Sebastien came even closer, and touched her cheek with the back of his hand. His eyes glowed. She leaned into him, into his touch, his warm strong hand. “It would be nice to kiss you,” he said. “I haven’t stopped being who I was, Elena. I just became… more.”

“Show me the man I knew, the man I dreamed about – show me he’s still here. Prove that to me, and I’ll be able to believe everything else. I’ll be able to trust you.”

He moved even closer, and she turned her face away. She pulled against the unyielding machines that pinned her wrists. “Don’t kiss me while I’m chained up. Please.” She let a smile rise to her lips. “Not on a first date, anyway.”

Sebastien snorted, and seemed amused, but didn’t order the machines to let her go.

“What can I do to you?” she said. “You took my weapons. You’re bigger, and stronger, and the whole station obeys your commands. I’m trying to trust you, Sebastien. You have to trust me a little bit, too. If this is going to work, it needs to go both ways.”

“You’re right. Of course.” He took a step back, glanced left and right, and spoke a word in some guttural language. The machines slithered their coils away from Elena’s wrists, contracted into smaller spheres, and rolled off to wait patiently in the corners.

She went to Sebastien the moment she was free. Elena stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, and it felt as good as she’d always imagined it would. He was passionate without being pushy, strong without being overwhelming, and when his hands went around her waist, up her back, and then traveled down over her hips, she pressed herself against him, and moved her own hands up his back, holding him close. He pulled back after a long moment. “Oh, Elena.”

“Oh, Sebastien.”

Then she punched him in the back of the head.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Callie crept through a smooth tunnel that was barely big enough for her. Maybe the Liars had used it, long ago, or the brain-spiders used it now, to move around the station quickly. That was a horrible thought. She’d had to take off her environment suit and her helmet to fit through this space, and she didn’t like having her head exposed. She still had an earpiece so she could talk to the others, but she couldn’t be sure Sebastien wasn’t monitoring their comms, so she kept quiet.