Page 9 of Lies That Blemish
I grinned. “You just want to kiss me, don’t you?” I joked, and then felt bad for it.
His eyes flared to life. “Well, yeah, but not as a rehearsal for a play act.”
Ouch, point taken.
“Okay, then kiss me.” I shrugged, jutting out my chin and puckering my lips.
He peered at me with an intensity I hadn’t expected. “Only psychos kiss with their eyes open,” he scolded me.
I grinned, enjoying this banter, and closed my eyes, puckering my lips again. I expected to feel his lips on mine,but instead, he took the sides of my face gingerly in his hands, cupping my cheeks, and my heart raced. I hadn’t been kissed since Kohen, and those kisses had been scorching, earth-shattering, soul-mending. I didn’t feel that for Alek, so I prepared myself for a kiss that felt dead, but when his lips pressed onto mine, ever so tenderly, a tiny spark ignited in my chest. A mild thrill went through me. But just as soon as it was there, he pulled away, and it vanished.
I opened my eyes, a little surprised to see him grinning.
“Dare I say you enjoyed that, Aisling?”
“Don’t count on it,” I told him honestly.
The door to my dressing room opened, and Alek stepped back a little. It was Admiral Elaine, wearing her full Fleet-issued suit. “There has been another letter,” she told me and glanced at Alek.
I’d approved Alek to hear higher-level security clearance issues weeks ago.
I nodded that she could proceed.
“From Maxim?” My heart sped up. He hadn’t written to me for two months.
Elaine shook her head.
Oh. Kohen. “Burn it with the rest of them,” I said. He’d been sending a letter a week for two months now. They all said the same thing: your father was going to hurt you, I was saving your life, stop this fighting, and we will stop, blah blah.
Elaine cleared her throat. “This one is different… and you’re going to want to read it alone.”
Read a letter from Kohen? I hadn’t done that in weeks. I’d stopped because it got hard, seeing his handwriting, hearing him plead with me to believe him. They were all the same, so I saw no point. He wasn’t surrendering himself to justice, so I was going to keep going until we had him in handcuffs.
“I’ll see you at the party,” I told Alek.
He nodded, taking his cue to leave, and ducked out of the room.
Elaine strode over and handed me the letter, watching Alek leave the room.
“You didn’t tell me Kohen could see the future,” she said, and I bristled.
I snatched the letter from her hand and met her gaze. “Didn’t seem to matter anymore.”
She glanced at the letter. “I’ll be waiting outside.”
With that, she left the room. I’d given Elaine permission to read Kohen’s letters and screen them for anything important, like a surrender. Otherwise, she was instructed to burn them. Had Kohen said in the letter that he could see the future?
I peeled it open and read.
Aisling,
Lately, I’ve learned something awful about my gift of seeing the future, and that is that the future can change. What used to be one road has now merged into two. Two possibilities, depending on what you do.
I froze, taking a shaky breath. Two futures? What was he talking about? I shouldn’t even be reading these lies.
I see you married to Alek and me married to Anika. We are at peace in our own separate countries. You are decently content, having chosen duty over love. In this future, Luska is still a threat and you fight them until the day you die.
On the other possible road, I still see you as my wife. Our lands become one again, and we rule over them together, living out a happy life where Luska is no longer a problem. But it’s a reality we will have to fight for, Aisling. You will have to fight for it.
