my neck. He wrapped his arms tightly around my shoulders, pulling me so close my feet lifted off the ground. We stayed there as the music swelled around us. Our bodies fitted together perfectly, as though we were never meant to be apart.
eighteen
“I WAS GETTING WORRIED,” HE SAID, WHEN HE FINALLY SET ME down. He gently pulled strands of hair away from my wet lips. “I thought I’d been stupid to give you that note, to tell you to come.” He held my face between his hands, tilting my chin up so he could see beneath my cap. “You should know better than to keep a boy waiting,” he laughed. “It was torture.”
“I’m here now.” I held onto his wrists and pressed down, feeling the bones just beneath the surface of his skin. He smiled, his eyes wet. “I’m really here.”
He buried his face into my neck, his lips against my skin. “I missed you so much.” His arms tightened around me. I stroked the back of his head. There was something about the way he held me—clinging to my sides, squeezing the breath from my body—that startled me.
“I’m okay,” I said softly, trying to reassure him. His breathing slowed. “We’re here, together. We’re okay,” I repeated.
He looked at me, running his finger over my cheekbones and down the bridge of my nose. Then he pressed his lips to mine, letting them rest there for a moment. I savored the familiar scent of his skin, his stubble against my cheek, his hands in my hair. I clutched his sides, wishing we could stay like this always, the moon forever in the sky, the earth paused on its axis.
After a long while we slid into the booth where Caleb had been waiting. The woman in the sequined dress was still singing, the melody slow and sweet as she described a midnight train to Georgia. A few men studied us from the bar as they swigged tiny glasses of black liquid. The candlelight danced on our faces. Caleb kept hold of my hand. “Where are we?” I asked, adjusting my cap so it hid my eyes.
“It’s a speakeasy,” Caleb said. “They serve their own alcohol. People come here to drink, smoke, go out after curfew—all the things the King has outlawed in the City.”
I brought my hand to my face, afraid someone would recognize me from the parade. “Is it safe? Do they know who you are?”
“Everyone here is guilty of something.” He lowered his voice, pointing to a man in the far corner playing cards. A gold watch was set on the table in front of him, along with some silver rings. “Gambling, alcohol consumption, smoking, exchanging goods ‘off record,’ they call it. Goods that aren’t bought with the government-issued credit cards are supposed to be traded through the newspaper. You could be sent to jail just for coming in here.” He picked up the napkin he’d been playing with. It was twisted into a small white rose. “Well, maybe you wouldn’t get arrested, Genevieve.” He smiled, tucking it behind my ear.
I put my hand on his right leg, where he had been stabbed. I could feel the scar through his thin pants, the line that slanted inward, toward his opposite knee. “What happened to you?” I finally asked. “All that time before you came here. I thought of you every day. I shouldn’t have let you leave. I was so scared …”
“You did the right thing—we both did.” Caleb inched closer and wrapped his arm around me, massaging the aches from my neck. “It’s strange, but I always knew you’d come back to me. The how and when of it wasn’t clear, but I knew.”
“I hoped,” I said, keeping my hand on his leg.
Caleb shook his head and smiled. “Could any day have been more perfect than today?” He kissed me once, then twice, his lips settling by the hollow of my ear. “I woke up and the City was talking about the new Princess, the King’s daughter who’d returned from the Schools. I ran all the way from the Outlands to the City center like a complete idiot. Everyone thought I was just another one of your fans. I kept thinking, she’s come back to me.”
I pulled myself closer to him. “Tell me what happened when you left Califia. I need to know everything.”
Caleb squeezed my hand. “I stayed in San Francisco, in a house just over the bridge. It was hard for me to walk, even with the