Wolf had come in with them, too, showing a full row of sharp teeth as he grinned at the new arrivals. And beside him …
“I told them that was the dulcet roar of a Rampion’s engines,” said Kai, “but they all insisted it was just another media hover flying over.” His hands were tucked into his pockets and he was dressed more casually than Cinder was used to seeing him—a cotton button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled to his forearms and dark denim jeans. She had never imagined that farm life might suit him, but he looked as comfortable here as he did anywhere.
Cinder crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re an expert on the sound levels of spaceships now, are you?”
“Nah,” said Kai. “I’ve just been waiting to hear that sound all day.”
She smiled at him, feeling the hummingbird flutter of her own pulse. He smiled back.
“Aces,” said Thorne with a low groan. “They haven’t even kissed yet and they’re already making me nauseous.”
His comment was followed by a pained grunt, but Cinder didn’t know which of her friends had smacked him. Kai rolled his eyes, then grabbed Cinder’s hand and yanked her toward the back hallway. It was only a few steps. Not even a wall or door separated them from the others, but within moments it felt like they were alone.
Covertly, blissfully alone.
“How was the flight?” Kai whispered, standing so close she imagined she could feel the vibrations of his heartbeat in the air between them.
“Oh, you know,” Cinder murmured back. “Thorne was flying, so it was a constant stream of near-death experiences. How’s emperor life?”
“Oh, you know. Press conferences. Cabinet meetings. Adoring fans everywhere I go.”
“So also a constant stream of near-death experiences?”
“Pretty much.” He’d inched closer to her as they talked. Cinder was nearly pressed against the wall, standing between a wall peg holding heavy overalls and a stack of muddy boots on the floor. “Is that an acceptable amount of small talk?”
“Acceptable to me,” said Cinder, digging her hands into his hair and pulling him to her.
*
Breakfast served in 20 minutes.
Cinder grumbled under her breath at the message scrolling across the darkness of her eyelids. She squeaked her eyes open and peered into the dim sunlight that filtered through the room’s tiny window. The familiarity of the Rampion surrounded her, a far cry from the luxury of Artemisia Palace, yet more comfortable to her even now. The gurgle of a water tank through the metal walls. The aromas of steel and recirculating air. The too-firm mattress on the bunk bed’s lower cot.
However, the sensation of an arm thrown over her waist was something new.
She smiled and shut her eyes again, ushering Scarlet’s comm away. She and Kai had stayed up far too late—rays of sunlight were appearing on the horizon when they’d finally fallen asleep. They’d wandered the endless crops, their hands interlaced, content that all the journalists had finally gone to bed. They’d sat on the stoop of the farmhouse, staring up at the moon in a near-cloudless sky. They’d ended up in the crew quarters that Kai had slept in during his stint aboard the ship, cuddled on the lower bed and talking, talking, talking, until the words had turned gummy in their mouths and their eyelids had been too heavy to keep open.
It was almost like they’d never been separated at all, and Cinder couldn’t help feeling relieved to know that his presence was as reassuring to her now as it ever had been. She felt like she could tell him anything and, judging from the fears and pet peeves and frustrations he’d shared with her, she sensed he felt the same way.
With a heavy sigh, she eased onto her back. Kai groaned in protest and shifted his weight to press his face into the pillow beside her head.
“Scarlet’s making breakfast,” she told him. Her voice was scratchy from the hours of talking and laughing.
“Time is it?” Kai mumbled into the pillow.
Cinder checked the clock in her head. “Almost nine.”
Kai groaned again. They couldn’t have slept for more than four hours. She guessed that Wolf and Scarlet had been up since dawn, tending to the farm. They had probably just missed each other.
“Come on,” she said, reaching for Kai’s arm. “It’s a big day.”
Kai jerked in protest when her metal hand touched him, and Cinder recoiled.
“Stars, that hand gets cold,” Kai murmured. Rolling onto his back, he took the prosthetic hand in between both of his palms, warming it as he would warm icy fingers on a winter’s day. Cinder sat up and looked down at him. His eyes were still closed. He could have fallen asleep again, but for his palms rubbing over her metal hand. His shirt was rumpled, his hair tousled against the sheets.
“Kai?”
He grunted in response.
“I love you.”
A sleepy smile curved across his mouth. “I love you too.”
“Good.” Leaning over, she kissed him fast. “Because I’m taking the shower first.”