Atomic Underworld: Part 2 by Jack Conner

Author:Jack Conner [Conner, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BluA
Published: 2016-07-07T23:00:00+00:00

* * *

“I’m almost tempted to go down and join them,” Sophia said, watching the celebrating townspeople from Tavlin's balcony. He had been given a temporary room.

Tavlin touched her arm. “We can if you want.”

She didn’t answer. “Do you think they’re all right?” she said, nodding to the walls, and he knew she referred to the mayor’s daughters, recovering and staying a few rooms down. They were to be given to their aunt in Taluush, which apparently was rebuilding. The town council would then begin restoring the mansion and holding elections.

“They will be soon,” Tavlin assured her.

“What happened to their father and mother …”

“Don’t think of it.” They had learned that Grund had turned Mayor Jensen and his wife over to the priests of Magoth for sacrifice, and that the rituals had been especially gruesome. “It’s over, and they have to start new lives, in a new place.” He glanced at her meaningfully. “We can all start new lives.”

She avoided his gaze. “Maybe some can. I can’t.” Delicately she stepped back from him. “I have to find a job as a nurse somewhere and resume my old life. The one you disrupted.”

He tried to mask his pain. “If that’s what you feel is best.”

“I do.”

She started to walk away, perhaps to retire to her own room, but sudden feeling made him grab her elbow and spin her back around. Her eyes widened.

“What do you mean—”

“Sophia. I love you. I’ve always loved you, and I know you love me, too. Why don’t we begin fresh like everyone else? Jameson was important to us, but he wouldn’t want the weight of his passing to drag us down for the rest of our lives. He would want us to start anew, to begin fresh chapters of our lives. Why not?”

She sniffed. “And where would we live? The surface world? I’d be stared at. I won’t go.”

His heart swelled. She had just agreed in principle to them getting back together! “Then we’ll stay here. Right here.”

“Muscud? You must be joking. It’s in shambles, and Vassas is an asshole.”

“But he’s an asshole we know. We can trust him to be Vassas. We wouldn’t have anything to do with him—I’m out of that line.”

She studied him for a long time, and her eyes grew wet. At last she shook her head. “I wish I could, but I can’t. I won’t let the past go. I won’t let Jamie go.” She clutched her chest over her heart. “I love him! He means something to me.” Tavlin could see the pain in her face. “We’re over, Tavlin. I thought … maybe …” She shook her head again. “But we can’t. I see that now.”

He still held her arm. She pulled it loose.

“Sophia, please, don’t say things like that. You can’t live in the past forever. At least you shouldn’t.”

She marched toward the door and opened it. She was this close to leaving his life for good, he could feel it. If she left now, there would be no getting her back.

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