Breaking Sky(72)

“You did.” She took a deep breath. “We’ve just been so unbalanced lately.”

Pippin rubbed his temples. Hard. For a second Chase worried it was all going downhill again. “I’m going to say it fast, so stay with me. I’ve been Voldemort. You’ve been Darth Vader.”

“Why do I have to be Vader? Voldemort is so much more badass.”

“You can’t be serious. Fine. How about I’m Saruman and you’re Sauron?”

“You’ve always been too much Tolkien for me.” She paused. “How about Dr. Frankenstein and Mr. Hyde? One of them is morally insensitive”—she motioned to herself—“and the other is a’rage with primal urges.”

“I’m not raging, but nice one.” He stopped walking to face her. “Dark guises aside, I’d like it if we found some unevil things to say to one another, especially before tomorrow morning.”

“Agreed,” she said. Did this mean she had to go first? She didn’t care; she had to confess before something else got in their way. “I wasn’t trying to out you to Romeo. I just wanted to talk to him. He’s kind of ridiculous, you know.”

“I know,” Pippin said. “Now I’ll admit I wasn’t trying to be a complete dick to you about Tourn. Scratch that. I was trying to be a dick because I was…am…really frustrated. Watching you and Tristan has been hard.”

“Watching us? Why?”

“The way he looks at you like you…” Pippin was rallying something snarky. She saw it forming on his lips, and then it was gone and the truth fell out. “It’s everything I want from Romeo. You know, a serious interest. The spark.”

They kept walking, heading for their barracks.

“I’m trying not to feel bad for myself. It’s extraordinarily hard.”

They reached their room, and she sat down hard on the bunk, kicking out of her boots. “Pippin, I think you’re right. Things with Tristan are…different?”

“You don’t sound so sure.”

“I’m not. You know this stuff isn’t coded for me.”

“Then allow me to translate.” Pippin sat beside her on his bunk. They weren’t the sort to put their arms around each other, but his proximity did something along those lines. “Go for it.”

“What?”

“Go. For. It. You have nothing to lose with Tristan.”

“I could hurt him, Pip. I have a feeling that Tristan’s jilted heart will make Riot’s look like rumble strips.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of playing it safe. It’s getting me nowhere.”

Chase smirked. “Does that make me sick of playing it reckless?”

He looked at her from the side. “Maybe it does.”

“So what now?” she asked. “What can we do before tomorrow?” The trials reared up in her thoughts, making her nerves run a few spastic jumping jacks.

“I suggest you find Tristan and make the best of the countdown to doomsday. I have a date with Romeo. I’m teaching him how to play pool. Well, he doesn’t know it’s a date, but that works for me.” He looked at Chase from the side. “I like being near him. It’s pure energy. Even when all I want to do is strangle him for all his blind flirting.”

“That’s love, isn’t it?” she asked, remembering how desperate she had been to spar with Tristan. Pippin nodded.

For the first time in her life, love made so much stupid sense.

She pressed her head to his chest and wrapped her arms around him. Pippin wasn’t into hugs, but she held on until his arms fell loosely around her. “I realized something when I was about to take Tourn’s head off,” she said. “He’s the real stranger. I don’t know why he does anything he does. But you—I can always see what’s going on underneath, even if I have no clue what’s happening on the surface.”

“Maybe we should work on the details,” he said. “All the…inconsequential stuff.”

“We’ve got a whole career together ahead of us. Suppose we should be open.” She took a deep breath. “For example, I know you don’t want to be here, but I don’t know why.”

“My family needs the money,” he said.

“That’s not really an answer though, is it?”

He ruffed up his hair. “When I was nine, I told my mom about—well, me. She’s such a loving person that I thought she would make me feel better about being different.”

“And she didn’t?”

“She did not. And neither did my brothers when they found out. The teasing was…” Pippin’s eyes were dark, his expression heavy, and she held him a little tighter. “It’s not that I don’t want to be here, Chase. I’ve never felt welcome anywhere. Not for who I really am.”

“So the gay genius RIO and the hated general’s daughter. We’re quite the pair.”

“Indeed.”

? ? ?

In the hangar, the Streakers stood together, wing to wing. Pegasus first, polished and beautiful. Dragon next, with brand-new wheels and more than a few dents and scratches. Tristan ran his hand over the metal skin, like Chase had done so many times with her bird.