Iron Seas 03 - Riveted

all right. With David, it wasn’t just riveting need. The world around them was falling apart, but there was something good here in his arms, something perfect.
    And she knew exactly where home was.
    She caught his face in her hands. “I love you.”
    His lips parted. He stared at her, his gaze full of disbelief and hope, as if he thought he’d only imagined the words. So she said them again.
    “I love you, David.”
    Tears glistened in his eye. Then his mouth covered hers, a kiss brimming with hope and joy, and that pushed the rest of the world away.
    He lifted his head. His voice was rough with emotion. “I love you, too.”
    Her heart leapt. “Already? I thought it would take you years.”
    He laughed, nodding, and suddenly she was smiling, laughing, kissing him again. Even Lorenzo’s clearing throat couldn’t dim this happiness. She took David’s hand, led him back to the troll.
    And it was much easier to drive when she wasn’t alone.

    With Lorenzo in the troll with them, she had little opportunity to speak to David before lunch, and then his attention was demanded by Paolo, who had carried in a journal and a survey map. She could not keep her eyes from him as he bent his head over Paolo’s notes.
    He loved her.
    She regarded him with a silly grin until she happened to glance toward Lorenzo. The other man was frowning slightly, which sent a chill through her bones.
    “What are you working on, Father?”
    Paolo didn’t lift his head. David did, his gaze meeting Lorenzo’s, and she’d never before seen his expression so cold. “I asked your father about the project on the peninsula.”
    “It is quite something,” Paolo said. The eagerness lighting his face resembled the same eagerness she’d seen the previous night when he spoke of the moon project. “I’d forgotten how elegant it was, which is likely why it appealed to Stone Kentewess as well. He always said in his designs that the elegance is in the simplicity, and this is, in fact, very simple—though the work might take years.”
    He laughed as if making a joke. Lorenzo’s brow creased.
    “Years?”
    “Oh, yes. We have been looking through my notes all morning. The idea is simple, but there will be much to build.”
    “But you still have to finish the suit.”
    “The suit is done.” Irritation filled his voice. “It has been done.”
    “Then the project is all but done, Father. We have only the final charges to lay.”
    His father suddenly laughed, nodding. “Yes, yes. It will be perfect. It will be ready for me when I’ve finished with this.”
    “You want to put it on hold?” An edge of strain appeared inLorenzo’s voice. “We are fortunate today that the earthquake did not ruin it all, Father. If we delay, it’s a certainty that something will.”
    “Then let it!” Paolo snapped.
    Surprised by the sudden vehemence, Annika looked to David. He wore a smile she’d never seen before, hard-edged and satisfied. He met her gaze and it changed, warmed.
    “Father.” Lorenzo spoke with the measured tones of someone out of patience with a child. “Anyone can imagine this. If Stone Kentewess did, then anyone can build it. You don’t need to. It’s a small idea.”
    David’s expression didn’t even flicker, as if he didn’t feel the insult to his father. He remained silent.
    Paolo shook his head. “Even small ideas are critical. You cannot calculate the area of a circle without first learning to add two and two. You have only to look at Newton’s journal to see that it is true. All those men who were in a race to answer everything missed the simplest answer of all. I did the same with the mountain at Inoka. I meant to do everything at once: to heal the land, to clean the air, to stop a war. This will be a small step, yet it can still mean so much, count for more. Every little bit helps.”
    “But the moon , Father. A legacy like that would overshadow the mountain. It could repair the di Fiore name, make it a worthy name for Olaf.”
    “Olaf will make his own name. What will you make of it?”
    “I will be the man behind you. The man who always supports his father.”
    “Then support me in this!”
    Lorenzo’s jaw tightened. Silenced. Annika stared in awe, then looked to David. Somehow, he’d done this—and he’d used the most effective weapon against Lorenzo: his father.
    Would he retaliate? Blame David?
    Annika couldn’t guess—but she didn’t think it would be rightnow. Lorenzo stared at his father as if no