Taylor closes her eyes and breaths in deeply three times. “If I could get there, I would have gone there. Send an evac to my position immediately. That is an order, soldier. Do not make me repeat it.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the soldier replies.
“I want to see a team here ASAP. Understand?”
“Yes, Eos. Sending a team now.”
“Great. Over.”
Taylor snaps the watch closed and props her elbows on her knees. My body must be continuously pumping adrenaline, as the pain in my hip is mostly a dull roar. Or maybe it’s the drugs in the bandage. “I’m sorry.”
With great effort I sit up, ignoring the warning look on Taylor’s face. “Don’t be,” I say with a smile. “You didn’t shoot me.”
“I might as well have.” Clearly upset, she balls up the snow in her hands and uses the heat of her grip to smooth it into a ball.
“No, I fucked up. If I had done as you asked and stayed behind the tree, this never would’ve happened. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well, if I hadn’t taken you from the ballroom in the first place?—”
“I’d be dead,” I interrupt sharply. “And I wouldn’t know you. Both of those seem like they’d suck a lot worse than this.”
A light snowfall, more a suggestion of snow than accumulation, falls softly over us. It would be picturesque if I hadn’t, you know, been shot.
“You are not a distraction,” Taylor says suddenly. “I’m sorry I said that. I spoke out of fear. You are not a distraction. You’re important to me. Realizing how important you are to me, how invaluable, is overwhelming.”
“Caring about someone is dangerous.”
She smiles at me. “Caring about no one is dangerous too. I should not have…done what I did in the cabin, but I also should not have been dismissive of you or your feelings. I am sure it is fairly obvious I have no experience with feelings of this nature. But it is equally true that I cannot give in to them, no matter how much I want to.”
“But you do want to?”
Taylor’s candlelight eyes burn directly into mine. “Sometimes, I don’t want to do anything else.”
With the gently falling snow and beautiful trees, this would make a lovely spot to kiss again. Unfortunately, I have a rather painful injury and we’re quite inconveniently being hunted.
“If I’d have known all I had to do was get shot and you’d be this forthcoming, I’d have taken a bullet months ago.” I reach out and touch her calf. “I forgive you.”
“Thank you.”
“Can I ask you something?”
She raises both pale blond eyebrows. “You’ve never requested permission before. But yes, of course.”
“If we…” No, not if. Taylor won’t entertain a what-if scenario; it requires too much imagination. “When we get through this, and let’s say we come out on the other side victorious…would you give in then?”
Snow crunches on the other side of the embankment. Taylor leaps to her feet as the source of the noise approaches quickly. It’s a boy. Well, a young man. Boyishly curly brown hair frames his stern features. He’s dressed head to toe in camouflage, and holds a long rifle he’s kindly pointed at us.
“Put your weapon down, Theodore,” Taylor says calmly. “My name is Taylor. I am with the Order of Prometheus. We are expecting backup, and if they see my life being threatened, they will kill you.”
Eyes widening, I get to my feet behind Taylor. The boy grips his rifle, and as he crosses the dried creek bed, it becomes obvious he’s been crying. Theodore shakes his head, sweat whipping from his messy brown hair.
“I will not.” He’s trembling with either rage or fear, it’s hard to tell. He sucks in air through his nose, chest panting. “Did you kill my parents?”
“Put the rifle down. Are you alone?”
His voice, not yet matured into a man’s bass, breaks. “Did you kill my parents?”
“Yes. Are you alone, Theodore?” Taylor asks, her voice steady.