Chapter 24
‘So where are your favourite places in Notting?’ I ask, as we wind our way around the small lake towards the waterfall. ‘You know, if I ever needed to find you in a hurry.’
She chuckles. ‘I’m rather good at not being found when I don’t want to be. But maybe the cliffs – I like the view. Or on one of my secret paths into and out of Notting.’
‘Secret paths,’ I repeat. I really need to stop being surprised by her cleverness.
We reach the rocky slope leading up to the waterfall, and each take a turn holding the lantern as we climb. She goes first, nimbly scaling the incline, even in her dress.
My thick boots slip a little on the narrow ledges, and she reaches out to pull me up the last step. I don’t give her hand back when I rise to stand at the top. But I do take the lantern.
In front of us is a cave, or pitch-black tunnel. At the entrance is a firepit – I should get it going for more light. Heat.
‘You hear that?’ she asks.
I nod. The noise from the falls is a constant low thunder, but my mind is on threats, of both the human and animal kind. I shine the light, illuminating the smooth rock walls veined in minerals. They sparkle, making the secluded, almost cosy space feel like it’s enchanted.
Marian playfully beckons me with a curl of her finger. My heart stutters at her flirtatious eyes, and I follow her, hypnotised, deeper into the cave.
‘This tunnel leads behind the waterfall,’ she says as mist wafts towards us. ‘Although I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to see in the dark.’ She shivers at the dampness coating our skin.
I turn my back to protect her from the cold mist. ‘I’ve got a confession. It’s not the falls I came for.’
She stares back at me in the low rim of light. ‘Well, that’s too bad. They’re really beautiful.’
‘You’re beautiful.’ I lean in and get distracted by the freckles dusting her nose. If she was the only person I got to look at from this day forward, I think I’d die a happy man.
‘I think … you’re beautiful, too.’
Oh, really. A bright smile spreads across my lips.
‘Especially when you flash those dimples. Like that.’ She sucks in her bottom lip, and my gaze drops there. ‘But I’m sure you’re well aware of their effect.’
I make sure to flash them again. ‘Yeah, well, everything about you is a weapon that disarms me. Fascinates me. It’s been really difficult to think about anything but you since I got here.’ We both seem to be holding our breath, standing in the space of so much potential.
As intoxicating as it is, my heart pounds in my throat. ‘Would it be okay if I kissed you?’
Her answer is to grab my face and pull me to her. I groan against her lips. It’s so different from last night. Less careful. More sure. Heat rips through me like an open flame.
‘Finally,’ she breathes.
We shift, hands pulling each other close. Her tongue brushes my lip, and I have to beat back the urge to lift her. Beg her to do that again.
She shivers, and I try to shuffle us back out of the mist without breaking apart.
We trip, unwilling to let go of each other long enough to see where we’re heading.
I give up and lean against the cold stone wall.
Marian presses into me so close, she probably feels my heart slamming against my rib cage. I capture her lips. Get lost in them.
We lose our breath, and she pulls back, panting for air, peering up at me through heavy lids.
She’s so achingly beautiful, my throat tightens into a knot. A knot that threatens to choke me at the thought of any of this coming to an end. I don’t know how we got here so fast, but it feels like I’m falling over the edge of something.
‘I want you to come with me when I leave,’ I whisper. The words just slip out. I wait, my stomach sparking with nerves.
She blinks up at me. ‘W-what? I can’t. Atlas would never –’
‘I think he will. There’s a way where he releases you completely.’
Her brows pinch. ‘How?’
Now that’s a loaded question.
What I wouldn’t give to slow this way down. Do it right. Take our time. Learn all there is to know about each other.
Earn her heart, fully.
I can honestly picture us ending up together. Eventually. But how can I wait for the perfect moment if it puts her life at risk? She needs separation from the Commander and protection – the kind only the connection can give. The kind only I can give her.
And the connection will cover the rest. You can’t share memories and emotions without building trust. Every gap in what we understand about each other will be quickly filled in.
I bite my lip. I can’t just ask her, can I? I’ve got to set this up better. Explain. Tell her everything.
‘This is going to sound a little impulsive, but … marry me.’
I bite back a curse at the confusion and shock on her face. Okay, I’m an idiot for saying it that way.
I inhale and talk fast. ‘Think about it – this could set you free from the Commander. Protect you.’
Her eyes are wide, lips parted. ‘You think if we marry, Atlas will let me go?’
I nod, encouraged. But my reasons go far deeper than that. Part of me wants to ask if I’m alone in feeling this pull between us, like something’s bringing us together.
No, I’m skipping steps. She deserves the truth about me before we discuss feelings. ‘It’s not just that. There’s something else I need to tell you.’ I guide her to the firepit at the cave’s entrance, quickly light the leftover coal with flint and my knife, then sit down beside her on a log.
‘The place I’m from is called Kingsland.’
She takes a deep breath. ‘Ryland …’
‘I know you’re concerned that sharing this information is dangerous,’ I say, ‘but I trust you. Do you trust me?’
Her eyes soften. ‘You know what? I do,’ she says sincerely. ‘Okay, tell me.’
‘After the bombs fell thirty-eight years ago, when all hellfire broke loose and everyone was stabbing each other from lack of food and clean water, there was my uncle, Farron. He had a divine sort of dream about an old-world town that had been preserved. Undamaged. Unraided. Unpolluted. All because it was hidden and protected from everything by the mountains. Except it wasn’t just a dream; it was real and he found it. And he led a group of people with him.’
She tilts her head. ‘Preserved? What do you mean?’
‘Everything from the old world was still there and working. We have a hydroelectric dam on the river for electricity, but we’ve run out of parts to repair it any more.
It could fail any day, so we’ve slowly been transitioning to coal for our energy supply, until a landslide took out our mine.
We have other things, too. Plumbing for running water.
Appliances, though they are becoming harder to find.
Our traders are experts at scavenging parts and supplies, and our mechanics and blacksmiths work hard to maintain and rebuild what they can. ’
Her eyes are wide. ‘You have electricity?’
I nod. ‘It’s how we protect ourselves. We scavenged barriers from the old world that painfully shock people if they touch it – an electric fence. It surrounds our whole town, hidden by trees. It’s very effective, but we also have a highly trained army, which I’m a part of.’
‘Holy …’
‘After Farron arrived, strange things started to happen. Members of the founding families … could do things. Impossible things. Then their descendants could too. Some blame a genetic mutation from the fallout of the bombs and breathing atomic dust for years, but it’s always seemed supernatural to me.
Intentional. Fated. I think it’s a gift, the same as Farron’s dream. The one that brought us there.
‘How does it work?’
She’s going to think I’ve been hit on the head too many times.
Just say it. ‘Maybe the best description – it’s like casting a spell.
You say the words, perform the ceremony and then you get …
a result. Magic, in a way. Except here you say your vows and then you’re connected …
and the two of you can share things you shouldn’t be able to share.
’ I think of my cousin Tristan and his wife Isadora, who as mortal enemies had quite the rough start.
‘That is, if you’re in tune with each other – and trust each other.
Then it’s automatic.’ Once again, she has a confused look. But she motions for me to go on.
‘If anyone marries a descendant of a founding family, then they can share memories. Share injuries. Carry each other’s pain.’ Share wonders and senses. I blow out a breath. Maybe I’ll save that one for later.
‘All my life I’ve seen it happen to the descendants around me and their partners, and although I don’t really understand it, I know it’s a big part of how we’re all still here.
It’s like a gift to help humanity restart – one chance, with one partner – and it’s saved a lot of lives.
Just like how we were saved when we were led to Kingsland. ’
‘And you’re a … descendant?’
‘Yes,’ I say. My heart thuds firmly in my chest. ‘My mum’s family arrived in the first wave. Though because of Rufus, she didn’t want to marry.’
‘Hmm.’ Her fingers press into her chin. ‘Sharing memories would be incredible. I wonder what that’s like.’
‘Me too. I’ve always looked forward to trying that.’
‘What an odd ability.’
‘Not really.’ I grin. ‘Everything about the connection seems to be about making you both a team. And memories give context, understanding, which is key to working things out. Working together. Same reason for sensing each other’s emotions. Or that’s what I’ve always thought.’
‘Wow.’ Her eyes skate over the rock walls as she thinks. ‘And the healing is because …?’
‘Survival. You can share injuries. Pain. A lot of things, both good and bad, so you’re never alone. Maybe that’s the real purpose. But all of it either helps you survive when you’re sick or injured or fosters connection, protecting that bond with your partner.’
Her brows knit. ‘I don’t … Atlas always believed in this stuff – magic. But Dezzy taught us a more … academic approach to the world. So, I’m sorry if I seem unsure. It’s just a lot.’
I never thought I’d have to convince someone it’s true. No one in Kingsland doubts it for a second. ‘Completely understandable.’
‘I’m not saying I don’t believe you, though.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stared at the stars and the vastness of the sky and have just …
I don’t know, felt there had to be something there beyond my understanding.
I’m not sure what the word for it is. Maybe it is magic.
But the kind Atlas wants never felt … real. ’
She breathes in sharply, her body becoming rigid.
‘The Commander can never find out about this connection. Ever. He’s collected things he thinks are mystical since he was a child.
Like that ring he’s always stroking. Or all the supposedly enchanted relics on the walls of the High Command.
Atlas is obsessed with magic, just like he is with power, and if he knew about this …
’ Her lips part as if imagining the worst. ‘He’d never let you go. ’
I give a low laugh. ‘Yeah, I won’t be telling him. But Rufus knows about the connection and Kingsland, so it’s probably only a matter of time before he sells me out.’
She grabs my arm. ‘Then you need to leave.’
‘I will … as soon as I can. But not without a deal.’ My hand covers hers. ‘No coal means no electric fence to protect my people. All our progress ends. So I have to stay until then. The question is: when I leave, do you want to come with me?’ Do you want to give this mad plan a shot?
She blinks. ‘Atlas won’t just let me go.’
‘If we’re married, he can’t claim you. Even if he tried to keep us apart – too bad.
The connection weaves you together. I’ve seen it with my cousin, and it’s powerful.
’ Then I tell her about Tristan and Isadora and how even as enemies they ended up together.
‘We’ll be able to protect each other. Work together by sharing memories.
That means we can plan without even speaking – if we’re near each other.
Whatever Atlas or anyone throws at us, we’ll have the upper hand because of the connection.
We’ll be the ultimate teammates – and harder to kill. ’
I hear myself and stop talking because you don’t rush stuff like this, even with someone you know you can easily fall in love with.
‘I realise this is a lot. It’s also pretty much a forever-kind-of-thing.
So … you should take time to think about it.
I will too. It’s not something we should enter into lightly. ’
The coals grow dim, close to burning out.
‘We should keep the fire going,’ Marian says, standing. ‘There’re twigs and fallen branches along the path below. Enough to last the night.’
My head snaps up. ‘Shouldn’t you get back to the compound?’
She smiles, then looks away shyly. ‘Nobody will notice I’m gone until the morning, and … I have too many questions to leave now.’
That sounds promising. ‘Like?’
‘You mean, aside from all my unasked questions about the connection? I also want to know …’ She sighs. ‘What does your home look like? And who’s in your family? Who’s your best friend? And how do you celebrate your birthdays?’ She laughs. ‘When is your birthday?’
I smile, genuinely charmed. ‘Those are a lot of questions.’
‘And I have a lot more … because, yes, this is wild and rash and impulsive. Did I mention wild? Incredibly rash?’
‘And impulsive,’ I add, a rush building in my chest.
She nods. ‘But if we’re going to seriously consider marriage, then we should get to know each other, don’t you think?’