Page 73 of The Artist
Belle didn’t answer until she had joined me on the couch. “I’m proud of my nation. We are a resilient people.”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’…”
She sat stiffly on the edge of the seat letting her eyes roam my suite one more time. “I envy the space you have here. Not just in your personal quarters but also in nature. You never have to worry about where you go. We are limited because of the slow process of cleaning up nature around us. The fact that up here we could fly for hours and see nothing but clean nature under us blew my mind. In Europe everything looks normal and animals are abundant, but in most places, radiation levels still make it impossible for us to live there. Our scientists are cleaning up one area at a time and the last ten years things have escalated, but…” Belle trailed off and sighed.
“But?”
After turning her torso toward me, she bit her lip. “I feel like a traitor for voicing my discontent out loud.”
I reached out and touched her elbow. “Hey, I’ll be the first to admit that my country isn’t perfect. You can bitch all you want, and I won’t tell a soul.”
Her chest lifted as she filled her lungs and spoke on the exhale. “Sometimes I get envious of the mothers here and in the Motherlands who get to keep their own babies. It’s not that our babies lack anything. I mean I pour all my love into the little ones and they are thriving. It’s just that seeing how you do things here, and in the Motherlands, makes me wish I could follow the development of my own child.”
“That’s not selfish, Belle. That’s natural. A parent shouldn’t be separated from their child.”
Her eyes glazed over again as she wrung her hands. “I think that’s why I haven’t done my civic duty yet. I know I would be searching for my own daughter or son among the babies I care for. I would drive myself crazy.”
When her voice broke, I moved over to hug her. “Hey, are you crying? Don’t cry.” My protective side couldn’t stand seeing her upset. “If you’re pregnant with our child then I guarantee you that no one will take that child from us. I will kill anyone who tries.”
Belle was sniffling with her head pressed against my chest and it made me kiss her hair.
A quick knock on the door was followed by Freya and my father entering my suite.
“You two just can’t keep your hands off each other, can you?”
I was tempted to flip my father off, but Magni had a fierce temper so I didn’t.
“Belle, I’ve come to take you to my room,” Freya said in a gentle tone of voice.
My instinct was to tighten my arms around Belle’s body, but she pulled free and looked at Freya and Magni.
“Mason said I could sleep in here.”
My father scoffed. “I’m sure he did but look at how that ended in the cabin. Aubri and Freya will take good care of you and we’ll keep an eye on Victor in case he thinks he can smuggle you out without us knowing.”
Annoyance made my skin prickle. “I’d prefer if Belle stayed with me.”
Freya held out her hand, gesturing for Belle to come with her. “It’ll be fun. We’ll have a sleepover with Aubri like we used to.”
Belle hesitated and looked to me as if saying, “I want to stay with you.”
I squeezed her hand and leaned in to whisper in her ear, “Maybe they’re right. If I’m honest it would be difficult for me not to kiss you.”
Belle’s eyes were large and gorgeous when she pulled back enough to look deep into my eyes and whispered, “I love when you kiss me.”
We stared at each other for a second. The emotions I read in her eyes surprised me. Belle had been the one who insisted that we separate our emotions from the sex between us, but what she never told me in words, her eyes revealed in that moment. Belle had feelings for me. The realization made my legs feel a little wobbly and I sucked in a quick breath.
“If you two are done whispering, let’s move Belle’s things to Freya’s room,” my father said.
When they left, I stood in my doorway watching Freya and Belle walk to Freya’s room four doors down the hallway. She turned her head twice and I thought I saw longing in her eyes but maybe I was deceiving myself.
“You got to stay strong, son,” Magni patted my shoulder. “That woman will rip your heart apart.”
Rolling my shoulders, I moved back into my room. “Her name is Belle and she would never do anything to hurt me.”
“Not intentionally, no. But you’re catching feelings for her and that’s a mistake when you know you can’t have her. You said it yourself, the French don’t marry. She doesn’t want you anyway and you’d make things harder for me and Khan.”
Picking up a book, I threw it to the couch. “Not everything is about fucking politics.”
