Tears sprang to Glass’s eyes, and she was grateful that he couldn’t see her face. He didn’t know that their future together didn’t involve anything but pain and sorrow. She took a couple of deep breaths, steadying herself.
“You okay, baby?” Luke mumbled, his voice thick with sleep.
“Fine,” she whispered.
He extended his arm, and without opening his eyes, pulled her closer to him and kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she managed to say before her voice cracked.
After a few moments, she could tell from the rhythm of his breath that he had drifted back off to sleep. She took his hand and gently placed it on her belly, letting his warmth seep through her skin. She watched his face as he slept. He always looked like a little boy when he was asleep, his long lashes practically brushing his cheeks. If only she could tell him about their child, the one growing inside her as they lay there.
But he could never know. Whereas at seventeen, Glass had a wisp of a chance of being forgiven for violating the Gaia Doctrine, at nineteen, Luke would be floated—executed after a cursory trial. She would have to leave him, cut off all contact so the Council couldn’t trace him back to her.
“I’m sorry,” Glass whispered as the tears slid down her cheeks, wondering which one of them her heart ached for the most.
Luke sighed in his sleep. Glass shifted her weight and brushed her hand against his cheek, wishing she could tell what he was thinking. In the chaos of their escape from the Colony, and the trauma of their crash landing on Earth, there hadn’t been any time to talk about their devastating fight on the ship. Or maybe Luke wanted it that way.
Glass had tried to conceal her pregnancy, but she was eventually found out. Violating the ship’s strict population control rules was one of the most serious crimes of all, and even after suffering a miscarriage, Glass still had to face the Chancellor. When he’d insisted that Glass reveal the father, she’d panicked and lied. Instead of Luke, she’d given the name of his roommate, Carter, a manipulative, dangerous older boy who had tried to assault Glass when Luke was away.
But although Carter was a vile slimeball, he hadn’t deserved to die. But that was exactly what had happened. The Chancellor had taken Glass’s word, sending Glass, a minor, into Confinement, and ordering Carter’s execution.
Glass would never forget the look of fury and disgust in Luke’s face when he’d discovered the truth. And even though he’d forgiven her, she worried she’d broken something that couldn’t be fully repaired—Luke’s trust.
He sighed again and, without opening his eyes, pulled her closer to him. She smiled, allowing the reassuring thud of his heartbeat to drown out her other thoughts. Coming to Earth was a chance to start over, to put the horror of the past behind them.
Glass closed her eyes and was just beginning to drift off to sleep when a loud noise startled her awake. All her senses fired up, she sat up in bed and looked around. The cabin was empty. Had she dreamed the sound? What was it? She replayed it in her head—it wasn’t quite a howl, and it wasn’t quite a voice. It was something else—like a call, a signal, but not words. Just a… communication of some kind. Between what kinds of creatures, she had no idea. Camp was miles away, and they’d seen no other signs of civilization out here. They were totally alone. It was probably just the sound of the wind against the cabin roof or something. She had nothing to worry about.
Glass lay back down, pressed herself into Luke’s warm, relaxed body, and finally fell asleep.
CHAPTER 16
Bellamy
Bellamy wasn’t used to sitting on his ass, doing nothing. He didn’t like feeling helpless. Useless. He was used to fighting for the things he needed—food, safety, his sister, life itself—and having to depend on other people drove him crazy. Yet that tendency was what got him into this mess in the first place. If he hadn’t been in such a rush to get on the dropship with Octavia, the Chancellor—his father—never would’ve been shot. And then a few weeks later, Bellamy could’ve come down with the second wave of Colonists, as a citizen instead of a condemned prisoner.
He sat on a wooden bench on the village green, a small grassy area in the center of Sasha and Max’s town. He watched a group of kids a few years his junior walk by on their way to the schoolhouse. Three boys punched each other on the shoulders. He could hear their teasing tone. One took off running, and the other two chased him, laughing. An older boy and girl held hands, drawing out their good-bye, sharing a private joke and a blush-inducing kiss.
But then again, he’d had no idea that the Colony was running out of oxygen and that they’d been weeks away from an emergency evacuation. And it’s not like some nineteen-year-old nobody from Walden would’ve been first in line for a spot on the dropship. Forcing his way to Earth had been the right decision. He’d been able to keep an eye on Octavia. And he’d met a beautiful, intense, intimidatingly smart girl who made him start and end every day with the same goofy grin on his face. That is, when she wasn’t driving him totally crazy.
He lifted his head and looked around for Clarke, who’d been asked to examine a kid’s broken arm. Under other circumstances, staying in this town wouldn’t suck. It was both orderly and relaxed. Everyone had a place to live and enough to eat, and there were no power-tripping guards running around, scrutinizing everyone’s movements. Sasha’s father was clearly in charge, but he wasn’t like Rhodes, or even like the Chancellor. He listened closely to his advisors, and from what Bellamy could tell, most important decisions were put to a vote. The other bonus was that here no one even thought it was weird that he had a sister—they all had siblings, lots of them.