“You know what I meant.”
“Did I? It’s a thing you humans say when things are good. Or some random chance works out for you because you needed it to. But you don’t say it when the bad things happen. Like when your mother died from her brain tumor. There was no thanking god, for surely, if there is one, that is his realm too, as are all things. Or so humans believe. No, instead, you’re trying to do things to thwart his plans. The illnesses he allowed.”
She eyed him and was ready for the fight he and his maker would have on this topic, the fight that he and Mary had… Even the fight he’d had with Elizabeth’s mother when she’d found out she was sick.
Instead, she said, “That’s too deep a conversation to have while running from zombies.”
She, in a word, delighted him.
He found himself smiling again.
She headed toward the staircase.
“Wait, I should go first.”
Elizabeth held out her hand. “By all means.”
Chapter Five
The monster.
He wasn’t a monster at all. Not really. He looked like a man, but that wasn’t what made him human. It was the wealth of emotion in his eyes.
She found herself incredibly curious about him, about his life. About who he was at the cellular level.
The way he’d covered the distance between the institution and the safe house had been insane.
Inhuman.
But he already seemed to be the most human being she’d ever known.
Elizabeth found him strangely compelling, no more… attractive. She didn’t date, she’d always been more interested in what was going on in the brain in a literal sense than actually engaging with the opposite sex.
Granted, she’d had her share of relationships, but they always ended badly. She never had enough time or attention to give them. Even when they’d both agreed to no strings.
She wanted to see his flesh, yes. For scientific purposes, but he was so big and strong she couldn’t help but wonder if it was everywhere else, too. Her lips and mouth were suddenly dry as she watched him descend the newly revealed spiral staircase down the side of the cliff.
It was only a moment before he called up to her, “It’s safe.”
She was glad for his presence. The only thing that could make what was happening worse would be if she had to try to survive it alone.
Elizabeth followed the steps down the side of the cliff, and paused, looking out over the Aegean. The blue, it wasn’t like any blue she’d ever seen before. It was at turns midnight and midday sky. The tang of salt in the air was a welcome one, and the wind whipping her hair against her cheeks until her eyes stung was worth it.
It occurred to her this might be the last view, her last glance at this world. She inhaled deeply, filling her lungs and holding it there until she thought her chest was going to burst.
“Elizabeth, are you okay?” His big body blocked the entrance to the cave.
There was something about seeing him there. Something that silenced all the guilt, all the fear, all the doubt in her head. She believed that everything was going to be okay.
“I’m fine.”
“The view is quite beautiful,” he said, but he wasn’t looking out across the sea as she had been. He was looking at her.
“Do you like the sea?” she asked, finishing her descent and following him inside the mouth of the cave.
“I love the sea. I prefer to always have her in my sights.”
She wondered about him. Where he lived? Did he hide himself? Elizabeth tried to picture him in a house or an apartment, and she simply couldn’t.
“I came from Trieste. I was working at Castle Miramare, living in the dungeons.”
That she could picture. “Do you always know what I’m thinking?”
He turned to study her. “Not always. Enough. If it’s something that’s much on your mind, some need you have that I can fill, then yes. It’s part of how I was designed.”
Oh hell. She needed to not think about his shoulders. Or his biceps, or how much she’d liked being cradled against his chest while he fought off the zombie horde with one hand. That was the kind of man she’d dreamed about. He didn’t need to know that.
He wasn’t a man—he was a monster.
Guilt crashed over her as soon as the thought formed. He was no more a monster than she was—no, that was a blatant untruth. If anyone in the cave were a monster, it was her. For what she’d done. What she’d allowed to happen.
“I can see that, you living in a castle. I’ve always wanted to see Trieste.”
“I could take you there now. It’s a little more than a day on my boat.”
If only… But she knew what she had to do. “Perhaps someday. Can I ask you something?”
“You have already asked me something. Many things.” He nodded.
“I will ask you another something, and I suppose you don’t have to answer, but—”
“If you ask, Elizabeth Wollstonecraft, then yes, I must answer.”
“How did you know to come? You arrived just in time to save my life.”