Page 90 of Tyton: The Spider and the Dragonfly
Callie shook her head, eyes searching.
“A reminder, then,” Sesi shrugged.“Of how far you were willing to go.”Sesi took a short breath and paused.“You are so strong.”
Callie looked up to see her dark eyes staring directly into her.She didn’t feel strong.She felt like she would have died if Talia hadn’t shown up.
“Where’s Talia?”Callie half-whispered.
Sesi sniffed like she was about to cry.“She’s dealing with her sister’s remains.”
“That was her sister?Oh fuck!I…”
“No.”Sesi cut her off.“Talia chose you.”She turned and wiped her eye with her arm.“And I know for a fact that if she had to think about it first, she would have done the same thing.You don’t know the whole story.”
Callie tried to chew on a fingernail, but the cuts on her arms made it too painful to move them.
“I saw the footage from your Opti,” Sesi said quietly.“It might not have been able to connect, but it still recorded everything.”
“Has Talia seen it?”
Sesi shook her head.“It won’t matter.”
“But I don’t want her to resent me!”Callie protested.
Sesi laughed and wiped another tear away.“Freckles,” Sesi ran the backs of her fingers along Callie’s cheekbones.“Talia is so deeply in love with you, she could never.”
Callie’s eyebrows knit together.“She’s known me for two weeks!”
“You keep saying that, but that’s just who Talia is.She doesn’t think, she just knows.And nothing will ever change her mind.”
Callie looked at her hands and fingers that she couldn’t bite in frustration.She couldn’t fathom how Talia had simplyknownthat she was her person.Well,oneof her persons.The other was sitting right here.
“What about you?”Callie flicked her gaze to meet Sesi’s before looking away just as quickly.
Sesi looked up to the ceiling, but the tear fell anyway.“Don’t tell Talia this, because I don’t like to let her lead, but I think I’ll follow her on this.”
Once Sesi’s tears started, Callie couldn’t help her own.“Why are you crying?You’re making me cry too,” she babbled.
“Because,” Sesi wiped her face with her palms, but it was futile.“I would have made the same decision as Talia, except IlikeSiku.”
Callie couldn’t help but laugh, burbling through the tears.Sesi rushed forward into her embrace.
“I don’t think Siku would have tried to kill me.”Callie leaned back against the overstuffed pillows.
“That’s one of the reasons I like him.Also, I’m going to need him to negotiate with NovAITech.”
Callie squirmed.The bandages were itching.“Why?”
Sesi shook the hair out of her face.“Callum Black is an idiot.”
“Is that all?”
“He’s also a dead idiot.”Sesi sighed.“He thought he was actuallygettingTalia.When he found out she was never on the table, he warned the Natalists that we were coming.”
“So…” Callie flicked her eyes to meet Sesi’s
“So, I can’t hold Talia back any longer.I don’t have a reason to.”
“She’s going to kill him?”
