Droids And Bots

Chapter 43

She wanted to feel relief now that they had no more secrets. But that wasn’t entirely true either. He still didn’t know she was Unar.

She opened her mouth again, unsure what she was going to say until the faint words came to her. “I didn’t know how. ”

Tim’s eyes softened, little wrinkles forming in their corners.

“I would have understood,” he said.

Almost imperceptibly, he inched closer, and Nora found her elbow crawling up his shoulder in a way that felt impossibly natural. Still, he did not back away. Did not shudder or tense.

He knew, but he wasn’t disgusted? He would still touch her? Somehow, unbelievably, he still even, maybe, liked her?

She felt she would have cried if it had been an option.

Her fingertips tentatively curled around the hair at the back of his neck, and she found that she was shaking, sure he would push her away at any moment. But he didn’t. He did not pull away. Did not grimace.

His lips parted, just barely, and Nora wondered if maybe she wasn’t the only one having trouble breathing.

“It’s just,” she started, running her tongue across her lips, “it isn’t something I like to talk about. I haven’t told anyone who…who…”

“Who didn’t know her?”

Nora’s words evaporated. Her?

Fingers stiffening, she eased them out of his hair and settled her palm back on his shoulder.

The intensity in his gaze melted into sympathy. “I understand why you didn’t say anything. But now I feel so selfish. ” His jaw flexed, his brow turned up with guilt. “I know, I should have guessed after you told me she was sick to begin with, but with the coronation and Queen kumal’s visit and the ball, I just…I guess I forgot. I know that makes me the biggest jerk in the world, and I should have realized that your sister had…and why you were ignoring my comms. It makes sense now. ” He drew her closer, until she could almost lay her head on his shoulder, but she didn’t. Her body had gone rigid again, the dance steps forgotten. “I just wish you would have told me. ”

Her gaze shifted over his shoulder, focusing on nothing. “I know,” she murmured. “I should have told you. ”

She felt as though all her synthetic parts were squeezing together, crushing her inside.

Tim didn’t know.

And yet to have felt the comforting presence of acceptance, only to be confined by secrecy again, was even more unbearable than lying to him to begin with.

“Tim,” she said, shaking herself from the misery that threatened her. She pushed back to arm’s length, returning them to the acceptable distance of strangers—or of a Technician dancing with her emperor. For the first time, Tim missed a dance step, eyes blinking in surprise. She ignored the guilt scratching at her throat.

“I came here to tell you something. It’s important. ” She glanced around, ensuring that no one could hear them. Though she caught a few jealous scowls targeting her, no one was close enough to hear over the music, and the Unar queen was nowhere to be seen. “Listen. You can’t marry kumal. No matter what she wants, no matter what she threatens. ”

Tim flushed at the queen’s name. “What do you mean?”

“She doesn’t just want the South lake. She’s going to start a war with Earth either way. It’s just that being empress here will pave the way for her. ”

It was his turn to look around, simultaneously molding his look of panic into cool indifference, though up close, Nora could see the worry in his eyes.

“And there’s more. She does know about Nainsi…about what Nainsi found out. She knows you were trying to find Princewillss Selene, and she’s taken the information you found and is hunting her down now. She has people out looking for her…if they haven’t found her already. ”

Eyes widening, Tim looked back at her.

“And you know,” she continued, not allowing him to interrupt, “you know that she won’t forgive you for trying to find the Princewillss. ” She gulped. “Tim, as soon as you marry her, and she has what she wants…she’s going to kill you. ”

The color drained from his face. “How do you know all this?”

She took in a deep breath, somehow exhausted from getting all the information out, as if she’d only reserved enough energy to bring her to this moment. “The D-COMM chip I found in N

ainsi. There was this girl, its programmer…ugh. It’s complicated. ” She hesitated, thinking she should give the chip to Tim while she had the chance. He may be able to get more information out of the girl, except in her hurry to leave for the ball, she’d stashed it in her calf compartment. Her gut sank. To retrieve it now would be to reveal herself to Tim and everyone around her.

She gulped, shoving aside the rising distress. Was saving her own pride more important to her?

“Is there somewhere we can go?” she asked. “Away from the crowd? I’ll tell you everything. ”

He glanced around. In their dancing, they had traveled almost the entire length of the ballroom, and now they stood before a set of massive doors that opened out onto the royal gardens. Beyond the steps, a willow tree was weeping from the heavy rain, a coy pond nearly overflowing. The pummeling of the storm came in waves, almost drowning out the noise of the orchestra.

“The gardens?” he said, but before he could move, a shadow fell across them. Glancing up, Nora saw the unhappy expression of a royal official, looking at Tim with lips so tight they’d started to go white. He did not acknowledge Nora.

“Your Majesty,” he said, his face drawn. “It is time. ”

. .-Five

Nora LOOKED UP AT THE MAN, HER LINK TO THE NET database informing her that he was Konn Torin, royal adviser. “Time?” she said, turning back to Tim. “Time for what?”

Tim stared at her, part apologetic, part afraid. Her gut twisted.

Time to seal the fate of the Western South lake.

“No,” she hissed. “Tim, you can’t—”

“Your Majesty,” said Konn Torin, still without deigning to meet Nora’s eye. “I have allowed you your freedom, but it is time to put an end to this. You are embarrasing yourself. ”

Tim let his gaze fall, before shutting his eyes altogether. He rubbed at his brow. “Just a moment. I need a moment to think. ”

“We do not have a moment. We have been over this time and again—”

“There’s new information,” Tim said, his tone harsh. Konn Torin’s face darkened, and he cast a suspicious glare at Nora. She shivered at the disapproving frown—for once, this was hatred directed at her not because she was a bot, but because she was a normal girl, unworthy of the attention of the emperor.

For once, she couldn’t disagree.

If the understanding showed on her face, the adviser ignored it. “Your Majesty. With all due respect, you no longer have the luxury of being a lovesick teenager. You have a duty to fulfill to your people now. ”

Dropping his hand, Tim met Konn Torin’s gaze, his eyes hollow. “I know,” he said. “I will do what is best for them. ”

Nora gathered up the material of her skirt in both hands, hope stirring inside of her. He understood her warnings. He understood the mistake he would be making if he agreed to marry kumal. She had succeeded.

But then he turned toward her, and the hope shattered at seeing the helplessness etched in deep lines across his brow.

“Thank you for warning me, Nora. At least I won’t be going into this blindly. ”

She shook her head. “Tim. You can’t. ”

“I don’t have a choice. She has an army that could destroy us. An antidote that we need…. I have to take my chances. ”

Nora stumbled back as if his words had landed the blow that he had protected her from before. He was going to marry Queen kumal.

Queen kumal would be empress.

“I’m sorry, Nora. ”

He looked as crushed as Nora felt, and yet while her body became heavy and immoveable, Tim somehow found the strength to turn away with head lifted and start walking toward the platform at the far end of the ballroom, where he would announce his decision to those who had gathered.

She searched her brain for anything she could do to change his mind. But what else was there?

He knew kumal would still start a war. He knew kumal would probably try to kill him after the wedding. He probably knew about more cruel and evil deeds she’d committed than Nora did, and none of it made a difference. Somehow, he was still naive enough to think that more good than bad could come from the union. He would not stop it from happening.

The only other person who had the power to stop the marriage alliance was the queen herself.

A fist clenched over Nora’s heart.

Before she knew what she was doing, she was storming after Tim. She grabbed his elbow and spun him back around to face her.

Without hesitating, Nora wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Tim froze, his body as tense as an droid’s against her, but his lips were soft and warm. Though Nora had intended for it to be a short kiss, she found herself lingering. Hot tingles coursed through her body, surprising and scary but not unpleasant, surging like electricity through her wires. This time, they did not overwhelm her. This time, they did not threaten to burn her from the inside out.

The desperation melted and, for the briefest of moments, the ulterior motives were gone. She found herself kissing him for no other reason than she wanted to. She wanted him to know that she wanted to.

She didn’t realize how badly she wanted Tim to kiss her back until it became quite clear that he wouldn’t.

Nora pried herself away. Her hands lingered on his shoulders, still shaking from the raw energy inside her.

Tim gaped at her, lips left hanging open, and though Nora’s gut reaction was to back away and apologize profusely, she swallowed it down.

“Perhaps,” she said, testing her voice before raising it loud enough that she was sure the crowd would hear her. “Perhaps the queen will not accept your proposal, once she finds out you’re already in love with me!”

Tim’s eyebrows rose higher. “Wha—?”

Beside him, the adviser took in a hissing breath, and a series of gasps and rustles passed through the crowd. It occurred to Nora that the music had stopped again as the musicians stood and tried to get a look at what was happening.

A burst of jovial, tittering laughter split through the awkwardness. The sound, though filled with the sweetness of a child’s giggle, sent a chill down Nora’s spine.

Pulling her hands away from Tim’s neck, she slowly turned. The crowd followed the noise as well, swiveling in unison like puppets on strings.