.”
“99 and Ferren have had time together. We have not. I assure you this is more difficult for me.” He says it with sincerity, but I can’t help but smile at how dramatic it sounds.
“August . . . we will have our time, I promise.”
He blows out a long breath and stares at me with adoring eyes. “Come here.” He reaches for something in a cabinet below.
I scoot closer to him, watching him open a black box and reveal it is full of wrist comms.
He holds a hand out for my arm, and when I offer it to him, he gently runs a finger across my wrist. “This is so when we are apart, I can find you wherever you fold.” He gently clasps it to me, pulling it snug and activating the small screen.
“How far?”
“It has a long range, to the birthlands. You press this one to send me a message.”
“I know. I have watched you use yours many times.”
He smiles like I have said something sweet.
I adjust the band against my skin, already irritated from the unfamiliar tightness there. “I should tell Selene we are leaving. She will want to come back to Frith too.”
He scrubs a hand down his face. “We need to move fast. He may attack before the conjunction peaks.”
“It feels wrong to stay only until it begins, like we are running away, leaving 99 behind.”
“99 will be fine, of that I am certain.” He tugs me forward, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling until my pelvis is against his. “And we are not running away. You are saving the three worlds, and I am happy to be by your side as you do.”
I look up at him, allowing myself to bask in his easy affection as he sways us gently and tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear and smiles on one side of his mouth, summoning the dimple I love.
“Why are you smiling?" I ask.
“How could you ever think I deserve more than you, as if you are not good enough for me? Sometimes, I am not sure if I am even worthy of you. The moment I laid eyes on you . . . beautiful, obviously, but I knew you were . . . otherworldly.”
“Otherworldly.” I dramatically roll my eyes at the description.
“Oh yes. And I have never met someone so willing to charge into battle for a friend. You are braver than any Viathan commander I have known.” He pulls me closer into his form.
“I have made a lot of mistakes doing that.”
“You are forgetting all the other times. I can think of several times we would not have survived without you. And not just because you can fold.” He puts a gentle palm up to stop me from interrupting with self-doubt. “Callia, there is so much more to you than your gifts. You are smart in ways that take my breath away, make me question if we are from the same species.”
He leans down to kiss me sweetly, holding me in place by the back of my head and sealing the words before I undo them with my foolishness.
But then his body stiffens as a message chimes over the control station, a low noise compared to the warning bells outside but enough to snap us both out of our small moment of affection.
He regretfully kisses me one last time and then presses a button on the control panel.
“August.” 99’s grim tone cuts through.
“Here.”
“Come to the perimeter, to the communication tower.”
“Why?” I ask August as 99’s voice is replaced with a frenzy of static.
