Luce tensed with the urge to turn away, and suddenly the tightness in Dorian’s face unraveled and he fell to his knees, leaning over so far that he lost his balance and one hand splashed down into the water. “Oh, Luce, I don’t actually mean it! I’ve been freaking out all day. I keep thinking the same shit over and over, and none of it makes any sense.” He reached to touch her face, and Luce stiffened but didn’t pull away. Dorian’s eyes went wide and bright, almost desperate-looking. “I’m really, really glad you came. I’ve been going crazy waiting to see you all day! Don’t get mad at me.”

“Don’t say stuff like that to me anymore, then!” The words burst out of her, raspy and wild, even as it occurred to her that she couldn’t really justify her fury. He might truly be worried that she’d try to kill him again. “Dorian, I’m sorry I . . . helped sink your ship. I can’t take it back, though. So if you hate me just don’t talk to me anymore!”

Her face burned even through the streaks of slippery rain, and Dorian caught her wrist and held it tightly. She’d known that he would, really. In her heart she’d known perfectly well how dismayed he would be at the thought that she might disappear from his life.

“I need to keep talking to you, though! Luce, I really . . . I need it more than anything. Like, you’re the one who isn’t supposed to be real, right? But you just make it seem like everything else is fake instead.” From something in his voice Luce could tell he’d thought those words over and over, maybe even whispered them to himself in private. His face was much closer to hers now, and the tarp was slipping back from his shoulders. Rain twisted in long streams from the tips of his trailing hair.

“It’s only humans who go around thinking they’re supposed to be realer than everything else,” Luce said. The words were still angry, but her tone was softening, and in spite of herself she reached to stroke the rain from his face.

“So, where do you want to go?” Dorian asked.

Luce looked into his eyes, disoriented. He was so close she could feel the faint cloud of warmth that breathed from his skin.

“You said to get the boat, right? Doesn’t that mean you want to go somewhere? I can probably get away with borrowing it whenever we want. It belongs to my—to the people I’m staying with, and they never use it.”

“Oh.” His cheeks were bright from the cold, his breath misty and scented with coffee. He had such a beautiful mouth, Luce thought, especially when he smiled the way he was right now. “I was just going to take you somewhere out of the rain.”