Page 22 of He Will Always Love Me

Gently, I guide her back to the bed. “Rest for an hour at least. You need to recover your strength.”

She frowns but doesn’t protest. “Fine. But only for an hour.”

Two hours later, I have checked in with the rest of my crew and updated them on my meeting with Eznine. Most of them are content to wait a day or two for further directions, but Renari, of course, is agitated. He’s always agitated with me these days.

When I return to the room, she’s still resting. Soon after, she wakes up angry with me for letting her sleep an extra hour. Her frustration with the whole thing is almost humorous.

We begin our trek through the town, looking to see what other resources are available. We map out locations that might come in useful in the future, but it seems that Eznine was telling the truth. We find no easy way to leave from our current location, not even a cruise spaceship coincidentally docked nearby that we could commandeer.

After a while, we begin to simply take in the town. It’s nothing special, but there’s a certain small-town charm to it. We stop for a late lunch and then I buy her something sweet afterwards.

It’s strange just walking around and chatting with one another. With just existing and enjoying a day with someone. I’d never had moments like these in this life. And somehow I knew that this was what I was supposed to be doing.

More than that, I knew I was supposed to be living it with her. I want to soak in every minute of it.

“Maybe another shuttle will come along and we can catch a ride with them,” Alana suggests.

I grimace. “I doubt they’ll approve of having a criminal onboard.”

“Ah, right.”

I study her for a moment. “What do you want? For your future, I mean.”

She considers for a minute. “I want to be free. I want to be happy. And now I know I want to be with you.”

“You know I can’t go back to Gur,” I remind her. “Is that where you want to be?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t think it really matters where I am so long as I’m with you.”

My chest aches with warmth. It’s all I want, too. Now we have to figure out how we can do that.

By the time we arrive back at the hotel, it’s late. The manager tries once again to persuade us to get separate rooms, and I snap at him to mind his own business.

Alana falls asleep quickly, and I lie awake for a while just running my hand through her hair. I feel like I need to memorize this moment somehow. Outline every detail of her and commit it to memory. Eventually, sleep claims me, too.

I wake in the middle of the night instantly knowing something is wrong. Sitting up, I see smoke pouring out from the bottom of the door.

The hotel is on fire.

CHAPTER 12

ALANA

Iwake up to Karvex shaking me and yelling orders.

“Alana! Get up now. The hotel is on fire!”

The words register in my still-waking brain, and my eyes go wide. I sit up quickly, ignoring the sting of my injuries. And sure enough, there’s smoke pouring into our room.

“Why isn’t an alarm going off?” I ask, a little panicked as I scurry out of bed.

I try to go for my shoes, but Karvex pulls me along. “No time. We need to get out of here.”

He presses a hand to the door and growls. “It's warm, not burning though. We need to get out of here before the fire comes any closer.”

For a moment, I think about going out the window. But then I remember that we’re three stories up. Karvex might be able to survive the fall, but I most certainly will not.

“Cover your mouth and nose with your sleeve,” he barks, doing the same.

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