Anzil (Gladiators of Krix #2) - Miranda Martin Page 0,29
sun in the sky. I touch her cheek and trace the line of her jaw, then boldly I run my finger over her soft, lush lips.
“Tell me,” I demand. When she darts her eyes at me then away, I know I’m pushing too hard. “Please.”
She chews her lip then her head drops down.
“Yeah,” she says. “It’s not untrue.”
“What’s not?” I ask.
“The bad ops,” she says. “I have been on a couple that went wrong.”
“On your ship? What ops did you do? I assumed it was not dangerous; did they not control the environment?”
“I don’t think you grasp how big that ship was,” she snorts. “Massive. Like a small planet in its own right.”
“That is… incredible,” I say.
“Yeah,” she agrees. “That’s the thing, though, it was designed so that you forget you’re on a ship. I always wondered about that, you know?”
“How come?”
“Because my generation never knew anything different,” she shakes her head. “Why hide it? We would never know the difference. Or we shouldn’t have, anyway.”
“Why did they?” I ask.
“I think it was mostly for the first generation,” she says. “Those who boarded from our home planet. To keep them sane.”
“Makes sense,” I say.
“Yeah. Probably. The entire ship was like a time capsule hurtling through space. It was huge, and no matter how carefully you design an environment and a societal structure, there is always going to be some who are downtrodden. Or they think they are. The lower decks is where those folks end up.
“My unit was sent on an op—break up a crowd. Simple op, go in, look scary, they all go home, and we go home.”
“Except that isn’t what happened,” I say.
“No, that isn’t what happened,” she says. “Somehow one of them figured out how to build a bomb. Can you believe it? A bomb! On a ship hurtling through space, and this person builds a bomb.”
“It doesn’t sound like a good idea,” I say.
“Believe me, it’s not,” she snorts. “It went off, and we were trapped. So many people were injured. He hurt more of his side than ours for sure, but one of my friends was trapped under the debris and…” she trails off, silent for a long moment before taking a deep breath. “He didn’t make it.”
“I am sorry,” I say, holding my arms out in an open invitation. “Did you know him well?”
“See, that’s the thing,” she says. “I didn’t. I mean I knew him, but we weren’t best buds or anything. We trained together. We worked together, that was it. But holding his head in my lap while he was trapped… Well, I guess I’m not over it.”
Tears glisten in her eyes, and she quietly sobs as she shakes her head. Her beautiful curls bounce, covering her face. She rubs her face and pushes her hair back then takes a deep breath.
“I understand,” I say.
I do, too. Her pain calls up memories of home that filter through my thoughts, but I push them aside. This isn’t my time; it’s hers. Then it hits me. Like the sun crowning the horizon, its first, dazzling rays piercing eyes, but this pierces my heart. My chest constricts so tight I can’t get a breath.
I love her.
This. This is what love is. She takes my breath away. Makes my heart skip. I’ve known since I met her she is more than some tumble. She’s not a conquest to bed and send on her way, but now…
“You do, don’t you?” she whispers, cupping my face with her hand.
Her touch is so soft it’s as if a cloud rests on my face. Her eyes glisten, but they also burn with intensity. Her full lips are barely parted, showing her fine white teeth behind them. My cheek warms. I lean into her touch, and she moves closer.
We kiss. It’s unlike any other kiss I’ve experienced. Electric doesn’t do it justice. This is the warm breeze when you’re cold. Food after days of starvation. The first gasp of desperately needed air.
When we part, we stare into each other’s eyes, but neither of us speak. Her hand is on my face, and I touch hers. She shivers, so I grab the blankets and pull them up and over her shoulders.
“We should sleep,” I say, forcing the words past the lump in my throat.
She opens her mouth as if to say something, then closes it and nods. “Right.”
She shifts around on the bed, curling up into a ball. I lie down beside her and wrap my arm over her middle. I lay