Chapter 23

A high-pitched hum entered Cora's consciousness, slowly edging its way through the dark silence. Though a familiar sound, it took a few moments for Cora to recognize it. Even when she did, the concept of a hovercraft came groggily to her, as if in a dream.

The wind brought her slowly into reality, brushing against her face and tugging at her hair. Even after her mind had climbed up from the depths of unconsciousness and into the realm of waking, it took enormous effort to open her eyes, as if weights had been attached to her eyelids, or perhaps the mechanism behind them that allowed them to open had been broken, like a faulty latch.

When she finally did manage to open her eyes, she found herself staring at the scuffed white interior of a hover cart. Involuntary, images of children's feet kicking the back of their parents' chairs floated into her mind.

Then, with a start, everything came back to her—setting the explosives and the timers, tossing the Terran throwback incendiary, and then the blast, fire, and smoke. Then she remembered a pain in her chest, and, finally, nothing. The memory faded, but a sense of dread remained.

What had happened to Levi?

She sat bolt upright, trying to figure out where she was, and the sudden movement made her head hurt. A bulky hooded figure sat up front, and she suddenly realized she must have been kidnapped, taken by a Jorvlen.

They were speeding through a desert scape, gray dust flying up around them. She looked behind her and made out the outskirts of the city a little distance away. It dawned on Cora that the Jorvlen must have been taking her to another facility.

But I'm not handcuffed or tied up.

Slowly, so as not to alert the driver, Cora crept to the edge of the seat. She figured if she could jump from the vehicle without being seen, she might be able to make it back to the settlement and find Levi.

As she glanced back to make sure the driver was preoccupied, she caught a glimpse of something that made her heart leap. The curve of a horn protruded from the edge of the hood.

"Levi?" she asked, suddenly seeing her situation in a whole new light.

The driver turned, and the look on his face must have matched hers—incredulity, hope, and, most overwhelmingly, love. She saw it in his eyes as sure as she felt it in her heart.

"Thank the gods, you're okay!" he cried, reaching back and grabbing her hand.

He had to keep one eye ahead, but he kept glancing back and smiling, his hand never letting go of hers.

"Thanks to you, I'm positive," came her reply as she attempted climbing up to the front of the hover cart.

"Careful! Careful! Don't risk your life now that we've nearly made it." He grinned and squeezed her hand, stopping the car long enough to allow her to climb up front. "And I'm only okay, thanks to you. So, we're even." He kept one hand on the controls and wrapped the other arm around her, pulling her close with infinite care.

"Where are we going?" she asked, holding Levi tightly.

Her head still ached, but the rest of her was flooded with relief. She never wanted to let him go.

"We need to find a place to hide out for a while. You obviously need some rest, and we need to figure out our next move," he told her.

Cora nodded, scanning the landscape for a place to hide. It was mostly sparse with bushy tufts of vegetation springing up occasionally in the otherwise barren desert. Every so often she'd see a cabin off in the distance, but she was almost certain they were too far away to be recognized by the Jorvlens living there.

Then to their right, she spied a small shack, its windows broken and door shuttered. It was clearly abandoned, and nothing seemed to be in the immediate surroundings. It would be the perfect place to hide out for a while.

"There!" she called to Levi, pointing at the shack.

Levi brought the hover cart to veer toward the shack and parked in one of the larger patches of scrub behind the building. Cora saw that although the shack's front door was boarded up, it had a back door, which was already partly ajar and hanging crookedly on one hinge.

She tried to get out of the vehicle on her own, but Levi stopped her immediately.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," he told her, holding up a hand. "Don't even think about it."

Cora gave him a smirk. "I'm okay, really," she said, but Levi was already slipping his hands under her and lifting her effortlessly from the cart.

She didn't fight it. In fact, she loved how gently he cared for her, how tender he was at the same time as being strong. She felt small and precious in his arms, and as he brought her toward the shack, she looped her arms around his neck.

Levi pushed the door open with his back, and despite the dilapidated hinge, it swung open with relative ease. Not much was inside—just the remains of a kitchen, a rusted bed frame, and a dusty mattress. But they didn't need much else.

Levi laid her down gently on the mattress, and despite the less-than-idyllic surroundings, Cora got a strange flash of Levi carrying her over a threshold and laying her down on their wedding night.

She didn't know where that image had come from, just like she didn't know for certain if Levi reciprocated her love, but it seemed right with every fiber of her being. If anything, it bolstered her resolve to stick by Levi no matter what.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he knelt down on the floor beside the bed. He let his hand rest on hers as he spoke.

Cora smiled. "I'm okay. Still a little groggy, though," she admitted, clasping his hand.

"Can I check you over?" came the next question. It was said so gently and with such care that Cora thought she could almost cry, or throw her arms around him, or dance and kiss him.

Instead, she just nodded.

Levi started by letting her hair spill out from the ribbon that was tying it. The movement hurt her head a little bit, though, and Levi must have caught her wincing.

"Does that hurt?" he asked.

Cora nodded, and he gently tilted her head forward to check for injuries.

"I can't find any wounds, which is good news. I think your turban probably gave you enough padding," he told her, laying her head back down gently.

He checked her neck and arms, and the sensation of his fingers running over her skin ignited something between desire and gratitude in her.

When his hands reached her chest, she thought her heart might burst from love for him. She managed to sit through the rest of his examination without giving in to her mounting passions.

"You seem to be okay," he told her with a grateful smile. "Apart from the headache, I couldn't find any injuries. Thank the gods you run as quickly as you do. As long as you don't have any other pain, I think you're very lucky."

As she looked up into his eyes, she couldn't help but smile.

"I think I am, too," she replied, and they both knew she didn't just mean her injuries.