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It was as if Wells and his father were two magnets, the charge of their grief repelling them apart.
the truth—that he’d risked everything for a girl.
“Yes. Safe enough for the hundred convicted criminals who were going to die anyway,”
her son’s desire to protect the girl he loved.
Her mother and father weren’t curing these children. They were killing them.
First, orange streaks appeared in the blue, like an oboe joining a flute, turning a solo into a duet. That harmony built into a crescendo of colors as yellow and then pink added their voices to the chorus.
It was the first sunset humans had witnessed in three centuries, and he was watching it alone.
“He really loves you, you know.” “Who? Bellamy?” Clarke asked, startled.
Wells went back to his place by the fire, leaving Bellamy and Clarke to talk quietly, their heads bowed together.
Wells snuck a quick glance around the circle to make sure Clarke hadn’t been watching. She wasn’t—she was caught up in conversation with Bellamy.
What was the point of shooting junk into your veins when walking through the forest had the same effect?
She laughed for what Bellamy was pretty sure was her first time on Earth. He felt a surprising flicker of pride that he’d been the one to make it happen.
But then he glanced over at Clarke, who was leaning over to breathe in the scent of a bright-pink flower, the sun catching the gold strands in her hair, and suddenly he wasn’t so sure.
Instead, he pulled her even closer, and before Clarke had time to catch her breath, his lips were on hers. A voice in the back of her brain told her to stop, but it was overpowered by the smell of his skin and the pressure of his touch. Clarke felt like she was melting into his arms, losing herself in the kiss. He tasted like joy, and joy tasted better on Earth.
He wasn’t the brave knight who’d come to rescue the princess. He was the reason she’d been locked away in the dungeon.
“We all looked out for one another. We didn’t have anyone else. Well, except this one girl. She had a brother, a real-life older brother.” She looked down, suddenly blushing. “He was … nice. He used to bring her things—extra food, pieces of ribbon …”
Maybe, here in the ruins of the old world, they could start something new.
That was the thing about secrets—you had to carry them with you forever, no matter what the cost.
He’d only ever really cared about one other girl before—and he’d gotten hurt that time too.
His stomach twisted strangely as he thought back to the scene by the fire, the flames flickering over Clarke’s determined face. He’d never known a girl who was so beautiful and intense at once.
Bellamy leaned back with a sigh and closed his eyes, wondering how long it would take until she stopped being the last person he thought about before he fell asleep.
Bellamy had come down from scanning the heavens only to find himself in the depths of hell.
They all had ash in their lungs and tears in their eyes. But Wells had blood on his hands.
