“Because as useful as this uniform is, the one thing it is seriously lacking is pockets,” I answered with a grunt as I pushed myself forward onto my knees so I was kneeling right in front of her. “And don’t you dare throw anything at me this time if your answer is still the same. Because really, I don’t think I can take any more blood loss in the state I’m in,” I said with a wry grin.
Just remember to breathe. You’ll be fine as long as you remember to breathe.
I looked unflinchingly into Parker’s eyes as I unclasped the necklace. “I know that this is quite possibly the least romantic situation in the world but…I just don’t want to wait any longer.”
“Travis, what are you…” she stopped talking as I placed the ring, and chain in her hand.
“When I was sitting in the Bus it finally hit me that you might not walk out of here. That I might never see you again, and that you might die not knowing how much I love you.”
At that Parker looked away from the ring, and up into my eyes. She was so unbelievably beautiful, even in this moment. Even like this—scared and sweaty and a bit damaged—that it was a bit hard to keep myself talking. When all I really wanted to do—more than anything—was kiss her, and never stop. But I had to go on. Had to get the words out. Words that had been unsaid for far too long.
“You are…everything I ever wanted, and more. Seriously, it frightens me sometimes,” I admitted with a nervous laugh, “that it’s like the gods pulled you out of my soul, and made you real. And the thought of being without you makes it hard to breathe. And I’m more scared now than I have ever been in my entire life. And, well, what I’m trying to say is—” I sucked in a painfully sharp breath. “Parker Kirihara, will you marry me?”
She just looked at me with wide, tear-filled eyes before she looked back at the ring. And after a few deep breaths she shook her head, and my heart felt like someone was trying to strangle it.
After a few painfully silent moments I finally managed to remember to breathe. “Can I…can I ask why?” I choked out.
Parker swallowed, and a small sob escaped her lips. “Because one day, I’m going to go on a mission and not come home and…and I couldn’t do that to you. You’ve lost so much, and—” Parker answered, her voice getting lost in uncontrollable sobs.
The truth of Parker’s fear hit me hard in the chest.
“If you lose her, it will destroy you, sure as anything.”
It was true—gods, I would have been stupid to deny it. But I had already spent too much of my life wallowing in loss, and I was done with it. Done with the debilitating fear of losing someone I couldn’t live without. Done with the anxiety of my fate—my happiness—being out of my control. Just done.
“Parker Kirihara,” I said through clenched teeth, “I don’t give a flying fuck about what might happen someday in the future. I care about right now, today, this moment. I care about you, and me, and this one here,” I said as I placed my hand on her belly. “And if the gods want to rip us apart, there really isn’t a damn thing I can do to stop them. But I know this, I’m done with being afraid.”
“But you might lose me,” Parker countered mournfully, her bottom lip quivering as she looked down at my hand.
“I know that, trust me, I do,” I said a little more gently as I cupped her cheek in my palm, and raised her head so she was looking at me. My thumb brushing her lips, my other hand still resting on her belly. “But seriously, Parker, I’ve spent a lifetime waiting for you. Do you really think I’d just walk away because of a ‘maybe’?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “I’m way too stubborn to do that, and you know it.”
A small bark of a laugh escaped Parker’s lips. It was really almost more of a sob than a laugh, but it was enough.
I leaned in a little closer so her face filled my entire range of vision. “I love you, Parker. You’re my One. And the universe can try its hardest to beat me down, but I swear to the gods, I will never stop loving you.
“We only get one shot at this life, and I want to spend mine with you. So the million dollar question is, do you want to spend yours with me?” I asked as I searched her eyes for any hint of an answer, breathing heavy. My heart beating so loudly that it was almost all I could hear.
“Yes,” she breathed out softly.
“Did you just say yes?” I asked stupidly, jerking my head back.
“Yes.”
“Yes, as in yes, you’ll marry me?” I asked again, convinced that the blood loss was already getting to me.
Parker rolled her eyes and grabbed my kimono top, dragging me roughly toward her until our lips met. And I wrapped my arms around her as tightly as I dared, pouring every bit of my soul into the kiss.
I never wanted to let her go ever again. She loved me. She loved me, and she had said yes. I didn’t think I had ever been this stupidly happy in my life. I—
Someone slammed hard into the door, and I ripped my lips away from Parker’s. As the filing cabinet toppled over onto the floor, my eyes darted to the TranqGuns, but they were much too far away. Even if I dove I would never make it there in time. So I took Parker in my arms, and kissed her for what was probably going to be our last moments in this life.
I love you.
I expected pain, or a spreading numbing darkness. Or anything, really. But not nothing. As the moments slipped by, someone finally cleared their throat.
I opened one eye, turning my head just slightly enough to see the door. Three people stood in the doorway. Kale, who was breathing heavily and had apparently just busted the door open with his shoulder. Isha, who had a bloody lip, and a rip in the left arm of her kimono top. And Kiskei, who stood in the center of the doorway, his arms folded across his chest. His expression somewhere between relieved and pissed. And it seemed to be teetering more toward pissed.
“Well, I see that you two have been keeping busy,” Isha said with a snort as she leaned around Kiskei.
Kiskei narrowed his eyes at me. “Explain.”
Oh fuck it. Now’s as good a time as any.
“I just asked your daughter to marry me,” I admitted unapologetically. “And…well…we’re going to have a baby.”
I’m not sure who’s mouth dropped open farther, Isha’s, Kale’s, or Kiskei’s as the words left my mouth.
“Surprise,” I said with jazz hands.
A Thousand Stars
Tuesday, January 1st
NUALLA
It was three a.m. when we got the call. That they had rescued Patrick and Nikki. That they were in the ICU.
Skye and I ran down the hall, our bare feet slapping against the linoleum of the hospital floor, high heels in hand. In that moment, I couldn’t have cared less what people thought of me as I ran past them. All I cared about was getting to the ICU.
Please be okay, I prayed, oh gods, let them be okay.
“No running in the—” a nurse started but then stopped abruptly when she realized who we were. We didn’t slow down even a bit.
Me and Skye rounded the corner, and skidded into the ICU wing of the hospital. My eyes darted around until I saw Kira and a dark-haired guy standing in front of the glass wall of an ICU room. At first I thought it might be Damian, but then I realized this guy’s hair was much too long. That, and the fact that he was dressed in a white sherwani coat.
Beside me, Skye sucked in a sharp breath of air just before her high-heels clattered against the floor. At the sound, both Kira and the guy turned. And there was something familiar about his face, and his sapphire-blue eyes. Like I had seen a picture of someone like him somewhere before.
“Nikkollas?” Skye asked in an uneven voice. And he just stared back at her as if he wasn’t sure that she was real.
Skye took a step toward him slowly, and then another as if she was a moth being drawn toward a burning flame.
“Skye
,” he breathed out and then a heartbreakingly beautiful smile spread across his face.
He took a few steps forward to meet her in the middle, holding his arms out wide. And Skye promptly punched him in the gut.
“What was that for?” he winced as he doubled over.
“For making me think you were dead for nineteen years!” Skye answered indignantly.
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Nikkollas said defensively as he threw up a hand to catch her next strike.
“That doesn’t make it all better, Nikk!” Skye shouted at him.
Nikk held her fist in his hand as he looked down at her. “I swear by She, Most Brightest in the Sky, that I will spend every day for the rest of my life making amends for that. But the real question, Skye Galathea, is if there is anything I could ever do to get you to forgive me?”
“Varris,” Skye corrected.
“What?” Nikk asked in confusion as he released her fist.
“My last name has been Varris for nineteen years,” Skye informed him as she folded her arms across her chest.
Nikkollas looked as if someone had struck him. “What?” Skye just continued to look at him smugly until his lips spread into a devilish grin. “That’s my girl,” he said, the grin growing larger.
Nikk wrapped his arms around Skye, pulling her close. “I’m going to kiss you now, Skye Varrook,” he informed her as he leaned down so that their noses nearly touched.
“I told you, it’s Varris.”
“It won’t be for long,” Nikk countered as his lips quirked up to one side.
“Oh, really?” Skye replied dubiously.
“Yep.”
“And how do you figure that, Nikk?” Skye asked snarkily.
“Because this is me—” Nikk said before he pressed his lips to hers. “—asking you—” He kissed Skye again. “—to marry me.” And this time when he kissed her, he didn’t stop.
A bright red blush spread across Kira’s cheeks, and she averted her eyes quickly. She turned stiffly away from them and the ICU room and started down the corridor. A guy met her at the intersection. A guy in light blue scrubs with black, wavy, chin-length hair. A guy that was about six inches taller than her. A guy with a warm Asian complexion.
Kira said something to him and he turned toward me, but even before he did, I knew it was going to be him.
Patrick stared at me and I back at him. The nurses, and doctors and patients, between us in the corridors fell away so that they were nothing but moving colors blocking my view of him. Because there was nothing—nothing in the world—except his eyes. As black-blue as the night.
Patrick started walking slowly toward me and I to him, but by the end we were running.
I dropped my high-heels and flung my arms around him. And he slid his hands across the fabric of my dress until his arms wouldn’t go any farther and then he pulled me to his chest.
“I folded a thousand stars for you,” I said stupidly, my voice shaking so badly that the words were nearly unintelligible.
“What?” Patrick said in confusion, pulling away to look at me. And as he did my fingers brushed the base of his skull. And my heart shuddered to a halt. The back of his head—right where the chip had been before—was shaved bare.
Patrick looked down into my worried, fearful eyes, and brought his right hand up to cup my face. “Don’t worry. It’s okay, I’m still me, I promise.” And then he pressed his lips to mine. And there was nothing held back. It was like I had been drowning forever, and now finally, I could breathe again. Like a part of my heart—my soul—had been missing and now it was back. Like I had been on a long journey, and now I was finally…home.
Eventually, Patrick pulled away just far enough that he could see my face. “You’re crying,” he said, stating the obvious.
“I was so afraid you’d come back and that you wouldn’t be you, and that you’d forget who I was and—” My voice cut off as I had to stop and suck in more air.
Patrick smoothed away my tears with his fingers as he looked into my eyes. “Nualla, you’re the other half of my soul. I could never forget you. And trust me, they tried.”
To the Stars
Epilogue
Saturday March 2nd
PATRICK
“Hey, do you have the keys?” Travis asked me as he leaned between me and Nualla. His Medal of Valor swinging forward like a pendulum.
“If you mean your car keys, then yes, I have those, and no, you can’t have them. Because I’m pretty sure you’re drunk,” I replied before I took a sip of my kekkoshi sadara cider.
“I am not drunk,” Travis stated as he dropped down into the chair next to me, nearly missing it entirely. The cider in his glass almost sloshing out. He gripped the end of the table with his free hand, and looked at us with a guilty grin. “Okay, maybe just a little,” he admitted, holding two fingers an inch or so apart.
I arched an eyebrow at him. “Why do I get the feeling me and Shawn are going to have to carry your ass out of here?”
“Hey! This is so not my fault,” Travis said as he situated himself more firmly in the chair. “Parker’s pregnant, so I have to drink that whole damn jug of kekkoshi sadara myself.”
“I do not envy you the massive hangover you’re going to have tomorrow,” Nualla said with a playful snort.
“Well, you don’t have to drink it all,” I suggested.
“Yes I do. I do not want that kind of bad luck. I’ve had enough bad luck in my life,” Travis countered as he pointed a finger at me.
“Hey,” I said with a shrug. “I think your life’s turned out pretty okay.” I looked across a group of chatting wedding guests to where Parker was standing with Skye, Loraly, and Isha, and practically glowing with happiness.
Travis followed my gaze, and then broke into a huge grin. “Isn’t she gorgeous? You can’t even tell she’s pregnant in that dress,” he said as he gestured to her. And you really couldn’t. The draping fabric of the Grecian-style wedding dress perfectly obscured Parker’s belly.
“You’re welcome,” Nualla said smugly as she shined her nails on her chest.
Travis grinned at her before he turned back to me. “So, about the keys…”
“There is no way in hell I am giving you these car keys, Travis,” I replied before I took a sip of my cider.
“No, not my car keys. I meant the ones for my new place,” Travis countered with a huff.
“Oh, those keys,” I said as I set my glass down, and pulled a set of shiny new house keys from the pocket of my haori.
“Yes, ‘those keys,’” Travis repeated as he took the keys from me.
“What new place?” Nualla asked before she took a sip of her cider. Then she nearly spit it back out. “Wait, you’re actually moving out of Embassy housing?”
“Well yeah, I needed a place with at least three bedrooms,” Travis answered, holding up four fingers instead of three.
“Why three?” Nualla asked in confusion and then her eyes grew large. “Wait, is Parker having twins?”
Travis’ face broke into a huge, proud grin. “Yep, two girls,” he answered as he spun the keyring on his finger. “But the third bedroom isn’t for the girls, it’s for Chan-rin,” he said as he slipped the keys into the pocket of his haori.
Nualla’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“Travis and Parker are kinda adopting Chan-rin,” I said, turning to her.
“Alex approved the paperwork yesterday,” Travis added as he swirled the cider around in his glass.
“Are you sure you’re going to be able to handle a house full of girls?” Nualla asked dubiously.
“How hard could it be,” he answered with a shrug before downing the rest of his glass of cider.
Nualla gave him the most oh-you-are-so-fucked look that I had ever see
n her give him, and I burst out laughing. “Can I record you saying that to play back when you’re knee-deep in frilly dresses and ponies?” I asked, still laughing.
Travis rolled his eyes at me, and launched himself onto his feet. He returned a minute or so later with the wedding jug of kekkoshi sadara.
As he poured himself another full glass, Nualla asked, “So where are you moving, anyways?”
“Well there was this place on Pacific Avenue that was for sale,” Travis answered before leaning back in his chair, and putting the glass to his lips.
Nualla furrowed her brow in confusion. “The only place on Pacific Avenue that was for sale was the one next door to—”
He grinned mischievously at her over the rim of his glass.
“You bought the place next door?!” Nualla asked incredulously.
“Yep. Looks like me and Parker are your new neighbors.”
Nualla just gaped at him in disbelief. “You are unbelievable,” she said, shaking her head.
Travis’ lips quirked up to the side. “I promise we’ll try to keep it down when we’re—” he cut off abruptly, and sat up very straight.
I looked over my shoulder where Kiskei had apparently just come up to stand right behind us.
“While I appreciate your desire to single-handedly replenish the ranks, I think it would be best to wait a bit, don’t you?” he asked Travis as he folded his arms across his chest. Clearly highly amused at how nervous he made his new son-in-law.
Travis coughed, his face flushing unbelievably red. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
I burst out laughing, and Kiskei’s grin quirked up even farther to one side.
Travis ran his hand back through his hair, and avoided looking at any of us. “Uh…so…did you need anything?”
The Other Side of Truth (The Marked Ones Trilogy Book 3) Page 40
