Page 31 of The Hunchback

She chuckled again, kissed me with a bit more passion this time, and then reluctantly pulled out of my embrace.

“You are far too tempting, Kwazeem. You will drive me to distraction!”

“And I have no shame about it.”

With a heavy heart, I waited for her to retrieve her sandals from the bedroom then escorted her to the entrance of the hidden passage. As I watched her walk down the path alone, an inexplicable sense of doom grew within me with each step taking her farther away from me. When she turned the corner and vanished from view, a single thought replayed in a loop in my head: I would never get her back.

Chapter 12

Esmeralda

The minute I walked away from Kwazeem, from his wonderful aura, the weariness that had pestered me all morning returned with a vengeance. My body had never felt so weak before. By the time I reached the elevator, I had to lean against the wall to hold me up. When the lift stopped on my floor, it took every bit of my energy to make it to my door without crawling on all fours. Thankfully, there was no one around to witness my current pathetic state.

I hauled in the hovercart carrying the heated, covered plates the cook had left outside my quarters for me—as expected—and closed the door. With much difficulty, I made a beeline for my bed and collapsed on it. Sprawled on the divine mattress, my feet hanging over the edge, I could have wept with relief. My head swam, and my body tingled with numbness.

Vestals burning out on their first Festival was commonplace. The Matriarchs on Obscura had regularly warned us against pushing too hard to prove ourselves or out of fear of disappointing our host. Considering my phenomenal performance last night—in large part thanks to Kwazeem enhancing me—it wasn’t surprising I’d be crashing so hard. But the timing couldn’t have been more rotten. Without my mate’s aura to sustain me, I would never have the strength to go back to him. He would worry terribly.

And then he’ll come check up on you and see that all is well.

That slightly appeased me. Kwazeem knew every secret passage in and out of the temple. He would find his way to me without getting noticed. In a way, it might be better if he came here. He could remain out of sight when Malina came knocking again for supper and leave at first light before Frollo returned. Anyway, we would see Frollo’s shuttle approach long before it landed, which would give my man plenty of time to return to his cabin.

But, in the long term, that wouldn’t be a viable situation.

The questions I had been dodging and avoiding were now demanding to be answered. I’d shamelessly pursued the object of my desires and gotten the man my heart ached for. But where did we go from here?

I didn’t want to hide my relationship with the man I loved. Lurking in the shadows, stealing kisses behind closed doors, and sneaking in and out of each other’s rooms like adulterers wasn’t the future I wanted for us. And, at some point in the future, I would want children with my man.

The citizens of Paris would never accept a Fallen in their midst. If there had been a way to make them accept him, Frollo would have probably seen to it, if only to remove the threat over himself. I hated the thought of leaving Paris. Not only was the city growing on me, but I could make a huge difference for the people living here. As vain as that might sound, I didn’t believe any of my other Vestal sisters could handle the needs of this city as I could.

And yet, if it came to a choice between Paris and my man, Kwazeem would win any day.

We could leave.

From my recent research, some of the lesser moons were not as intolerant towards the Fallen. After all, the conflict that had initiated the Fall—the war between the Elohim and their Light Bearers—had started right here, on the First Circle.

As an Anointed, choosing a lesser Circle to work on would raise a lot of suspicions. Worse still, with the tense energy situation here, there would be an uproar amongst the citizens of Paris whom had just regained hope of a brighter future last night. They could retaliate against the planet or moon I settled on with embargoes and tariffs on trade goods. Wealth wasn’t an issue in Paris; energy was.

We could also just go live on our own somewhere and leave everything else behind. My family was financially set and secured with the final dowry of my ordainment. Aside from Old Nan—and even then—Kwazeem had nothing holding him here. With my sign-on fee, I had enough credits to buy us a piece of land and everything we might need to build a happy home. Kwazeem was an accomplished hunter and craftsman. I wasn’t clumsy with my hands either. Together, we could make it work.

For one foolish instant, I thought of reaching out to Phoebus. I still had the com he’d given me, and he had a good heart beneath that tough exterior. But there was no way he would support me running off with a Fallen, especially considering he wanted me for himself. And going to stay with Althea wasn’t an option. Frollo would go to her first to look for us if we just ran away.

But she could help us secure transportation off world.

My heart skipped a beat as this thought of Frollo abruptly reminded me that we hadn’t returned his draining kit back to his lab. He would be livid once he’d realized we’d not only broken into his lab, but that Kwazeem was also no longer solely dependent on him to treat his condition. Yet another strike against us. I couldn’t begin to imagine how he would react to all of this.

He shouldn’t have left Kwazeem to suffer as punishment.

Be that as it may, it wouldn’t benefit us to alienate him more than was necessary.

Too many questions swirled around in my head. My bone deep weariness made it next to impossible for me to focus on a smart solution. Giving in to the call of oblivion, I fell asleep with Kwazeem’s face hovering before me.

Chapter 13

Kwazeem

For the hundredth time at least, I looked at my clock wondering where Esmeralda was. The sense of unease that had been churning in my gut since she left had only steadily increased with each passing minute. She should only have been gone one hour. More than double that time had elapsed.

I wanted to go check up on her to make sure everything was okay. But doing so at this early hour of the afternoon was beyond risky. The population usually slept in late and most remained home to recover from their hangover the day after the Festival. But that wouldn’t keep a respectable number of them—the more moderate ones—from being up and about. What if I ran into one of the Light Maidens, the temple’s regular guards, or staff?

---