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“Maybe I am afraid,” she whispered. “How do I live with myself if there ever comes a day you get hurt because of me?” Oliver smoothed his hand over her cheek. Brushed right at the soft space beneath her eye, like he was dusting off the stars that had fallen between them. “You accept it,” he replied simply. “Because that’s what it means to be alive. That’s what it means to fight for something—to love something. The country is good enough for us to die for. Why wouldn’t you be?”
“You know,” Celia said very carefully, her voice almost hoarse, “that being with me would be different from being with another woman.” Oliver didn’t hesitate before grasping her chin, holding her in place, keeping her from diving out of sight. “Good,” he said. “It should be different because you are the woman I am in love with, not another.”
Beiping
With twenty years and two generations, Lady Hong’s invention is—as Benedikt said—stabilized. True immortality.” With a grimace, his eyes dropped to Rosalind. “Mine was not stable. Rosalind Lang only has a few years of borrowed time before it kills her.”
“You listen to me,” he said, grabbing Rosalind’s face with both hands. “You are bound to me in matrimony. If you break it and descend into another plane of existence, I will chase after you and snatch you back.”
As infallible and brave as she was, Rosalind still needed him. She needed him as any person needed their burdens borne by another from time to time. Just as he needed her—and now that he had her, he refused to let go.
“The other option is religiously bound matrimony, and I don’t think either of us believes in anything.” I believe in you, Orion thought. Before I put my faith with anything, I would put it with you.
“Hong Feiyi, don’t you see why I couldn’t let go of Priest? I’m not some unerring operative. I tried to convince myself that I was simply devoted to the country, but then I saw you in that cell and everything finally made sense.” His eyes dropped. “Of course I was committed to her beyond what was acceptable for the mission. I was so fascinated because I could see the parts of you in her. I’ve loved you this whole time, just split in two.”
He kissed her, and she recognized the tune even if the pitch was different. She kissed him, and the feeling was as electric as picking up a real pistol for the first time.
The ronin—Japanese auxiliaries to the army—were
Bund
“Safe is a bit of a stretch. I did get pistol-whipped a few times.” Rosalind grimaced. “You don’t look like you got pistol-whipped, if that makes you feel any better.” “It does, actually. I’m sturdy.”
“Tell your heart to stop pumping so fast.” “I can’t,” he replied weakly. “It swoons when you’re around.”
“I’m settling for a compromise. I will refrain from being an attention-seeking menace if you let me be very public. The sky itself says I love you. I have loved you since we weren’t actually married, and I can’t bear another day living in a falsity. Please, Rosalind, put me out of my misery.”
