For Darkness Shows the Stars

when she was hurt, I felt responsible for her injuries, and then, later, responsible for being the person that she and everyone else seemed to think I was. I wore that responsibility like a badge, but it wasn’t my true self.
    I believe, though it may be false, that you feel the same. You have fought so hard for your land, for the people on it, that you have forgotten a time when you ever wanted to be anything but a Luddite lord. But I remember a girl who stood on the cliffs with me, who studied star charts and who dreamed of ships. Regardless of anything else, I want you to know that she still lives. Even if you never set foot off this estate again, you are the bravest girl I’ve ever known. If you ever trusted me, trust me in this.
    But I hope for more. Come with me, Elliot. I have wanted to ask you for weeks, but I have waited, out of fear and doubt and the belief that it’s nothing but my own selfishness that wants you with me. I wrestled with this, and chance after chance passed me by. I can’t afford to lose this one.
    Please accept. This time, please accept.
    And please believe that no matter what, I am, ever,
    Your
    Kai

Forty-three
     
    THE DARK SERENITY OF the barn had always soothed her, even when Elliot had been at her worst, but the effects of this letter were too much to bear. No lowing cows, no smell of hay, no soft strokes of Nero’s tail across her ankles would give Elliot tranquillity as she scanned the words over and over. Kai’s familiar pen strokes hadn’t changed with age, and they formed words that wrapped around her heart like a vine and held tight.
    There was no date on the letter. She had no idea if he’d written it four minutes ago or four days. All this time, she’d been waiting for word from him—and here it was. How long had he been waiting for an answer from her? He knew how often she went in the barn, he’d seen how she always looked for his letters. Had he assumed she’d been ignoring him?
    But one thought soon crowded out all the others:
    Yes.
    They were about to launch. She had to get word to him that she accepted. She had to tell the Posts she was going much farther away than Channel City. She had to take her leave of Ro— Ro. If she hurried back to the house, she might still catch her and Dee.
    Elliot ran from the barn to the North house. Ro was already waiting patiently by the door for her ride.
    “El!” Ro cried happily when she saw Elliot. But then her face turned grim. “El . . . Kai . . .” She frowned and pushed away. “Go.”
    “Yes,” said Elliot. “Kai’s leaving. And this time, so are we. Pack your favorite seeds, Ro, and don’t forget your scarf.”
    Ro looked at her in confusion.
    “I said pack!” Elliot shouted and twirled around. “We’re going on a picnic, just like we used to. But this one will last forever!”
    Ro’s eyes were wide, and she made the sign for tomorrow .
    “Yes!” Elliot grabbed the girl’s hands and spun her around in a circle. “For all of our tomorrows!”
    Or at least until harvest, as Kai had promised.
    It took minutes to pack Ro’s meager belongings, and then she grabbed the girl’s hand and half dragged her back to Elliot’s room to pack a bag for herself.
    Elliot was soaring higher than any paper glider had ever dared. Kai wanted her, and this time she was going to go.
    At the door to the house, she saw Dee pulling up in the Boatwright estate’s new sun-cart, a parting gift from Felicia.
    “Elliot, have you changed your mind?”
    Elliot shoved her hair behind her ears and beckoned to Ro. “Have I!”
    Elliot lobbed her bag into the cart, then climbed in behind it. Ro did the same.
    “What’s that for?” Dee asked in suspicion.
    Elliot only laughed. “You need to stop by the Boatwright house.” Dee didn’t move. “Drive!”
    Dee did not drive. “Elliot, have you gone mad? What’s in the bag?”
    The future. She giggled. “Drive, Dee, or I might burst.”
    “What’s going on?” Dee asked again as soon as they were on the road. She drove slowly, carefully compared to the Posts, and the headlamps of the cart illuminated the rocky road before them.
    “I’m leaving,” Elliot sang. “Think you can manage without me?”
    “To Channel City with the Baroness? Good. You deserve a bit of a break.”
    “No. I’m leaving on the ship. Tonight.”
    “What?” Dee blurted. “Elliot, you’ve just planted your wheat. And you promised Tatiana and your father that you’d take care of their