Dylan handed it to her. She gave a regretful look at the screen and then closed it off and slid the reader into her back pocket.
“What else have you read?” Milo asked.
“Brave New World. I enjoyed it. And Harry Potter. I want to meet a wizard.”
“It’s not true, Destiny. Wizards don’t really exist.”
Dylan sniggered again. Milo ignored him.
“I know. I think I understand what stories are better now. Not truth, but also not lies. I think there is some small truth in all of them. Anyway, I also read A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, which was interesting. And The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats.”
“You read fast,” Milo said.
“Do I?”
“It would take Dylan a year to read that many words,” Milo said, “and he still wouldn’t understand half of them.”
She turned to look at Dylan. “Really?”
“A slight exaggeration. But you definitely read faster than the average human. So what did you think about them?”
She frowned, then nibbled on her lower lip. A new habit? “I don’t know. It’s too…much. Too much information. I need to think about it. Get it straight in my mind. It’s all jumbling up and…” She gave a small shrug. “It’s different than what I thought the world was. Different from what Dr. Yang told me.” She gave another shrug. “Why didn’t she tell me the truth? There’s so much more than…”
“Duty?”
“I don’t know. I need to think. Read some more. Maybe there isn’t more in the end. Maybe duty is the same as honor and that’s what’s important.”
“I could not love thee, dear, so much, Lov’d I not Honour more,” Dylan murmured.
“What’s that?”
“A poem by Robert Lovelace,” Milo replied.
“I don’t understand love yet. But I will. The answer is there.”
“Well, don’t expect to find it in Fifty Shades of Grey.”
She studied him. “I think you should kiss me again. I think desire and love are connected and I need to understand.”
“A word of warning,” Dylan said. “I suspect our friend Milo here might be okay with the desire part, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t do love. You’d be better off with me if you’re wanting to experiment. Don’t you want to kiss me, Destiny?”
She looked at him, her head cocked on one side, a slightly puzzled smile on her lips. “No.”
Milo chuckled but decided that was plenty of talk about love and desire. He was supposed to be keeping his distance. “We’ve brought some food,” he said to change the subject. “Let’s eat.”
She sank to the ground and leaned against the boulder. Milo sat across from her, and Dylan stayed on his feet, keeping watch though Milo thought they were safe right then. He rummaged in his backpack and brought out some containers of food. Vegetable curry and bread. And donuts.
She took a spoonful of curry and closed her eyes, concentrating on the taste he guessed. “This is good.” Opening her eyes, she smiled at him. “So what have you two been up to?”
There was no reason not to tell her. She already knew they were looking into what Kinross was planning. “Wasting our time trying to hack into Luther Kinross’s computer system,” he said.
“And failing,” Dylan added.
“Why do you need to get into his computer system?”
“We just want to know what his plans are,” Milo replied. “And how he intends to implement those plans. Right now, he’s not sharing much of anything.”
“Like Dr. Yang not sharing my role,” Destiny said, a small frown between her brows. “Maybe you’ll know when the time is right.”
“And who decides that?” Dylan snapped. “I’m betting on Luther fucking Kinross. But who put him in charge?”
Destiny’s frown deepened. “I don’t know.”
“Me neither. But this is my life, and no asshole, self-imposed dictator is going to tell me how to live it.”
Destiny finished the curry and then examined the donuts. They had pink icing and sprinkles. “So pretty.” She took a bite and her tongue swiped over her lips and heat shot to Milo’s groin. He wanted to kiss her again and a hell of a lot more. And teach her what desire was. Dylan was right—he didn’t do love.
Destiny popped the last of the donut in her mouth, wiped her hands down her pants, then glanced between him and Dylan. “Would you like me to help? I’m good with computers.”
“Why not? You can’t be worse than the two of us.” Milo reached into his pack and pulled out a tablet computer. He swiped it on and then handed it to her. She stared at