“About the execution?”
“About...well, Phoenix has never had a partner.Until now.”
“We’re not partners.”
Shep looked at him.
“We’re...we...”Stein reached for a fry.“She’s just, you know, a force to be reckoned with.And gets in over her head.And I’m not even sure how I got here?—”
“You’re in love with her, mate.”Prince Luka, staring at him over his golden beer.
Stein met his gaze.Opened his mouth.Closed it.“She doesn’t have room for me in her life.She’s made that pretty clear.And she’s not leaving this life either.”
“Have you told her how you feel?”
In the silence, he heard his own pitiful voice.“Maybe we can figure out how to get past survival together?”
“I think, by the look on his face,” Shep said, “he’s just figuring that out.”
Stein sighed.“It’s not so much how I feel, but...like I said?—”
“There’s no room for you in her life.”Prince Luka finished his drink.Pushed away his basket of bones.“I don’t think that’s the real problem here, mate.”
Stein folded his arms.
“Hear me out.I used to think my time was empty, a waste.Just a guy waiting to be king.But then I realized that standing in the shadows gave me a view that others didn’t have.I saw the stress, the threats, even the sacrifices my father made.And that gave me insight into how to protect him.Help him.Like Aaron did for Moses.You might consider that you’re theonly oneshe’d make room for.And perhaps that’s why you’re here.”
“Eating a pig’s knuckle?”
“Talking to a prince who understands that it’s not my title that matters but my everyday obedience and value to the King.”He got up.“And I’m not talking about my father.Good to see you, Shep.Dinner is on the house.”
He walked away, and only then did Steinbeck see a couple of security guards peel from the shadows.Huh.
“So,” Shep said, picking up his knuckle.“I’m going to ask you the same thing my future father-in-law asked me when I was where you are.Are you still on mission?”
Steinbeck stared at him.But deep inside, he knew the answer.
* * *
“There’s no use waiting up.Go back to the hotel; get some sleep.”Mystique stood outside the glass doors of the secure lab under the mountain in the Cybertex vault.She sipped coffee, having just made another pot for the geniuses inside working on the Axiom program.
“Nim would love this.”Emberly had lost all track of time while debriefing Mystique on the last month, and especially the haywire hack of the service robot, along with the snatch of Luis in Porto.
All the while, Coco, Declan, and Luis talked computer geek.
And Steinbeck’s strange wave as he left with Shep rattled around her brain.Like...
Was he leaving?
But maybe that was the only right answer.Let him go before...
Before her worst nightmare materialized before her eyes.She’d slept briefly on the plane, had woken with a start, the memory of Steinbeck fighting on the pier searing through her.
She worked better alone.
Really.
“You did well,” Mystique was saying.“Eight months.We would have never gotten here if you hadn’t stayed the course.”
