Page 97 of Installment Immortality

“Right. Bee-people from India, they look human, they tend to live in family groups called ‘hives,’ they mostly live on honey and other sweet substances, and their presence slows decay. They’re pretty friendly, and most people regard them as harmless. Sunil and Rochak own a bakery near here, where they used to work with their sister. She died. Last time I had a chance to really talk to Rochak, he said they were negotiating with a hive in Indiato bring over two females of their species as prospective brides. Getting an apartment in this building was part of the negotiating process.”

Malena lifted an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“If Brenna sent you to find me, you know the dragons own this apartment building,” I said. “It’s rent-controlled and reasonable enough that I’m sure it causes them physical pain to think about how much more they could be charging per unit. I’m the only human here.”

“How many units?”

“Twenty-three.”

“Doesn’t that make the place a massive target? I know you’re dealing with Covenant incursions out here…”

“They’ve backed off a lot since my sister—the one who went to Iowa—helped my cousin Sarah blow up a big part of their main training facility. I think their numbers took more of a hit than they want us to realize. Even apart from that, this place has been here for ages, and the dragons keep a low profile. I think we’re okay, as long as whatever ridiculous system they’re using to filter out human applicants without being caught by the city doesn’t set off any red flags.”

“If you’re sure.”

I sighed heavily. “Malena, I’m a widow, and I’m eight months pregnant. I haven’t been able to dance for months. I’mexhausted.I didn’t know it was possible to be this tired without being dead. I can’t start worrying about whether or not the building is safe, or I’ll just give up.”

“Aw, Val… I’m sorry this is all so hard for you, and I’m sorry about David.”

That was the alias Dominic had been using when Malena met him, pretending to be the boyfriend of Valerie Pryor, who had nothing in her life to worry about more important than the question of whether she was going to become America’s favoritedancer. I rubbed my stomach, trying to soothe the baby now using my kidneys for soccer practice. “His name was Dominic,” I said. “He died trying to keep me and this city safe, and the people who killed him probably never realized that he had been one of their own before we met.”

“What do you mean?”

“We never got around to giving you his full backstory before. I’m sorry. It wasn’t strictly relevant, and it felt like there was a chance that if I explained too much, you’d stop being willing to help us, and decide you’d be better off leaving us to our own devices. Dominic and I met here in New York. He was in town with a Covenant strike team, assessing the city for a purge. Instead, he found me, and wound up turning traitor to his own people, running away with me, and getting married.”

Malena blinked, so slowly and deliberately that I saw her nictating membrane as it slid across the eyeball, giving the gesture an unnervingly reptilian quality. “To his own people,” she echoed. “Meaning he was Covenant before he married you.”

“Yeah.”

“You married a man from the Covenant of St. George.”

“Yup.”

“And you didn’t tell me.”

“At first it was to keep you working with us, and then it just never seemed like the right time. By the time he met you, he had well and truly cut all ties with his past. Sarah—that’s the Johrlac cousin I was talking about before—”

“I met her once.”

“Right, I forgot. Well, Sarah scrambled the brains of his former teammates to make sure they wouldn’t know him if they saw him, and he stood back and let it happen, because he wasn’t one of them any longer. He walked away from the Covenant. He did it for me.” I paused, pressing a hand against the curve of my stomach and looking down at it, at the son he would never have the opportunity to know. “He chose me over everything he’d been raised to believe was true, everything he’d expected to devote his life to, and he never said he was sorry. Not even when we fought, not even when it would have been easy for him to regret his decision. He chose me, and he kept choosing me, and he died because the people who would have known him once couldn’t recognize him when he was right in front of them. They slit his throat and let him fall, and he was dead before he hit the ground.”

“That sucks, Val, I’m sorry,” said Malena, awkwardly.

“Yeah, I’m sorry too,” I said, and pushed myself out of the couch, rising unsteadily to my feet. “I’m sorry, and I’m tired as hell. You can sleep on the couch, or I can help you find a place to stay while you’re here in town, but for right now, I need to go lay down. I’m exhausted.”

“Okay,” said Malena. “Just… take care of what you need, and I’ll take care of myself, okay?”

“Sure,” I said, already beginning to shuffle away. “You can eat anything in the fridge. Just don’t eat any of the mice, please.”

“I wouldnever,” said Malena, sounding affronted. “We’re friends, your weird little rodent roommates and me. I don’t eat my friends.”

“Cool.”

I didn’t look back as I reached my bedroom door and let myself inside.

Dominic and I had been living with the dragons in the slaughterhouse Nest, which had been destroyed in an open Covenant offensive. Almost all our possessions had burned up in the aftermath, and at the time, I’d been furious. Now, it seemed like a small blessing. My bed was too big, too empty, and too cold, but all those things were general: none of them were specifically because Dominic wasn’t there. He had never slept in this bed, nevernestled under these covers or put his head down on these pillows. It was a blank space, a new start for me and our children, and his ghost didn’t haunt every single thing I did.

I waddled to the side of the bed and sat, rolling myself into the nest of pillows I had been assembling in my efforts to remain as comfortable as I possibly could when my body was doing its best to rebel against me and snuggling down.

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