It felt so good.
She traveled her hands around him so that she could hold him even closer, even tighter. Every breath she took was the heat and scent of him, remembered and rediscovered, as she remembered and rediscovered his solidity, toothe realness that somehow came as a shock, because the impression of him was so unearthly. Elemental. Love is an element , Karou remembered from a long, long time ago, and she felt like she was floating. To the eye Akiva was fire and air. But to the touch, so there . Real enough to hold on to forever.
Akivas hand was moving down the length of her hair, again and again, and she could feel the press of his lips to the top of her head, and what filled her wasnt desire, but tenderness, and a profound gratitude that he lived, and she did, too. That he had found her, and that he had found her again . And dear gods and stardust yet again . Let that be the last time he ever needed to come looking for her.
Ill make it easy for you , she thought, her face pressed to his heartbeat. Ill be right here.
Almost as if he heardand approvedhe tightened his arms around her.
When Zuzana opened the bathroom door and called out, Soups on! they slowly disengaged and shared a look that was gratitude and promise and communion. A barrier was broken. Not by a kissnot that, not yetbut touch, at least. They belonged to each other to hold. Karou carried the heat of Akiva on her body as she stepped out of the shower. She caught sight of the pair of them in the mirror, framed there together, and thought, Yes. This is right.
One last look passed between them in the mirror glasssoft and glad and pure, if far from free of their sorrow and painand
they followed Virko into the bedroom, where an astonishing wealth of food was spread over the floor like a sultans picnic.
They ate. Karou and Akiva kept within easy touching distance of each other, which Zuzana noted with an approving and ever-so-slightly smug eyebrow.
They had just begun to make a dent in the array of dishes when they heard the shouting, coming from outside.
Car doors slammed, and two male voices vied with each other, angry. It could have been anything, just some private dispute, and would not have caused the five of them to rise to their feetAkiva first of alland move en masse to the window. It was the third voice that did that. It was female, melodic, and distressed. It was caught up in the hostility of the other two like a bird in a net.
And it was speaking Seraphic.
51
ABSCOND
They had no view of the commotion from their window, so Karou and Akiva glamoured themselves and went out. Mik and Zuzana followed, visible, leaving Virko in the room.
The argument was under way in the front courtthe dusty domain of kasbah children who pushed one another around in a wheelbarrow and glared at hotel guestsand there was no mistaking the source of the conflict. A young woman sat half in and half out of the open door of a car, and she seemed to have little awareness of herself or her surroundings.
Her face was blank and bloodied. Her lips were full. She was deep brown and smooth-skinned, and her eyes were unnerving: pretty and too light, too wide open, and the whites so very white. Her arms slack in her lap, she rested on the seats edge, head tilted back as impossible streams of language flowed from her bloodied mouth.
It took the mind a moment to sort it out. The blood, the woman, and the two languages, loud and at cross-purposes. The men were arguing in Arabic. One of them had apparently brought the woman here and was keen to ditch her. The other was a hotel employee, who, understandably, was having none of it.
You cant just dump her here. What happened to her? Whats she saying?
How should I know? Some Americans will be coming for her soon. Let them worry.
Fine, and in the meantime? She needs care. Look at her. Whats wrong with her?
I dont know. The driver was surly. Afraid. Shes not my responsibility.
And shes mine?
They went on in this vein while the woman went on in quite a different one. Devouring and devouring and fast and huge, and hunting , she said cried , in Seraphicand her voice was mournful and sweet and drenched in pain, like an otherworldly fado . A soul-deep, life-shaping lament for what is lost and can never return. The beasts, the beasts, the Cataclysm! Skies blossomed then blackened and nothing could hold them. They were peeled apart and it wasnt our fault. We were the openers of doors, the lights in the darkness. It was never supposed to happen! I was chosen one of twelve, but I fell all alone. There are maps in me but I am lost, and there are skies in me but they are dead. Dead and dead and dead forever, oh godstars!
Hairs raised on Karous neck. Akiva was beside her. Whats happening to her? she asked him. Do you know what shes talking about?
No.
Is she a seraph?
He hesitated before again saying no. Shes human. She has no flame. But theres something.
Karou felt it, too, and couldnt name it, either. Who was this woman? And how was she speaking Seraphic?