In a nightmare world ravaged by misery, the Imperium offers utopia to a select few. When Arya and Everett are recruited into this elite society, they choose to leave their homes against their families' wishes.
Naive and young, Arya and Everett are...
I look up from the deep green leaves waiting to be trimmed, the cluster thick enough to engulf the delicate pink flowers almost entirely from view.
Everett turns to fully face me, his back to the row of bushes that he has been working on since we reached the botanical garden a while ago.
"I just remembered," he says, leaning over the long shrub and pulling my attention to him, "I saw the lights flickering against last night."
I furrow my eyebrows and match his low voice, "What do you mean?"
"Remember, the hallway lights flickered for a while that night when I first came to your pod?"
I tip my head to the side, recalling the thin slice of white light that falls into my pod when I wedge my bracelet in the door. That night when Everett and I shared the big, luxurious bed, we'd spent most of it talking. Suddenly, the light spasmed for a short, inexplicable interval. Since then, Everett and I hadn't noticed the anomaly again; we had slept through the nights in their entirety.
"You fell asleep, but I stayed up for a long time . . ." Everett trails off, looking at a point somewhere far behind me. "Anyway, I saw the same thing happen yesterday."
"Maybe it's not a glitch like we thought," I whisper back, intrigued. "We could stay up and see if it happens again tonight."
Everett nods in agreement. The morning sun hits his face at an angle, giving his eyes an intense, electric-blue hue. Unlike the sun rays back home that seared everything in harsh red tinges, the daylight in the Imperium coats every exposed surface in a gold-colored glow — a sucker punch to the gut versus a warm caress of the cheek.
Before returning to his work, Everett looks pointedly at the shears in my hand before lifting my chin with the tip of his finger. "Please be careful."
His touch lingers on my skin long after he turns away, the snip, snip, snip of our shears dissolving into the rhythm of all the other blades cutting the bushes across the garden.
▲
I sprawl out on my side, moving to make room for Everett on the narrow bed. All these days, I didn't mind the proximity to him; I welcomed it. But tonight, something is different in the way my heart beats too fast as he lowers himself next to me.
"We have a long wait to see if the lights flicker again," I mutter, searching for his eyes in the scarce pearly light falling into the room. "Are you sleepy?"
On impulse, I reach up with one hand before Everett can respond, running the tips of my fingers down the side of his neck. When I hear his sharp intake of breath, I realize that the shift in energy between us is not a figment of my imagination.
His suit feels smooth between my fingers as I trace his broad, sturdy shoulder. Everett's arm encircles my waist, tugging me impossibly closer to him. A hot, fluttery sensation burns its way down my legs, the rustle of our clothes punctuating the silence when he shifts to lean over me, his palms open flat on either side of my shoulders.
"I can't remember your question," he murmurs.
"It's okay . . . I can't either." I barely manage to get the words out.
The conversation comes to an abrupt end when Everett presses his warm lips on mine. He kisses me in a way that leaves me gasping for air, my back arching off the bed, hands clenching into fists at the nape of his neck. I quickly lose all awareness of time, my senses zeroing in on his body as we fumble to undo each other's suits. His mouth leaves a sweet trail of heat on every inch of my skin that is exposed when he slowly pulls my suit off.
"Everett, please," I beg in a ragged whisper a few moments later, dragging my fingers up his torso. I'm unsure of what I'm asking for in my delirious plea; all I know is that I need anything and everything he can give me.
Not long after those words leave my lips, we are both losing ourselves in each other, unraveling and coming undone in unison. Our bodies tumbling over the edge of desire, Everett and I are a mess of entangled limbs and hot skin — spent yet insatiable.
Later, when Everett calls my name, his breath hot and fast against my collarbone, I know that any intentions we had of looking for the flickering lights will be long forgotten, much like the dark, discarded pile of our suits on the cold floor.
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