“Dear God—God of jokers, I mean—I don’t know if you’ve noticed me. If you have, you probably don’t think much of me. I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of. But it’s hard, being like me. People make it hard, you know? I try to do the right things. If you know everything, you know that. God, I just want one thing. Save Olena. I love her. I love her like I’ve never loved anybody. And she’s a good person. You can see that, right? The world needs good people, right? And I don’t mean just live. Let her be all right. If you do that, I’ll do whatever you ask of me. I swear it. Whatever you ask, I’ll do it. Just let me know what.”

He paused, unsure what to say next. That was it, he guessed, and it felt just as hollow as he figured it would. He exhaled a weary breath, opened his eyes, and found Olena awake and watching him. He stared at her, pinned to the moment, unsure which Olena she was, not wanting to say or do the wrong thing.

“I didn’t know you were religious,” she said. “It’s sweet of you to want to ‘save’ me, but that’s not for me.” She grinned suggestively. “I’m too much of a sinner.”

Marcus still found it impossible to speak. She was awake. She was talking with him, smiling, joking even. So she wasn’t insane, and she didn’t hate him. She’d even said he was sweet. It was too much. He didn’t have the words. So instead he kissed her. Softly at first, and then with more passion. She returned it, making sounds low in her throat. He loved the feel of her lips and her arms, her skin so soft and warm. Her hands slid under the sweater, moving over his torso as she pulled him closer, as hungry for him as he was for her. He was so flooded with relief and filled with desire that he didn’t question the instant passion. He let it become everything, all the horrors forgotten. He squirmed on to the bed, twisting her with him so that she broke the kiss to laugh. She straddled him, legs wrapping around his smooth, scaled lower torso. He felt the pressure of an erection pressing against his scales, starting to emerge. It would have, except that she grinned and exclaimed, “You’re crying!” She wiped tears that Marcus hadn’t known were there from his cheek. “Silly boy. Why do you cry? You are being strange.”

“I just can’t believe you’re all right.”

She leaned in and kissed the moisture away from one cheek. Lips wet on his skin, she asked, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

As aroused as he was, he put a hand to her chest and gently pushed her up so he could see her face. “With all the stuff we saw … The way things got so crazy … Olena, I’m sorry for what I did, but it was all I could think to do to save you. You were so close to…”