She threw a glance at Sam, miraculous, magical Sam who wrapped the scaffolding in white and purple flowers, giving it a wedding booth spin. Beside Sam, Lilou wasn’t even pretending to look comfortable holding a bouquet or having to wear a flowy lavender dress. Weapons, she was fine with. When Mia locked eyes with Zoey, she saw her nodding with the same anticipation Mia began to feel unfurling in her chest. It was happening.
“Families, friends…” Vince casually winked at Sam as he started his speech. “Five years ago, I lost a bet to my daughter. It was either shave my moustache or become an officiant, and here we are.” Giggles echoed behind as he switched his gaze to both Mia and Rufus. “I’m not a man of many words, nor one of great marital wisdom, nor did you give me time to prepare this, but I can tell you this much: in marriage, like in life, the unexpected outweighs the good and the bad, so you’d better be spontaneous. There’s no secret ingredient to a successful marriage; if you grow at the same pace, laugh together and fish together, you’ll always find each other.” As expected, Sam rolled her eyes at the fish reference. “As I understand, you wanted to keep your vows private, so I’m going to ask you, Rufus, to repeat after me once your best man hands you the rings.” Jasper was quick to hand them the green metal bands as Vice started. “I, Rupert Ferguson…”
“I, Rupert Ferguson…” as soon as he said it, groomsmen and bridesmaids alike bit their lips and uselessly tried to swallow the wave of chuckles. Not one had known Rufus’s real name and not one seemed to prepared for it.
“… Give you this ring as a sign of my commitment to you,” Vince said in a soft voice.
Rufus was not one to shy out. “Give you this ring as a sign of my commitment to you.”
A ton of paper butterflies cascaded over them as they said “I do” and sealed it all with a kiss. The music picked up the pace and so did the cocktail tray waltz as the guests grabbed one by one a glass and an unidentifiable roll, all at the courtesy of chef Miguel, who was now waving at Sam, obviously on his best behavior.
“I can’t believe you’d wear this voluntarily!” In her lush lavender dress, delicate bouquet and sandals, Lilou could just as well have been a fish on a bike. With the same grace. Sam grinned, handing her a pair of trainers under the table. Seeing how heels defeated this particular optan soldier, another idea bloomed in Sam’s mind.
She got up to snatch a glass of Prosecco and gulp down. “Get me a bottle of tequila and two glasses.” Sam winked at her favorite waitress and made her way to Alex through the crowd, leaving Lilou caught in chit-chat with Emma.
Maybe it was the music, the booze or the dessert bar Alex was hovering over in a suit that wrapped a little too well around his torso. “Hey.” Sam neared with a grin. “You clean up nice.”
Alex’s pupils dilated just a little seeing how a waitress landed a bottle and two shot glasses in Sam’s proximity. “Is that you… being nice?” Maybe it was the strange earthly music or miniature dishes, but an impish smile he knew too well splattered across Sam’s face.
“Maybe,” she returned the smile. “Or maybe I’m just here to ask why no one said a word about Beck since you made your comeback.” To admit that it bugged her would be an understatement. If Mia had been graceful enough not to ask any uncomfortable question, Sam lacked the discipline. She placed her empty glass on the table and turned to Alex expectantly.
“Wasn’t it protocol to put all negative talk off at a human wedding?” Alexandre popped another s’more in his mouth.
“How about breaking that protocol since it’s a hybrid wedding, Alex?” Of course she had an answer to everything and then some.
He neared her, looking straight ahead at the dancing crowd and keeping his voice low. “Beck’s in custody of the Alliance now. We can’t terminate him, but since his actions make him an enemy of the I.P.A. he’ll die in confinement.” He could see the questions forming in her mind when they finally locked eyes. “The people at the lab had their memory erased and timelines restored and so did Mark for the time being.”
Sam had wondered what was of the interplanetary language gifted subject called Mark. “That simple, huh?”
“Since when do you like it complicated?” There was something different about his smile now. Something that silenced the many questions on her lip.
Before giving him a chance to break the magic, she snatched the bottle of tequila and locked an arm around his neck. Somehow, she wasn’t shy to press her lips to his ear. And somehow, he didn’t back off. “This is the part where you say you’ve never had any alcohol…”
Maybe it was the softness of her lips or the glass of fizzy whatever he’d already had, but he played along. “And what would you say?”
Even the music stopped for that swift instant. “I’d kindly ask you to hold my avocado.” She grinned, softly reaching for the shot glasses.
Alexandre’s nose crinkled at the smell of tequila. “I’m never going to understand that, am I?” He shook his head watching as Sam emptied the glass and reached for her lemon.
On the other end of The D.C.’s event room, Jasper leaned into Zoey on her way to the bar. “Okay, I have something for you but I don’t want you to freak. Deal?”
She covered her face. “It’s a darn ring, isn’t it?” Once she recovered her voice, no one could shut her up.
“Why are you freaking out like this? It doesn’t have to mean anything. I mean, it can, but it doesn’t have to.” God, he was sweet. And awkward. “If it makes you feel less weird just take it as a souvenir from Opt.” he pulled the ring out and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Here.” Jasper dropped it in her hand. “I’m not even going to put it on your finger.” she opened her hand to inspect it. A lightweight metallic lilac band. Her favorite color. “I’m not going to suggest anything but couples on Opt wear them on their thumbs.”
“Huh?” she arched a brow, still staring at it. She remembered Rufus saying they took the size of your finger. “So where’s yours?”
“Right here. Look.” He took the ring and brushed the surface enough for it to detach. A shallow breath later, she extended her hand and watched him slide the ring on her thumb. It looked foreign and beautiful and there was no turning back, so she grabbed the other one and slid it on his ring finger.
“Should we say something?” But his lips were faster, coming onto hers with every feeling words failed to describe. He’d waltzed her to the east end of the rounded space, where the flowers abounded and Sam had told them it was a no-go. He slid his fingers in hers and found an opening in the flower curtain.
“I’ve been wanting to get my hands on you all day,” Jasper whispered against her ear, engulfing her in his arms from behind, tracing his lips on the side of her neck until she lost all sense of balance. When his lips sank in, she convulsed under his touch. It’s like he knew exactly how to touch her, how to get her to that point where the only focus would be on the trail of his fingers. Time hadn’t been generous enough with them, so she turned in his arms, clinging to him like the last leaf on a winter kissed tree.
It was his blonde surfer hair that caught her eye in the elevator when she’d seen him for the first time, but it was his hypnotizing smile and weirdly perfect personality that held it. Jasper was perfect in the way he looked at her, both savage and fragile, in the way he fit against her body and filled every last hollow with the addictive feeling of completion. And she never got enough. Not even now when his lips dared for hers, yet stopped at an inch, enough to feel him and allow that tingle his presence brought to spread further.
“I love you.” This time, she felt no shame in saying it, no fear clenched to the words. Just truth and the realization that she’d lost and found herself in his eyes every single time they gazed into hers. “And I want all of you.”
“Do I feel a but coming on?”
“No. Maybe a little one.” She smiled, still looking at the lilac band on her thumb. “What’s Lilou going to say?”
On the other side of the universe, Lilou made a clean landing despite the heavy
layered bridesmaid dress. She pulled off portalling unnoticed, and not one soul at the wedding was bound to perceive her absence too soon. All the stars had aligned when Emma was caught in dance with Vince, Sam tried to get Alex drunk and Jasper and Zoey were nowhere in sight.
“I’m ready.” Eyeing the new Chancellor and Minister in their shiny uniforms, she added a reassuring smile to her nod. There was dignity in dying on your own terms, so she straightened her shoulders and walked the same hallway she’d crossed a thousand times for a thousand different reasons. At least she’d do it here, at the Chamber and not at the Headquarters where they terminated criminals.
Negotiating her own death with the chosen officials cemented her belief that the Interplanetary Alliance was not one to reward rebels. Treason was not to be encouraged. Even if it did mean covering for her sister. Imprisonment would’ve never been enough to silence the crowd. The whole union needed an example, an incentive to make up for going AWOL, not following direct orders. Mezin faking her death in favor of being with the one she loved had set a precedent.
When Lilou reached the room, her thoughts went silent. Her last sight was going to be of glistening white and kalenium, that beautiful dream-inviting bed gravitating in the middle of the room like a broken promise. The officials had stopped on their tracks a few steps behind, but the irony of it all screamed volumes—they were giving her privacy—and this godawful dress only added to the drama.
“Should we—” The Minister started before being boldly interrupted.
“No sir.” Lilou turned on her heels, locking her youthful eyes on his. “And just so we’re clear, I won’t change my mind. The Chancellor was graceful enough to insist, but we all know how this works.”
From his pearly white suit, the Chancellor joined his hands at the front and sighed. “You’ve always been stubborn.” Watching her drape a hand over the bed’s frame made his skin bunch around the eyes.
“For the first time in a long time, I think the Alliance is finally in good hands, sir. And we know they’re all craving for some sort of punishment. Otherwise it’s going to look like you’re rewarding the rebels.” She hopped on the bed and dug her fingers in the softness of the mattress. In so many years in the field, not once had she contemplated a death so simple, so clean.
It was the Minister who spoke next, his eyes visibly moist. “Very well then. We’ll make sure all your demands are met. Your sister will assess planets in the integration process and the ambassador has already been relocated to Earth.” An unusual strain took over his voice. Today was the day he’d see a good soldier die and she was nodding as if she’d spent her whole life training for this very moment. “Is there anything—anything at all we could do for you?”
Lilou pulled yet another confident smirk as she made herself comfortable on the bed. “Just make sure they all get their letters in a week’s time and not a moment sooner. And if they ask—”
“We’re going over the new protocol with you, understood.” The Chancellor nodded, finding it hard to look her in the eye. She’d planed her death in detail and they’ve agreed to all her requests almost blindly. Lilou’d watched terminations more times than she cared for, she’d seen the terror and then the bliss on the faces of the unworthy. When the Minister extended his hand, she grabbed the pill and swallowed it faster than she initially saw herself capable of.
This was kismet. Destiny. Strategy at its core. A deep breath later, she closed her eyes and succumbed to a state of bliss. It wasn’t the pill, but knowing she’d orchestrated every happily ever after, pulled every string, made all the math…
Did you enjoy Found in Amber?
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ACKNOWLEGEMENTS
Like a cocktail of sugar, spice
And a bag of wet mice,
Here’s what it took
To write this book:
12 Jason Mraz songs
To preheat the heart
And stir-fry emotion,
For a toe-curling start
A dash of insomnia,
And coconut evenings
From Spain to Austria,
And endings to beginnings
A gallon of coffee,
Two kilos of toffee,
Compulsive handbag shopping,
An attempt to quit smoking
Watching Netflix on the plane,
Dragging my suitcase in the rain;
Typing love scenes on the plane,
Deleting it all and starting again…
I’d like to thank everyone who has assisted me on the journey of writing, editing, and publishing Found in Amber. Maybe you’ve been my first pair of eyes beta reading it, or you’ve helped me with advice as we exchanged emails. Maybe you’ve prepared my sandwich at the airport while I was typing away in between flights. Either way, if you’ve been in my life one way or another this year, you too have contributed to this novel coming to life.
Please receive a bear hug & let’s stay in touch on Instagram.
Found in Amber Page 30
