Dripping with panic, I throw open the door joining Luke's room to mine.

The chamber is dark, and I find that fact odd, given it's well into mid-morning by now. The only light glows from a dim lamp beside his bed, which is neatly made.

"Everything okay?" Like calls from the window, where he fastens a heavy piece of fabric over the window pane to prevent the sunlight from pouring in.

The alarm seeps from my bones to pool in my stomach, where it waltzes with the nerves there. "My bed is in splinters," I say. My gaze trails after his dark figure as he crosses the room to stand before me. I realize he must have cleaned up too, for his hair is damp and he is conveniently missing a shirt. I swallow, and a grin shifts his lips into a delicious half-moon.

"I noticed." This close, I can make out the flecks of gold framing his pupils, like a brilliant euphoria before the drop into the great endless abyss of him. I nearly fall in as he lifts a hand, brushing back a limp lock of hair from my forehead. "Fortunately," he continues, "my apartment was spared from ransacking. You can sleep here."

Remembering how he tricked me into sleeping while he stayed awake all night in the Outlands, I nod, brow setting sternly. "Don't think you're getting out of sleeping this time," I warn. "You're going to sleep in that bed with me, and you're going to like it."

"I have no doubt about that," he says. My cheeks blaze.

"That's not—I didn't—"

Luke chuckles. "I know what you meant," he teases with a tug to a lock of my hair. "Go on."

I turn from him, swallowing my embarrassment, and crawl under the blankets. I lay stiffly on my back and press myself to the edge of the bed, leaving Luke with more than half of the bed for himself.

The mattress dips as he slides in next to me. I focus on the pattern in the ceiling tiles as he shifts, adjusting the covers and getting comfortable until he finally settles.

"You plan on sleeping with your eyes open?" he asks, amusement riding on the timbre of his voice. I shut my eyes, but it only seems to make things worse. His soft breaths fill the night, and stars I can smell him. The scent of salt and pine, shampoo and clean sheets. My chest aches, and I picture myself leaning into his chest, breathing him inside me. Inhale. Exhale.

Come on, I think, mentally shaking myself. Its not nearly the first time we've slept in the same proximity. Just fall asleep already! The chant rings in my head, but it's echoed with whispers of how sweet it would be to feel Luke, to touch him. I almost pout at the thought of him being the frustratingly still gentleman he is.

I'll never sleep like this.

Luke breaks the silence. "What will you do?" he asks, voice laden with a quiet intensity. "When your brother finishes the serum."

My eyes open and I turn my chin to face Luke. He is already looking at me, curled up on his side with an arm under the pillow to prop himself up. His figure is framed by the lamplight as he waits for my response, and my gaze follows the contrasting outline of him.

There is a tightness in my chest, achingly painful, that begs for release. When Rhett completes the antidote, I'll have succeeded in my mission to free Markee from the Summus' power. But then...

There will be no reason for me to stay in the Outlands.

From the beginning, the plan was to get in, get Markee, and get out. Once we return to Keir, we should begin travels back to Herald. We can re-enter society and go back to our old lives.

I turn my eyes to Luke's. His body is lounged, relaxed, as if his question didn't weigh more than a song. But his eyes—those green, endless fields of melody—are heavy, deeply troubled.

Then, I think of his eyes on me that day at the waterfall. I remember the gaze he set on me, bold and desirous. I remember how those eyes held me in the observatory. The intensity in them, and the green fire blazing within.

His are eyes that I never want to stray from. I would willingly drown in that sea of green if it meant I could stay by his side.

No, I think. There will always be a reason to stay in the Outlands, as long as Luke is there. But not just him—all of the good people I have met in the Outlands, like Sol, and her family—I want to stay near them, too.

But even more than my desire to remain in the Outlands is the disgust that wells up from within me when I think of everything Herald was built upon. Our lives would never be the same if we return. We can never go back to the way things were.

"Where you go, I go," I finally answer, my words a breathless whisper.

There is a hesitancy in his gaze before he shuts his eyes, but only for the briefest moment before opening them again and settling them on me. Then the relief and intensity I know so well is back, and his gaze burns along my skin.

"I would follow you if it took me to the ends of the earth," he murmurs. Awareness pricks at the back of my neck, then a shock careens down my spine. It's as if every cell in my body yearns for him, stretching toward his whole being.

When I make to reach for him, he gathers me up, pulling my body toward his so that we are two parallel lines on the bed with only inches between us.

My eyelids droop, entranced by the comfort of his arms and the scent of him. "Together."

It is a word like subtle magic, speaking the meaning into existence. Wherever this world takes us, we will go together. Perseca, Keir, or even Herald—Luke and I will be together, and no thing nor person can hinder us.

At the first touch of his lips, I sigh. I have longed for him since we last parted at the observatory, and now I will never get enough. When I press my lips to his a second time, he pulls me flush against him. I can feel every iron muscle in his chest as he leans into me, capturing my mouth with a passion to rival the the stars.

His hands—they're dancing over my waist, my hips, sliding down until they've found the delicate skin behind my knee. He pulls my leg up over his and my tunic bunches up, but I can't seem to care. I'm hot, flushed, and practically writhing beneath his touch, which burns into me like a brand. Our bare legs entwine, knees brushing as he caresses the skin of my thigh. My back arches, and I gasp when his lips move to my jaw, then the sweetest spot between my neck and shoulder.

But my hands are not idle. After they are satisfied with their exploration of his shoulders, his chest, my fingers dive down his abs, rippling on the muscles there. He lets out a pained hiss when I graze his side. Startled, I pull back.

"It's just tender," he croaks, voice like the crackle of a fireplace. But I am already tracing the swollen purple bruise on his ribs. Delirious as I am, the sight makes me blink hard, and I sit up.

"This is from the attack in the lab?" I ask, breathless. "The soldiers—they hurt you. Luke, I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

Luke pulls my fingers from his side and kisses them before placing my hand on his cheek. "I knew you'd do just that. Worry and apologize needlessly, for something you didn't do. It's fine, I've recovered from much worse."

The fist around my heart squeezes, and I lie back on the pillows. Luke slips an arm beneath me and tucks me close to him. I can feel his heart still pounding, much like mine, and if my eyes weren't already closing, if I wasn't already falling into sleep, I would have kept kissing him until the sun set.

Instead, I snuggle into him, his warmth radiating and surrounding me in songs of amber and daydreams.

"Where you go, I go," I mumble. "But I can't leave my brother." I'm floating down on a cloud made of iridescent dreams.

Luke presses his lips to my temple. "We will make it work." His words make my heart smile, even as I drift off to sleep. Then, softer, so soft I can hardly tell if I'm still awake, he continues. "I've needed you for so long Sophie, and I didn't even realize it. To settle for anything less would leave me robbed from the joy and purpose I've found with you."

And as if he hears my heart beating for him alone, he kisses me goodnight.

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❤️