“My hero.” I tucked my hand into the crook of his arm. He seemed pleased. “I have noticed that we’re the only two guards in here. Where is everyone?”

“After I made our new identities, I scheduled us to guard the rainforest for the night shift. I cancelled the two that were supposed to be here. I assume they’ll just get sent home when they show up for work. It’s late, so there’s no scheduler on duty to check with.”

“You always think of everything, don’t you?”

“I told you before, that’s how every Kenner is raised.” He gave me an admonishing expression as if my forgetting that detail was unforgivable. Then he smiled. “Come on. I want to show you the ocean before the lights go off.”

We followed along a well-worn footpath through the forest, taking care not to trample any foliage. There was an occasional rustle in the bushes, which startled me, but I quickly got used to it. I felt like all my senses were coming alive there. I wanted to see, smell, and touch everything.

“Is it just me, or is it getting darker in here?” I asked. My eyes were no longer feeling so light sensitive. Everything seemed dimmer.

“They simulate the sun going down and the moon coming up.”

The foliage became less dense as we travelled the path, and I noticed the soil was fading away and being replaced by white sand. The trees weren’t as tall, and fruit grew on some of them. We broke out of the forest into a clearing, and there it was. The ocean.

“It’s beautiful!” I said breathlessly. I felt strands of my hair lifting away from my face. “Is that wind?”

“The air current is generated when the warm air of the rainforest mixes with the cool water of the ocean,” Jack said.

“What kind of fish is in the water?”

“Tons of different fish and coral reefs, which provide the Dome with food. But it’s the algae that are the most important feature of the ocean, since it contributes to our oxygen supply. The enclosure itself is made of thick Plexiglas. It’s really ingenious when you think about it.”

I had never seen an ocean for real—only in books and movies. And this one looked real enough to me. It was massive. Waves lapped against a sandy beach, and crabs popped up out of the sand. Birds flew above, diving occasionally to come up with fish in their beaks. It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen.

As we stood drinking in the beauty of the ocean, a dimmer, bluish light was quickly replacing the bright light of the sun.

“Is that the moon?”

“A fake moon, but beautiful anyway.”

“A beautiful ending to a horrible day. Thank you for bringing me here.” I gave him a sincere look. “I’m sorry you didn’t get the chance to share it with the girl of your dreams.”

He smiled at me. “I did. Why do you think it was so important for me to bring you here?”

My heart caught in my throat when I realized he was talking about me. He raised a hand to brush the hair away from my eyes and then cupped my face in his hands. His kiss was slow and gentle, and I wrapped my arms around him, pressing myself against him. But the bulletproof vest prevented us from making any real contact. I cursed it silently.

“You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, Sunny O’Donnell,” Jack whispered in my ear. I laughed and pushed away from him in order to see his face.

“You can say that after everything I’ve dragged you through?” I asked in disbelief. “If it wasn’t for me, you would probably be married to Leisel right now and training to be the next president.”

“Married to Leisel?” He grimaced. “Way to kill the mood, Sunny.” He pushed away from me playfully.

I caught his hand in mine. “Seriously, Jack.” I gave him a sobering look. “When I allowed myself to go along with Leisel’s plan, I ruined your life. And I need you to know how sorry I am for doing that. You would’ve been a good president, and all this fighting could have been avoided.”

Jacked studied our entwined hands. His brows drew together, and he frowned. “I wouldn’t have made a good president. My only agenda was the same as my family’s—restore democracy. I didn’t have any plans for the Pit.” He raised his eyes away from our hands and looked into my eyes. “My whole world was up here, in this Dome, sealed away from the Pit. The most consideration I ever showed the people down there was to advise the president to stop decreasing rations and concentrate more on decreasing the population through stricter controls. Do you believe that?” He shook his head and chuckled bitterly. “For most of us up here, the Pit is just a place where our coal comes from, where our sewage is treated, where our laundry is cleaned.”

My heart sank with every word he spoke. Why was he saying those things? The Jack Kenner I had come to know wasn’t like that. I dropped his hand. He looked at me apologetically.

“My time down there with you was… a revelation. My view of the Pit—god, my view of the Dome—has changed so much. I’m a better person for having you in my life. Don’t ever apologize for that.”

“So you never wanted to help us?”

“Not before I met you. You changed me. The Pit changed me. Listening to the children sing in the common room changed me. And Crystal’s sacrifice…” He shook his head sadly. “When I was growing up, my parents told me there were monsters down in the Pit. They always threatened to send my brother and me down there if we didn’t behave. Their threat always worked because we believed in the monsters. It wasn’t until I was living there with you that I found out the monsters were us.” He rubbed a hand across his eyes. “I just want to be honest with you, Sunny. You putting on that wedding dress was the best thing that ever happened to me. It was the best thing that ever happened to the Pit. Don’t be sorry.”

I remembered when Jack had asked me if I believed in fate, and now I saw why. If we had never gotten married things would never have changed in the Pit. I didn’t like what he was saying, but I did appreciate his honesty.

He picked up my hand and stroked my palm with his thumb. “Don’t hate me.”

I looked into his eyes. “I don’t hate you. I’m glad you’re being honest with me.” I didn’t want to lose Jack. We needed each other now more than ever. “But if you felt that way about the Pit, why did you come with me? I mean, once we escaped from your apartment you could have found someone to hide you.”

“One reason was that I didn’t think Holt would look for me there right away, and I was right. And another reason was… I wanted to see where you would take me.” He smiled shyly.

I looked at him in surprise. Jack wanted to be with me?

“Don’t look so shocked. Do you know how hot you looked in that green dress?!”

“That tacky green dress? Ugh!” I closed my eyes at the memory. It was the most hideous thing I had ever worn.

He chuckled at my discomfort. “I didn’t say it was a tasteful dress. It left little to the imagination, and I think every man in the room stopped to look at you when you walked in. I was glad to get you out of there. But I didn’t really notice you until the next day. You were wearing my bathrobe, all the makeup washed from your face, looking so young, innocent, and beautiful. And then you told me you were willing to risk your own life to save your people. Something inside me just clicked, and I knew I had met the girl of my dreams.”

I stroked his face. “That’s the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me. I wish I could tell you I liked you then, but I didn’t. I really wanted to scratch your eyes out at one point.”

“I know, and that was part of your allure. Every other woman in the Dome wanted to sleep with the next president, but not you. You wanted to kill me.”

I laughed. He was right. “To be honest, I struggled to stay with Reyes when I went home even though I knew I couldn’t offer him a future. I just felt like I owed him. And then when we broke up I felt so… relieved. I felt free. And I let myself look at you in a different way.”