Chapter 42
Zion
“Just another couple hours,” I say, turning to Blair beside me on the sofa. She’s been quiet—too quiet—ever since our little forced proximity experiment. Which was my idea and fucking stupid. Delmar’s pissed at me too. Though he went along with it.
It’s changed Sterling—he’s pushed Blair even farther away. His grunts are his current highest level of communication, and even those aren’t frequent. We can—or rather I can—turn this trip around. I made a tactical error and . . .
Sterling’s at the controls and Delmar is in the back. Blair’s toes poke out from under a small blanket. She has a learning tablet on her lap, but she’s twisted, watching the darkness drift by us out the window.
“A couple hours until what?” She shifts in her seat, turning back to the center of the room.
“Until we’re in an area close enough to the coast to have more sea life.”
“We’re almost there?”
I nod. “Yes.” The tension of my mistake is like a bubble holding her away from me. We might be sitting side by side on the sofa, but she’s oceans away from me. “I apologize.”
Her lips purse and her eyebrows rise. Does she not know what for, or is it rather that she wants me to say what it’s for?
“It was my idea. I believed that if Sterling had no option but to be close to you, he would understand his true feelings.”
“He knows his feelings?”
“I . . . He’s complicated.” I wince. “That’s not an excuse.”
“No, it’s not. It’s not excusable.” Her fingers pull at the fringe on the edge of the blanket.
It knocks the wind out of me. “No, it's not. And that is why I’m sorry. A relationship can’t be forced.”
Her shoulders slump. “No, it can’t.”
“I’m afraid I’ve ruined everything. I would take it all back if I could.”
She gives a fraction of a nod. “Thank you. Your apology does mean a lot to me.”
There are footsteps from behind the sofa—Delmar. The engines on the voyager are quiet, but I’m confident Blair doesn’t know he’s here.
She reaches over and grabs my hand.
“May I give you a hug?” I ask, and I’ve never been so nervous before.
Her thin arms surround me, and when she crawls over my leg to settle her head on my chest, I’m resolute—I will fix the mess I’ve made.
“Your abs are harder than normal,” she says, then laughs when she pulls out the tablet sandwiched between us.
I take it from her and place it on the sofa table in front of us.
Her hand lands on my stomach. “Actually, there’s not much difference.
Still hard.” She tilts her head up from my chest, and her blue eyes sparkle.
It might be my hopeful imagination, but I think there’s a little less pain in them.
I lift her chin up with my thumb and kiss her. My tongue slides along the seam of her lips, and she opens for me. Warm and savory. My cock hardens.
There’s a thud across the room. “The currents are shifting and we’ll be there sooner than expected,” Sterling says.
We break the kiss and stare at him.
Sterling glares at me.
And I shake it off. I’ve made arrangements to be able to bring the voyager close enough to shore that Blair won’t have to don scuba equipment to exit the voyager. “I’ll message them and let them know we’re coming in early.”
“Ninety minutes.”
I nod at Sterling.
When Sterling disappears into the helm, Delmar plops down next to me. “Are you excited?”
“I am. Are you?” She takes his hand.
“Yes, I'm excited and a little nervous. But I can’t wait to tell my students all about it.”
“You’re going to create a generation of wanderers,” Blair says.
“Maybe. But don’t say that back in the Veiled City. Being a wanderer isn’t considered a good thing,” Delmar says before I can.
“Oh, I didn’t mean . . . Should you not have come?”
“I don’t give a damn about should’s or even have to’s. I’m becoming a male of want to do’s.” Delmar tugs Blair off my lap and onto his own, then takes her lips in his. The three of us melt together as we have numerous times throughout the trip.
Too soon, Sterling’s clearing his throat from the other side of the room. “We’re at the rendezvous point. The male you arranged to meet us is above us.” He nods to me. "Can you get the bags ready for anything you want to take to London? You help Delmar.”
I step into the hallway, out of view. I incline my head to Delmar to head on back to the pod room. Sterling has a tone in his voice that says he's got words he wants to tell Blair. I shouldn't listen in, but I'm going to.
There's a long pause, and then Sterling says, “You need to keep your wits about you, Blair.
Back on land, you're liable to believe that you're safe, but you're not.
I'll be joining you shortly. If I believed that Delmar could anchor the voyager and not have it float away, I would have him do it. But I want a vehicle available to keep you safe and rescue you from here if need be.”
“Understood," Blair says. There's a tone to her voice that says she does believe him. Well, I'm not so sure that any of the other pods looking for a mate would go so far as to chase us all the way over here.
Delmar comes out of the pod room with three small rucksacks.
Sterling’s holding the voyager in position. I climb up and open the hatch above the living room, which has its advantages—there’s less chance that someone will spot us. But then again, it’s raining.
“Hello,” Fenwick says from his boat.
“Hello.” I hold up one of the bags, and he nods. I toss them over to him one at a time. My legs are straddling the side of the ladder.
“Here, take this,” Fenwick says, handing me an umbrella from the small boat he has tied up to the voyager.
“Thanks. Are you ready, Blair?”
“Coming.”
I steady her as she climbs the ladder, and Fenwick helps her onto the boat. It has a small awning.
“I guess what they say about England’s weather isn’t a lie,” she says.
“We’ve had the wettest spring on record. Lots of flooding. I could have gone for a swim in one of my fields if I wanted to,” Fenwick says. He’s from the Permula dome and provides seeds and other things we don’t grow back home.
“I don’t mind. I really like the Veiled City, but I’m looking forward to seeing the sun,” Blair says.
“You might see it at some point.” Fenwick laughs and unlatches his boat as soon as Delmar jumps on board.
Delmar’s eyes are wide. “This isn’t one of ours.” He runs his hands down the sideboard.
“No, human technology. A lot less subject to prying eyes.” Fenwick pushes off of the voyager and starts the motors.
“What about Sterling?” Blair asks.
“I’ll pick him up later after he secures your blue whale of a vessel.” Fenwick points us to shore.
The ride to his dock doesn’t take long. The trudge up the cliff-side track takes longer. Rain sheets down so hard that we give up on the umbrella. The stairs themselves are a little treacherous, and I find myself wanting to pick Blair up and carry her instead, but I know she can do it.
“Are you doing okay?” I ask her.
"I'll get there. I might just take a little longer." She turns and smiles at me.
The top of the bluff emerges, and Blair gives a joyful squeal. To the left, there's a field of grazing sheep clustered under a tree line and, to the right, a large field of grain. We take a well-trodden path between them.
“Hurry, it won't be long. When I left, they were making lamb stew. It should be ready by now. We'll get you nice and warm,” says Fenwick.
I'm watching every step she takes. There's something about the sky that makes me nervous, even if it is overcast and rainy.
When we’re almost to the cottage, the rain slows. Usually, I swim the last bit and go straight into the city. Before we can get into London, we have a three-hour drive. I might've messed up, but having this time with Blair is worth it, especially if that's all I ever get.
Blair
"Oh, your cottage is so charming. It's right out of a storybook: the thatch roof, the thick walls, crisscross windows. I love everything about it.” I turn to Fenwick. He’s got the look of a merman to him. He’s ten, maybe twenty years older than I am. It’s hard to tell.
It’s so weird to be walking on dirt. With grass. I’ve been to the agricultural domes. It was nice to walk around there, but it’s not the same. “The rain makes it even more picturesque.” I’m not even kidding even with rain soaking my hair.
“Wait until you see the inside," Fenwick says.
I smile again. “Sterling will be here soon?” I ask Delmar.
He takes my hand. “Yes, I’m sure he’ll catch up before long.”
By any standards, Delmar and Zion are big males. Imposing and more than capable of protecting me. Not that I need protecting.
Fenwick opens the door. I’m about to step in when Zion steps around me and into the cottage. It’s just the sort of thing Sterling would do, and it puts my mind at ease.
Inside is just what I expected. There’s a fireplace opposite the door, with a cozy fire burning. There’s a well-worn mauve sofa, and the entire place smells of baking bread.
“Have a seat and warm up,” Fenwick says before he disappears down the hall.
He’s back in a few minutes with towels. “My mates are out working. Aubrey’s got bread baking, so she’ll be home soon.
But the stew is ready. I’ve called the car service to see if they could be early. They should be here in thirty minutes.”
“We’ll be leaving as soon as they can get here,” Zion says.
“Understood. Aubrey will be sad to have missed you.” Fenwick takes the wet towels from Zion and Delmar and hangs them on a rack beside the fire.
“Do you have a bathroom I can use?” I ask.
He squints at me. “Oh, yes, the first door on the right.”
It’s a small but cute space with a tiny vase of fresh violets on the windowsill.
I’m bent over admiring them when I see movement out of the corner of my eye.
I lean close to the bubble glass window.
Is it a sheep? No, too tall. Something moves again in the hedgerow.
The rain has slowed but not stopped, and it’s hard to make things out at a distance.
It looks like legs. But there’s definite movement beyond the fence.
I rush out of the room and back into the living room. “Delmar.”
“What is it, Blair?”
“There’s someone outside.”
“Is the driver here already?” Fenwick heads to the front door.
“Not unless he’s skulking around in the bushes.”
“Stay with her,” Delmar says to Zion, and he and Fenwick rush out into the rain.