Page 37 of Tainted Gifts
Before I realize how far I've gone, I hear a buzzing - a place where the electricity meets the end of the line. Through the murky water, I have little visibility. It makes it impossible to see what's going on.
I surge to the top, breathing in a comfortable breath as I start climbing up the embankment. It looks simple, plain even. It's just a regular field beside the lake. Where the hell does the electricity go?
"Aria!" Jase yells, his night vision finding me as he swims the distance between us.
Go away. I don't want to talk to you right now.
"I don't really give a damn. You're out of the safe zone we established. Get your ass back to the convoy," he growls while climbing up the embankment to join me in my fruitless staring.
"I'm checking something out. I'll just be a minute. It could be nothing, or it could be something."
I avoid looking at his perfectly sculpted body under the moonlight. His jeans are soaked, his ripped upper body is exposed, and my heart can't be still. Before he can acknowledge my thoughts or refute my off-mission probing, I speak again.
"I'm taking a vacation once the council decides Kellan is innocent. I'm going to use my full month of days. Just thought I'd let you know."
He breathes out heavily, sitting down as I start prodding the land with an oversized stick. I catch his eyes wandering to my skimpy, almost bare body, but he looks away the second he knows I see him.
"The council decided five minutes ago that Kellan was a free man. He'll have a probationary time where he'll be watched with a great deal of scrutiny, but the evidence you presented them with was enough to convince them you were right about him. I'm still not so sure."
I ignore his last bit, and then I poke harder against the ground. "Good. Then I'll take my time when we get back. I've got somewhere I need to go."
"Where?" he asks, leaning back as his eyes glance across the lake to the others slowly coming to join us.
"North. I feel like I need to go that way. Every time I think about going, the headache lessens."
He tilts his head, and then he stands up and puts his hand on my shoulder, just barely touching me. The relief is instant, and my eyes almost roll back in my head as I revel in the painless reprieve.
"The headache lessens when I touch you as well, but you do everything you can to run away from me."
I ignore the pain in his voice, my eyes coming back to rest on the ground. I'm sure Simone would be more adventurous for him. It's safer if he's not with me.
"Stop acting like I want Simone. And don't pull that safety bullshit with me," he gripes, flopping back down and allowing my headache to return.
It's true. You're the commander and I'm the daughter of an emergent's daughter. It's too dangerous. There's a long, long list of reasons we can't be together. Don't focus on that one.
"Your father was the commander, and he married your mother while fully aware of who she was."
Like I said, don't focus on that one detail.
"You'll always have an excuse, Aria. What it really comes down to is the fact you want your counter. Do you really think it's Kellan?" he scoffs, mockery in his tone.
"I've never thought that around you," I murmur in a crackling tone, feeling guilty for the mere mention of such a thing around him.
He laughs bitterly, his eyes not meeting mine. "No, but Simone has. Her mind was full of glorious details I wish I had never seen."
"Then I guess you shouldn't have curled up in bed with her."
My stick breaks in my hand when I find a spot in the ground that isn't as soft as it appears to be.
Ha!
"What is it?" he asks while avoiding my last snarky remark and showing interest in my hollow discovery.
"I don't know, but there's power running into the side of the dirt, and this is a metal hull. I bet it's another underground facility."
"Shit," he murmurs more to himself than me, and then he calls out to the ones closest to us.
"Grab the others. Aria just found a bunker."
