Nova
Minerva clears the room.
One look. Linda goes, Brent goes, Minerva herself goes, and the door closes behind them.
Just us.
My guys settle without discussing it — Rane close, knee against mine, Trey on my other side.
It’s hard to focus. There’s been so much.
Vaelor at the counter trying to keep his hands busy. Locke in the chair across from me. Kyron against the wall. Beckett near the window, not quite looking at me.
I look at my hands.
What if they’re here?
Not Celeste and Hunter. My real parents.
The ones I don’t have names for, faces for, anything for except the fact that I exist and someone made that happen. What if they’re somewhere in Nightmare Order right now? What if I’m closer than I’ve ever been and I’m about to walk away from it.
I look up.
I don’t want to.
“So what do we do?”
Nobody jumps in.
That’s not like them.
Locke is watching me.
“If we stay,” I say, “we’re still inside it. Still a part of it.” I shrug. “Laith is here now, but for how long? And that means the experiment continues.”
I take a breath because I know.
“If we stay, then we did all of this for nothing.”
Locke’s mouth tilts up.
“And if we go,” Trey says. “We choose it.”
“We remove ourselves completely,” Kyron says. “That’s the difference.”
I nod.
“So what’s the problem?” Locke says.
I look at my hands.
What if they’re here.
“What if I’m leaving something behind,” I say. “Not the Hollow. Something else. What if there are answers here — about where I actually came from — that aren’t anywhere else? And I walk away from them.”
Nothing.
Nobody says anything.
I look down at my hands again.
They’re just looking at me and I know. I know what the answer is.
“I love you.”
It comes out so quiet.
“I love you.”
I try again and finally look at them.
They’re all smiling. Every single one of them.
“We wondered when you were going to figure it out, Beautiful,” Rane says, grinning.
“Shut up,” I say.
He grins wider.
“I’m serious, Rane.”
“I know you are.”
“I will end you.”
“You love me.”
I open my mouth. Close it. Look at the ceiling.
Trey makes a sound beside me that he’s trying very hard to keep inside his chest.
“Trey…”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Your face said something.”
Locke is looking at me from across the table. Smirking.
“I hate all of you,” I say.
“No you don’t,” Rane says.
“Profoundly. Deeply. With my whole—”
“Nova.” Trey says quietly.
I stop.
He’s looking at me. His face serious.
“I love you too,” he says.
My breath catches.
Rane’s hand finds mine. His thumb moves.
Vaelor turns from the counter. “You already know I love you, Sweetheart.”
I nod, blinking back tears.
“I made you a bed,” Locke says, flat.
The laugh bubbles out of me before I can stop it.
I shake my head, the smile stuck on my face.
Kyron comes up, drops onto one knee in front of me.
“I was gone for you the moment I saw you walking down that path, Nova,” he says, and I watch him breathe deep. “Even when I thought… Maybe more. There’s no one else.”
I lean forward and press my mouth to his. His hand cups my jaw, and I don’t want to pull back but I do anyway.
He stops me. I stare into those blue eyes.
“He needs to know. From you,” he whispers and stands.
Beckett still hasn’t moved from the window.
I get up and walk over. His arms come around me as he pulls me down onto his lap.
“You know I’m yours, right?”
“I know.”
He leans forward, kisses my nose.
“Even when you’re covered in sawdust.”
The way he looks at me makes my throat close.
“I knew,” I say. My voice cracks right down the middle of it. “I’ve known. I just—” I stop. “I’ve loved all of you since before I had words for it. Since before I understood what was happening to me.” I press the back of my hand to my mouth. “I know.”
Then they’re all there.
Rane pulls me up, his arms come around me and I go. Locke’s hand at the back of my neck. Trey’s forehead against my temple. Vaelor’s palm between my shoulders, warm and steady. Kyron’s hand over mine.
Beckett puts his hand on my ass.
“This is mine now,” he murmurs.
This time I hold back the giggle.
I take a breath and close my eyes.
There might be people in Nightmare Order who have my face.
But there are six people in this room who chose me anyway.
I breathe out.
“We go,” I say. Into Rane’s shoulder. Quiet.
Locke’s hand tightens at my neck.
I pull back. Look at all of them.
Wipe my face with the back of my hand.
“We should go tell Linda,” I say.
Rane’s grin comes back. Enormous and immediate.
“Yeah,” he says.
“We should.”