“Penthos,” she said. She looked up at him sharply. “That’s the planet that you said that the rest of your crew went to. I hadn’t even made the connection.” She looked back at the book. “Wow,” she said softly. “That’s eerie. Can you imagine? Going to some desolate old planet that’s been abandoned for more than a hundred years and knowing that some of the last people who ever set foot there were never seen again?”
She shuddered slightly, but Jonah didn’t say anything. His mouth felt dry and his throat was tightening. Words were trying to force themselves up, but he wouldn’t let them escape. He couldn’t. He had already gotten himself so deep, and he couldn’t think of anything that he could possibly say that would bring him out of it.
“I don’t think that this really has anything to do with what we’re trying to do,” Jonah said. “She probably just gave it to you because the team was from the University where you work.”
He tried to reach for the book, hoping that he would be able to get it away from her and prevent her from reading it. At least until he was able to figure out a way that he could tell her the truth.
“I’ve worked there for a long time, and I went to school there,” Aubrey said, resisting him taking the book from her hands. “Why would she wait until now to give it to me?”
She turned the next page and Jonah heard a sharp intake of breath. He looked down at the page and saw pictures of the crew splashed across it. His own face was smiling up from the center row, his eyes filled with the anticipation and honor of the mission ahead of him. He remembered when that picture was taken. They were told that these images of them would be used by the media when they came back to Earth successful and triumphant. They had believed in the leader that had arranged the mission and planned the pictures. Each of them envisioned the welcome that they would receive when they got back and it was finally revealed that they had freed a prison colony and brought greater peace to the Universe.
Now the pictures were used to memorialize them.
He could feel Aubrey shaking beside him and hear her short, shallow breaths. Her eyes were locked on the picture and even when he said her name, she didn’t look away from it.
“I remember these pictures,” she said. “They were in my textbooks when I was in college. I’ve seen this face a hundred times before, but I didn’t recognize it. I didn’t recognize you.”
“Aubrey,” Jonah said.
Aubrey shook her head and stood up sharply. Not looking back at him, she ran from the bedroom, taking the book with her. Jonah sat on the window seat for a few still moments. He felt like he was in shock. In one moment, everything was going well and he was even starting to open his mind to the life that he might be able to have, and in the next, everything shattered. He knew now that it was just a matter of time before everything that he had been working so hard for fell apart. He had to work faster and make the most of whatever time he had left before Aubrey revealed them and the secrecy that had protected the crew and all of the work that he had been doing would be gone.
Jonah picked up two bags and filled them with as much as he could get into them, and slipped out of the room and down the stairs into the entryway. When he was sure that it was quiet and still, he ran across it and out of the front door, not stopping until he was back up the long driveway and on the main road again. He knew that Mordecai, Gannon, and the women would be fine. They were in good hands and Nana was going to make sure that they got the continued medical treatment that they needed. She would ensure that they figured out what they were supposed to do next.
Though it had seemed like they had been driving for hours the night that they escaped from the basement and came here to Nana’s house, over the time that they had been staying there Jonah realized that it was nowhere near as far as he had estimated, no more than ten miles. Undaunted by the distance after the years that he had spent trekking Uoria, Jonah tightened the straps on his bags and started walking back toward the University and what he hoped was still safety that he could maintain in the basement.
Chapter Twelve
“Why did you give me this?”
Nana looked up from the needlepoint that she held in her lap. Her eyes fell on the book and she looked at it as though she didn’t remember giving it to Aubrey.
“What, Honey?”
“This. Why did you give me this?” Aubrey demanded again, holding the blue book out for her grandmother to see.
“I told you. I thought that you would find it interesting.” Nana made a few more stitches in the elaborate picture that she was making before speaking again. “Did you?”
“Did I find it interesting?” Aubrey asked incredulously. “Are you serious?” Nana looked up at her again with an expression that balanced between surprise and concern, and Aubrey felt the anger that had built up inside her slip away into a distant, hollow feeling. “You knew, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Nana said.
“For how long?”
“From the moment I saw him,” Nana admitted.
“How?”
“That book was my mother’s most prized possession. She protected it like nothing else for her entire life. I spent so many evenings sitting with her reading and looking through the pictures.”
“Why was it so important to her?” Aubrey asked.
“I didn’t know. I always had the feeling that it was something much more precious than just a book, but when we looked at it, she didn’t say anything. We just read it and looked at the pictures. Sometimes she would run her fingers along one of the pictures. I knew that it meant something, but I didn’t ask.”
Aubrey felt her interest perk even higher.
“One of the pictures?” she asked. “Which one?”
Nana held her hand out for the book and Aubrey gave it to her. She sat on her knees beside Nana’s chair and watched as her grandmother opened the book to the page of pictures. Her heart clenched again at the sight of Jonah’s younger, less care-worn face smiling up at her. Nana pointed to another picture on the page and Aubrey felt like she was looking back in time, seeing her great-grandmother’s hand touch that face.
“Thank you, Nana,” she said, taking the book from her lap again.
Aubrey stood and headed back up to the bedroom. She was already speaking when she walked through the door, but her words cut off abruptly when she saw that the window seat was empty. She walked out onto the balcony to see if Jonah had gone back outside, but he wasn’t there. Stepping back into the bedroom, her eyes scanned the space and she realized that his bags were gone. Panic rose in her belly. He was gone. He had left. She rushed out of the room and back down the stairs.
“Nana, I have to go,” she called toward the study where she had left her grandmother.
Aubrey ran to the front door, pausing only long enough to grab her car keys from the small silver bowl on the table beside it. Her feet barely touched the ground as she ran to her car and jumped inside. This couldn’t be it. It couldn’t be over yet. She had to understand. Her tires squealed as she pulled away from the house and drove down the driveway as fast as she could while safely following the curves of the road. There was only one place where Jonah would go, and she couldn’t let him just walk into another ambush alone.
Chapter Thirteen
Jonah’s steps had fallen into a rhythm. The sound of his feet crunching on the gravel beneath his boots filled the quiet around him and kept him company as he continued his way toward the University. The only light around him was the moon filtering through the trees, but he found the darkness soothing, reminding him of the walks that he would take along the river on Uoria. Again, there was a part of him longing for the planet and the settlement that they had built there. It had been his home for so long and it held all that was familiar to him.
Suddenly brighter lights washed over the ground in front of him and Jonah could hear the roar of an engine approaching from behind. He took a few more steps off of the edge of the road to allow the vehicle more space, but it sidled up beside him and p
aused. Squinting through the spots in his eyes that came from the bright headlights, he realized that it was Aubrey’s car. The window rolled down and as his vision cleared and his eyes got more accustomed to the light, he could see her leaning out toward him.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.
“I’m going back to the basement of the laboratory building,” he said. “I’m going to stay there for the rest of my time on Earth.”
“The rest of your time on Earth?” Aubrey asked.
Jonah thought that he heard a touch of sadness in the question, but he didn’t want to allow his mind to entertain that idea. He nodded, turning back to look down the dark expanse of road in front of him rather than continuing to look at her. It made his heart ache and he couldn’t stand another moment of it.
“I’m going back to Uoria,” he said. “As soon as I resolve everything here, I’m going back. We have a settlement there.”
“You can’t go back to the basement,” Aubrey said. “The Valdicians know that you were there. They’re going to be watching the laboratory building. There’s nothing that they can do to me while I’m at work, but they won’t hesitate if they see you there at night. Especially alone.”
“It’s my only option,” he said. “I need to be close to the medical ward. There’s more there for me to figure out.”
“Get in the car,” Aubrey said.
Jonah hesitated, but when she demanded he get in again, he complied, walking through the bright beams at the front to slide into the seat beside her.
“Alright,” he said when he had shut the door.
“I want to know what’s going on,” she said. “The truth this time.”
Jonah laid his head back against the headrest. His time was up. He couldn’t keep up with the secrets any longer.
“You might as well turn the car off,” he said.
Aubrey did as he said without question and Jonah let out a long breath. He needed a few more seconds just to come up with the right words to get started. Finally, he opened his mouth and the words started to tumble out. He told her everything that he could think of, every detail that he could remember. Jonah didn’t know how long he talked, but by the time that he finished and let the interior of the car fall silent, the first glimmers of color from the earliest morning light were appearing around the bottoms of the trees.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Aubrey finally asked.
Her voice was powdery, as if she felt the same level of exhaustion that he was feeling now that he had drained everything out of himself with the story.
“I didn’t know how to,” he said. “It’s not something that I could really put into words.”
“You just did.”
Jonah nodded.
“I know.”
“Did you not tell me because you had a wife that you left behind?”
Jonah’s heart sank at the trembling in her voice and he turned his head to look at her.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I didn’t have a wife. I never had a wife. I’ve never loved anybody like I…”
His voice trailed off and he felt heat come to his cheekbones at the unexpected confession he had begun to make.
“Anybody like what?” Aubrey asked. “What were you going to say?”
Jonah licked his suddenly dry lips.
“I’ve never loved anybody like I love you.”
“Jonah,” she started.
Jonah adjusted his body in the seat so that it faced her and reached for her hand. She allowed him to take it, but it shook slightly in his grip and her eyes were wide with surprise.
“Aubrey, when I saw you for the first time, I experienced something that I never have. I immediately felt like I knew you. I wasn’t looking into the eyes of a stranger, but the eyes of someone my heart had always loved. It nearly destroyed me when you ran away from me in the lab. I didn’t understand how you could not be feeling the same thing that I was.”
“I was,” Aubrey admitted. “I felt it from the very beginning, and it terrified me. I didn’t know who you were or what you were doing in the lab, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I felt something so strong for you, but I didn’t want to admit it, not even to myself.”
“Why?” Jonah asked.
His heart was trembling now and he needed to hear more from her. He needed more confirmation, more support for everything that he had felt for her.
“I told you what I went through with my boyfriend a couple of years ago,” Aubrey said. “That wasn’t the first time that someone had lied to me or tried to take advantage of me, but I had decided that it was the last time. I wasn’t going to let it happen again. I was going to focus completely on my career and that was it. Then you came along. I didn’t want to be in that place again. I didn’t want to give someone else the opportunity to hurt me.”
“I would never hurt you,” Jonah said.
“But you did,” Aubrey said. “You didn’t tell me the truth about who you are or why you are back on Earth.”
“Ryan really is doing everything that I told you that he is,” Jonah said. “That really is why the rest went to Penthos. I only stayed behind to solve this part of it.”
Aubrey nodded.
“I know,” she said.
“I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to do or what to say. I was already so deep. I felt so alone and then you were suddenly there. I wanted you with me. I appreciated your help, but I also just wanted you there beside me. I loved hearing your voice and seeing you smile first thing in the morning when you would get to the lab. I relied on being able to look at you to get me through the hard moments when I wanted to give up. I knew as soon as I met you that I should have been honest with you, but then everything happened and you left. I didn’t think that I was ever going to see you again. When you came back, I was so thankful. I was so happy to see you again, and so scared that I was going to lose you again if I told you the truth.”
“You should have trusted me,” Aubrey said.
“And you should have trusted me,” Jonah said.
Aubrey nodded.
“I should have.” She intertwined her fingers with his. “I do now. With everything in me. I’m just sorry that I was so close to wasting the time that we have left together.”
Jonah felt a bolt of fear go through him.
“The time that we have left together?” he asked.
“You said that you are going to finish what needs to be done here and then go back to Uoria.” Jonah started to protest, but she held up a hand to stop him. “No,” she said. “I understand. Really, I do. Everything here must be so different from how you remember it, and you don’t really have a life here anymore. Your life is there now, and I can’t blame you for wanting to go back to where you are comfortable, especially after everything that you’ve faced.”
“Do you want me to go back?” Jonah asked.
Aubrey tilted her head and him and shook it slightly.
“Don’t you want to?” she asked.
“I’ve been looking for a reason not to,” Jonah admitted. “Maybe you can give me one.”
“How?” Aubrey asked, genuinely expressing her desire to know what he needed of her to stay on Earth rather than going back to Uoria. “What can I do to give you a reason not to go back so soon?”
“Marry me,” Jonah said. “Let me actually be your husband.”
Aubrey gave a short laugh, her smile and eyes wide as she processed what he had just asked.
“Marry you?” she asked in surprise. “Jonah, we haven’t even known each other…”
“I know,” Jonah said. “I know that this probably seems really fast to you, but not to me. I’ve been waiting for you for more than one hundred years. This doesn’t seem too soon to me at all.”
Aubrey looked astonished. Her eyes sparkled and her mouth opened and closed a few times as she seemed to try to speak over her smile. Finally, she nodded.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
&nbs
p; Jonah climbed out of the car and ran around to her side as fast as he could. She was standing outside of her door when he got to her and she jumped into his arms. He buried his face in her hair and drew in a deep breath of her, filling himself with the scent and presence that he thought that he was never going to have again. Her heart was pounding in her chest and he concentrated on the feeling, immensely grateful for every beat, every breath that she took. He pulled his head back so that he could look at her.
“What are we going to tell Cecilia?” he asked.
Aubrey drew him into her arms again, her laugh filling the world around him.
****
Jonah’s hand was steady as Aubrey slipped the heavy gold band onto his ring finger and then turned his hand to touch a kiss to where the gold rested on his palm. She looked radiant in the simple satin gown, the delicate pink shade so soft it was nearly white, and tiny, fragrant blooms woven into her hair. They stood in the backyard of the mansion, those from the basement, Nana, and the staff who had been caring for them since their arrival gathered around them. It had been only a few days since his proposal in the car on the side of the road, but neither of them had wanted to wait a moment longer than they had to. There was too much uncertainty ahead. They found security and strength in the certainty of each other.
“…in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”
Jonah looked at the officiant and then into Aubrey’s eyes, knowing those words had never carried more meaning.
“I do.”
To be continued…
Exclusive Story – The Dragon Slave
Galen
I couldn’t believe the crowd this auction had drawn. In all my travels I had never seen one so large, what could possibly be this exciting? Making my way towards the front was no easy task but given my size very few refused to move out of my way. Soon I was close enough to see it was a slave auction. I hated these damn things, and as far as I knew they were illegal. So why was this one so large? It looked like most of the province was here.
Jonah & Aubrey's Story (Uoria Mates IV Book 8) Page 7
