The Far Shores (The Central Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

implant had calculated. “Now, for
the vote opposing…”
    “No need, sir,” Lord North
said airily, dismissing Gaul’s motion with a wave of his hand. “You have your
war powers, Director. I hope that they prove worth the price we have paid.”
    On that much, both of
them could agree.
     
    ***
     
    He opened the door, and then stood
there, struck dumb, holding his breath without even realizing it. The room
smelled of the ocean, and the interior was cooler than the air outside by small
but noticeable measure. Water ran down the sheets in rivulets, pooling beside
the bed on the floor around her bare feet. A faint green phosphorescence hung
in the air around Emily, clinging to her damp skin like the clothes she was not
wearing. She had drawn a blanket across her lap to cover the most pertinent
areas.
    Vivik held on to the
door frame until he was certain that he wouldn’t fall over, then he closed it
quietly behind him. Locking a door was a meaningless gesture in the Academy,
but he did it anyway.
    Then he crossed the
space between them and found himself wrapped around her waist, his head in her
lap. She gently removed his turban, her hands stroking his exposed hair.
    “I like being able to
see your hair,” Emily whispered, her eyes a disconcerting sea-green. “I never
knew it was so long.”
    “I don’t cut it. It’s a
religious thing.”
    “I know,” she affirmed,
saltwater dripping from her fingertips. “You have really amazing hair, Vivik.
It’s a waste to keep it hidden.”
    Vivik sat up suddenly
and grabbed Emily by her bare, wet shoulders. Then, to his utter astonishment,
he kissed her, brushing her cold lips momentarily with his own. The gesture was
brief and chaste, but Vivik was still overcome with immediate embarrassment.
Emily didn’t seem upset, though, her fingers running thoughtfully across her
moist lips, behind that a playful smile.
    “I got your note,” Vivik
managed, unable to face the smile on the bluish lips he had just kissed. “I
wasn’t sure it was actually from you. I wasn’t sure you’d really come.”
    “I was surprised that
you still wanted to talk to me,” Emily said, putting her hand on his cheek. Her
nails, she noticed, were painted the same green hue as the phosphorescence that
surrounded her. “I was worried that you might see me as an enemy…”
    Vivik tried to pull
himself away, the pain obvious in his eyes, but Emily held on to him with a
gentle persistence that won out. As she ran her damp fingers along his forehead
and through his hair, his concerns began to dissipate.
    “I’m not betraying him,
and I’m not betraying Central, so don’t even bother asking,” Vivik said, sounding
very tired. “I won’t be a tool the Anathema use to hurt my friends.”
    Emily maneuvered his
head back into her lap. Her thigh beneath the blanket he lay on was tanned and
warm, and when his lips brushed against her skin, he tasted salt. He closed his
eyes while she rubbed her thumbs patiently against the base of his neck until
he lay, utterly peaceful and unselfconscious, thinking about nothing but the
benign face of the girl above him.
    “That’s okay,” Emily
said simply, patting his head. “I wouldn’t ask you to do anything like that,
anyway. But you don’t need to worry. I have no sinister intentions toward you,
Alex, or the Academy. It is however you say it is. But, Vivik dear, why did you
help me to come back, if you do not trust my intentions?”
    “I had to,” Vivik said
miserably. “Otherwise, I would have never seen you again.”
     
    ***
     
    Anastasia dismissed her staff one at
a time, dispatching them on errands or allowing them to return home after a
long day. Patience was key, but it was more difficult than she had expected to
sit at the desk in the office maintained for her at the Great Hall in the heart
of Central, watching the evening become night. The ancient building slowly grew
quiet around her. The rest of the Committee-at-Large had long departed