As if by magic, Elsey appears at their side, hugging them both around the waist. My mom’s arm curls around her and she says, “Oh, El. Sweet El.”

The tears are bubbling up faster than I can blink them away. My mom’s other arm reaches back blindly, beckons me into the fold. Two steps and I’m there, surrounded by the warmth of the family I love, the family who’s been ripped apart, convicted, abused, battered—but not beaten. Never beaten.

And then, abruptly, the tears stop. I’m complete again so there’s no need to cry. My body recognizes right away what my mind takes a few more seconds to understand. I’m home. Not at our puny house in subchapter 14, but in the place where home really lives. In the love of my family.

I pull away to see smiling faces, a circle of strength, of goodness, arms around each other protectively. I’ll never lose these people again.

Someone clears their throat behind me. I strain my head backwards and my eyes lock on him, just like they did they first time, with the power of rock crushers, and bulldozers, and lava flows. In this moment, Tristan’s dark blue eyes are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Perhaps it’s just crazy hormones, or the emotion of the reunion with my family, or some force greater than any of that, but I feel a physical pull and I rush to him, slam into his chest, wrap my arms around his torso—feeling muscle and bone and strength—in his body and in mine.

His face is surprised, and I know I’m not acting like the timid girl who was scared to hold his hand from before. Because I’m not. I’ve stared down death in the barrel of a gun in my face. There are only so many moments in one’s life, and then it’s over. And I’m determined to make the most of every moment from here on out.

I don’t wait for his chin to dip; rather, I lift up on my tiptoes and tilt my head back, jamming my lips to his. I don’t know what the heck I’m doing, but I’m not thinking, not anymore. I’m not worried about whether this will be our first and last kiss, or one of many. I’m just acting, listening to my heart.

I must be doing something right, because his hand moves behind my head, sifts through my hair, pulls me in even closer, if that’s possible. His lips are soft and tender and urgent as he moves them over mine. My mind is exploding and my heart is about to, but I keep kissing him.

Luckily, he has enough presence of mind to pull away from me, because I don’t know if I can. It’s a good thing for two reasons: One—I’m completely out of breath and I may have suffocated myself before I released us from the kiss; and two—my whole family is watching us, which is embarrassing regardless of the gravity of the situation. Elsey’s beaming, my mother’s smiling sheepishly, and my father’s wearing something between a grin and a grimace. The only ones not watching: Roc and Tawni, who are sitting side by side on one of the beds, talking quietly and smiling at each other.

I turn back to Tristan, and, realizing my arms are still around his back and his around mine, I twist to the side and grudgingly release him, sliding my hand down his arm until it intertwines in his fingers. “Tristan, I’d like you to meet my mom, Anna,” I say.

Mom steps forward and shakes his hand. “I’m so happy to finally meet you,” Tristan says, and I know I’m beaming ridiculously, more like Elsey than myself, but I can’t seem to stop.

“And you, Tristan,” Mom says. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for my family, and what you’re doing for the Tri-Realms.”

Her words stir the last remaining bits of emotion out of me and I put my arm around her, pull her in close.

Dad says, “I’ve got to go meet with the VPs. Enjoy yourselves until I get back.”

When the door closes I turn around to find Roc and Tawni back on the edge of one of the beds, whispering and laughing. It makes me smile.

Mom and Elsey are side by side on one of the other beds and Elsey’s telling her some funny story, using her hands as much as her voice.

At the foot of the third bed, Tristan’s watching me. The breath rushes from my lungs. I’d forgotten how handsome he is—seeing him through a video screen just doesn’t do him justice. His blond waves seem to fall perfectly atop his head, framing a face so stoic and strong that it’s almost as if he is a prince.

I go to him, sit down next to him on the bed. He takes my hand and I feel my heart rate increase as warm blood flows to my extremities. As usual, bats flutter ceaselessly in my stomach.

“I’m so happy,” Tristan says. It seems like such a funny thing to say considering we’re still in the middle of a potential war of epic proportions, but when he says it I know I feel the same way. In fact, I feel like I’ve never been happier.

“I am, too,” I admit.

He raises an eyebrow in a way that only looks cute on him. “What happened with Brody?” he asks, and my breath catches when I think he’s talking about the almost-kiss. “I mean, why do you think he wanted to hurt you?”

I realize he’s talking about the other K-word and I let out my breath slowly, trying to hide the fact that I was holding it. “I don’t know for sure, but I’m pretty sure it was because we were going to come here, try to convince the moon dwellers to join the cause. Your father didn’t want that, and since he was working for him, he acted to stop us.”

“Oh,” is all Tristan says, but I know there are deep thoughts behind the one-syllable word.

“Why do you ask?”

His shoulders slump forward and his expression darkens. “I think he’s trying to get to me—trying to get me to give up.”

“He’s a fool for trying,” I say.

Tristan shrugs. “I guess, but if anything ever happened to you, I don’t know…”

“Promise me you’ll keep fighting no matter what,” I say.

Tristan looks into my eyes. I recognize the look because it’s the same one he gave me just before we parted ways in subchapter 26. The same look I probably gave him right before I rushed into his arms only a few minutes ago. My lips part slightly.

He leans in and kisses me, sending electricity through my lips and shivers down my spine. This time he doesn’t pull my head in, he simply holds both of my hands, runs his fingertips along my skin, like he did when we fell asleep together on a night that now seems so long ago. Now that I know how good kissing can be, I wonder why I never tried it earlier. Because I didn’t know Tristan, I think.

A thought pops into my mind that almost makes me laugh. I guess it’s official: we’re girlfriend/boyfriend. My mouth breaks into a smile while he’s still kissing me, and he slides back to look at me. “I’m sorry, did I do something wrong?” His face is pale and worried, like he really thinks he’s the problem.

“No…it’s just—you’re doing everything right.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Tristan

I’m crazy-over-the-moon-ecstatic right now. I’m hoping all the emotion of the last hour will help me give the speech of my life in just a few minutes. I mean, everything is going perfectly. After we kissed for the second time, we scooted back and sprawled out on the bed, my back against the wall and her head on my chest. We could see Adele’s mom, but she pretty much ignored us, focusing her attention on her other daughter, whom she hasn’t seen in months. And Roc seemed more than happy to be left alone with Tawni.

I told Adele about how Roc is my half-brother, and about what my father did. She asked if I was okay. I told her I am now. It was nice, just chatting with her and getting to know her. It almost seemed normal, like we were on a date, and not at some peace summit. But now Ben is back, which means the date’s over.

“It’s time,” he says when he walks in. “Anna, can you take them to the platform?”