Of Gears and Humanity

| 11.1

[ELENA]

My home. It was the least I could do for him. My initial plan had been to make sure his wounds were treated, then take him back to the Gate where we had met. But Marleth and Theo made it clear how difficult of a situation I'd created by bringing him so far from his home. We gathered in my father's meeting room to discuss what we were to do with him.

But the discussion had reached a halt. A struggle. And Damien stepping out of the room I tried to hide him in didn't make the situation better.

Still, I couldn't let him know that. So I continued to smile. "I brought you here to make sure you'll heal okay. What that thing did to you was pretty awful and I wouldn't be a good queen if I let you bleed to death."

There was something about Damien when he smiled; there was a different appeal to the look of it in daylight. The way his eyes absorbed the light of the room, the way the sunlight accentuated the single dimple on his left cheek. When he crossed his arms over his chest, as if he listened intently, I couldn't help but notice the muscle lines under the sweat we had placed him in; I also noticed the deep scar on his right hand.

"I'm happy you helped me," Damien said, nodding. "You saved me, Elena. I think for that I'm forever grateful."

Could he be forever grateful? Could I? If he hadn't jumped over the Gate, the lion would have eaten me and Carmine would have dragged my cold body back home. The thought of that chilled me. I shivered.

"Wonderful, while we're happy you're grateful for our future queen—" Theo pressed himself between Damien and me. His arms were crossed over his chest, just like Damien had done. While the boy from the Gate blinked, unbothered, Theo huffed and asserted his presence. "—we need to properly plan what to do with you until we can get you back home."

Damien's brows pressed together. "What to do with me? Am I an issue?"

"It is not that you're an issue." Marleth stepped closer from behind. Her hands were pressed together, almost pleading though apologetic. She glanced at me before looking back at Damien. "It just isn't safe if you're here."

Damien pursed his lips, slowly nodding. "Safe for who?" he asked.

"For our princess," both Marleth and Theo answered the question. In unison.

My cheeks filled with air. I honestly didn't see the harm in him being within the castle. Homestead was small, but the guards couldn't have known every person in the village outside the castle. I could have easily lied to everyone about his identity until we planned the trip back to the Gate.

But, as Theo explained, the guards had noticed someone sneaking out of the castle the other night. The strange occurrence placed them on high alert. And Marleth, being that she was always with the morning servants, overhead the gossip traveling within the castle halls. The town already spread the ghost story to one another; a mist sneaking off in the moonlight.

Ghosts in Homestead was another way to describe Attributions and their old ways. And if there was a ghost in our town, within our castle walls, then there was no more sneaking. At least not for a little while.

To think this all happened before I even made it back home.

"I'm not dangerous." Damien lifted both of his hands to prove his innocence. "If I hadn't jumped the Gate from my side to yours, then who knows what would've happened to Elena." He pointed at me. "I couldn't have just left her there. What kind of person would that make me?"

"Oh, not sure." Theo rubbed his temple before squeezing his eyes shut. "A person raised by machines?"

Words hurt. They did damage. And Theo dealt the toughest blow.