Page 55 of The Sovereign: Part One
“It might be a double standard, but it’s one backed by data.We might as well take advantage of it.Today might earn us an infraction, but even The Citadel would have a hard time admitting a walk in the park or an afternoon at a carnival is prohibited.”
“An outing,” Maxim trailed off, turning the idea over in his mind.Something told me he wouldn’t need much persuading.
There was a difference between a table date and an outing, though most Sovereign didn’t give it much thought.Dinner was intimate, a quiet exchange over candlelight or across a sunlit café table—an opportunity to linger, to read between the lines of conversation, to enjoy the slow unraveling of familiarity.An outing, though, was something else entirely.It was movement, laughter, the unpredictability of the world folding into the experience.Crowds, music, the rush of a game, the energy of a park alive with chatter.There was no script, no perfect setting to fall into.Just the rawness of being together in a space bigger than the two of you.The way a Supplicant handled that—the unexpected, the unscripted—said more than any polished dinner conversation ever could.
“You like rock climbing.”
I pointed at him.“I do.And it’s been a millennium.”
“Then it’s settled.Tomorrow, I’ll take you to Smith Rock.I’ll submit an excursion clearance.”
My face fell.“If we’re allowed.”
The Citadel had pulled couples apart for brief stretches of time torestore parametersbefore.I’d never given it much thought, but as strange as it was, the notion of being away from Maxim for even a day left me with a deep, unsettled feeling.
Maxim reached for my hand, threading his fingers through mine.“Today will get me through being without you tomorrow, but if I’m being honest, I can think of no worse punishment.”
“I’m glad it’s not just me.And, how strange… we’ve only spent the last two days together.”
“It’s not strange for me at all.Being with you or without you is all I know.”
I considered that.At The Crèche, he waited to be with me.The depth of our connection, forged in just two days, was both humbling and a bit overwhelming.I thought about how easily I had slipped into the comfort of his presence, how natural it felt to be near him.And now, the idea of being apart, even for just a day, felt like a hole opening up, where something I hadn’t fully realized I needed was about to be ripped away.
How have I become so dependent on him already?The thought unnerved me.I had always prided myself on my independence, on my ability to stand on my own.And yet, this wasn’t need—not in the way that word was so often said with caution.Need implied emptiness, something lacking that another person had to fill.This was different.
Maxim hadn’t taken anything from me, he had only added to what was already there.Being without him didn’t make me feel smaller, weaker, or incapable, but with him, life felt whole, as if something once unnoticed had fallen into place.The way sunlight transforms the sky without replacing it, or a breeze breathing life into the air unseen.This wasn’t dependency.It was connection, one I had been waiting for my entire life.
After lunch, we spent a few minutes straightening up the galley before settling back into our chair, curling up under the blanket with a cresk of chicory once again as if my inconvenient human needs had never interrupted us.
“It’s going to be difficult to leave,” he said softly against my hair.
I closed my eyes.“Let’s just pretend you’re not.”
“One of these days, I’ll leave for the last time.I try to focus on that.”
I squeezed him to me.
After a few moments of comfortable silence, Maxim adjusted to better gauge my expression.There was a slight tension in his gaze.It had been like this since the moment we met; he wanted to understand me, to know me, all of me, but he’d also been careful to let me take the lead.
“Joss… at the café today,” Maxim began.There was no judgment in his tone, no suspicion.It was more a curiosity, and maybe something else, too, as if he sensed that there was more to the story than I had shared with him so far.
I let out a slow breath.“Yes, Joss,” I began.
“He’s Vale-born.What made him decide to make a life here?”
“He didn’t really discuss it,” I said, picking at the blanket.“It was one of the points of contention between us.He never really opened up to me, but there was so much that seemed to be boiling just under the surface.All I really know about his family is that his parents are still alive.He has a younger brother and sister.”
“They havethreechildren?”Maxim said, surprised.
I nodded, raising my eyebrows.“I know.Even with The Cradle cultivating embryos with superior genetic traits, reaching adulthood here is still more of a miracle than a given.He said most families in The Vale only have one child, if any.Joss’s family is the exception, not the rule.”
“I’m surprised The Citadel hasn’t ordered him to undergo biometric screening or somehow arranged for his parents to come in to identify any relevant indicators that might help them replicate the result.Of course, they’d have to either convince them or offer something they couldn’t refuse.Hyperion has no real authority in The Vale.”
“That’s exactly why you’re the only person I’ve told.”
“Understandable.”
“He did mention a man there, theirRohven… a sort of high-ranking guardian, I suppose.He keeps order, hunts, and defends.His name is Kaivar.He was like a second papa to Joss, and now, to his younger brother, Branth.Joss was supposed to take Rohven Kaivar’s place one day, but now Branth has become his successor.From the tiny pieces Joss offered, I tried to understand their way of life, but it’s so different from what I know.”
