“You’re alive! Oh, thank God,” she cried, hysteria raising the pitch of her voice. “I thought for sure you were dead. When the tunnel collapsed—”
“Where are you?” he asked, his voice stronger now, his heart hammering against his breastbone.
“I didn’t know where to go. I’ve got Zowan and Terra with me. Well, not exactly with me, but I don’t know who to trust, so it’s hard . . .”
“Lacey! Where are you?”
“I’m in the Madrona Lounge—”
“I’ll be right there,” he said, and cutting her off, he threw the phone and his resignation letter into the duffle bag, grabbed it and his suitcase and backpack, and took the service elevator down to the main floor. There he burst out of the car only to stop dead at the sight of her. She stood at the mouth of the elevator lobby, wearing her own jeans and top, turning toward him now at the rumble of the doors opening. Her face was white as a sheet, though her eyes and nose were red as if from weeping. He let his bags fall to the floor, crossed the space between them, and swept her into his arms.
Her emotional control shattered as she clung to him and wept. “I thought you were dead,” she sobbed into his shoulder. “Mr. Mallory’s team went down after you, and then Swain blew the tunnel. . . .” He held her close as she told him of the cave-ins and the massacre Swain had perpetrated on the Edenites, and how they’d been left for dead, but Zowan had led them out through the passages behind the Star Garden. It had taken them all afternoon to reach the campus proper, because they were terrified one of the security patrols would find them and finish the job Swain had started. She’ d left the clones in a warehouse out by the Vault. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You did good,” he told her, releasing her to take her by the shoulders and look into her eyes. “You couldn’t have done better. Come on.” He steered her toward the stairwell. “I’ve got a car again, so let’s go get them.”
As they drove around the outer service road, he told her some of his side of the story, including what Gen was doing to cover everything up. She was indignant at the notion of just letting her get away with it but saw the futility of any other route once he’ d laid it out. “Our priority now is to get those kids out of here,” he said. “My friends should be able to work up some official identities for them, social security numbers, birth certificates, that sort of thing. We don’t have to say they’re clones, either, just children of the cult members. Who’s ever really going to know?”
She accepted his reasoning without comment and they fell into silence for a bit. Then she asked timidly, “And what about us?”
“I’ve got my resignation letter in the duffle back there and a bit of money saved up. I think I’ll head up north to visit my parents and my brother for a while. After that, I don’t know.” He pulled in at the warehouse she’ d indicated, switched off the engine, and looked over at her. “I’m pretty much waiting for the Lord to show me what He wants me to do next, and I have no idea what that will be.” He gave her a half smile. “But you’re welcome to come with me, if you want.”
Her lovely eyes widened. “Come with you? You just said you don’t know what you’re going to do.”
“That’s true. But my parents would love to entertain us. They have a beautiful big house up in Cottonwood, lots of wooded land to walk through, a stream, horses to ride, trails to bicycle on. It would be a time to get away and take stock, figure out your next step.”
“We barely know each other.”
“Well, we could remedy that there, too.”
She looked suddenly stricken, her eyes welling with tears. “I thought I would never see you again—that God had brought you into my life just long enough for me to fall in love with you, only to snatch you away forever. I swore after Erik I would never be impulsive again, but now here you are, asking me to go away with you. . . .” She fell silent, the tears glistening on her lashes.
He shifted around on the seat toward her, touched her cheek with the back of his fingers, then leaned forward and kissed her. It was a hundred times sweeter for having almost lost her. Her hand came up to press against the back of his neck, and he felt the same fire ignite in him as he had in the gardens.
Finally, reluctantly, he pulled his mouth from hers, then touched his forehead against hers. “Can I take that as a yes, then?”
She giggled. “I suppose so.”
A flash of movement by the warehouse door caught his attention, and he glanced around. “Hmm. Looks like Zowan’s getting impatient. I guess we better go over there and fetch them.”
KAREN HANCOCK has won Christy Awards for each of her first four novels—Arena and the first three books in the Legends of the Guardian-King series, The Light of Eidon, The Shadow Within, and Shadow Over Kiriath. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor’s degree in biology and wildlife biology. Along with writing, she is a semi-professional watercolorist and has exhibited her work in a number of national juried shows. She and her family reside in Arizona.
For discussion and further information, Karen invites you to visit her Web site at www.kmhancock.com.
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Betrayed by his mentor, denied his crown, and sold into slavery by his own family, Abramm Kalladorne embarks on a turbulent search for truth and freedom that will test his faith to the limit and challenge everything he thinks he knows. Treachery and faithfulness, guilt and forgiveness, joy and loss all weave the tapestry of one man’s destiny realized—and lead to a purpose he never imagined. An epic tale in the tradition of Tolkien, this award-winning series is set in a world of swords and cloaks, of glittering palaces and mystical temples, of galley ships and mist-bound cities.
LEGENDS OF THE GUARDIAN KING BY KAREN HANCOCK
The Light of Eidon, The Shadow Within, Shadow Over Kiriath, Return of the Guardian-King
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