The road curved to the right and downward. It continued underground for a distance, lights guiding the way in the translucent ceiling above, and then entered the underground complex, which was automatically opened before them by Serena's systems. Adam brought the car to a stop before the open elevator doors and Aelia got out and looked around her. Behind her was the exit back to the road, now closed. On one side stood a row of security SUVs, and beside them and closest to her stood what looked like a sturdy version of the car they had just arrived in. On her other side was a closed entryway, to the control center and the rest of the underground complex, she knew from the blueprints Adam had shown her.
Adam waited patiently, giving her time. She closed the passenger side door and walked beside him into the open elevator. Recognizing them, the security system closed the doors and took them up. The doors opened again, and she walked into a large space that led on both sides to stairs going up. A distance before her stood a partition wall that reached almost to the ceiling and was open on both sides. Skirting it from one side, she found herself in an open kitchen for which the partition was the back wall. Beyond it was a spacious living room. An opaque protective shield similar to the one she'd seen at Aeterna silently slid up, allowing the daylight in through a full glass wall with the lake and the mountains beyond it.
Behind her Adam spoke a quiet command, and the glass doors slid open, letting the fresh wind in. Aelia walked forward, drawn by the view outside, the picturesque landscape, its peace. Adam found that he was enjoying watching her. She was different here, just herself, in this lovely, quiet place. He watched her walk out, watched as she looked around her, her eyes lingering on the lake, then returned inside and walked around the room, her fingertips brushing the fireplace mantel, the back of a sofa. Then she turned back and walked to where he was leaning on the kitchen counter. She continued a little farther and peeked toward the stairs on both sides.
“Come see,” Adam said and led her up the stairs on one side, to his niche—he stopped for a moment near the screens as they activated, letting him know the security system registered a vehicle entering the parameter through the gate—and his bedroom. He showed her how to enter the corridor that connected their bedrooms and that opened automatically as either of them approached it, and they passed through it to her bedroom, and to the cozy niche just outside it.
She looked around her, then returned to her new bedroom and took in the organized closet, her bathroom, the way the cushions were placed on the bed. She smiled. “Sonea was here.”
Adam nodded. “And then some.”
Sounds from below let them know they were no longer alone. “Speaking of Sonea,” Adam said and led Aelia down the stairs on her side of the cottage.
“Welcome home!” Sonea, the only person who would dare do that, ran to Aelia and hugged her.
Aelia readily accepted the affection. She then greeted Nolan, who stood quiet and ever patient behind Sonea, and even he answered with a wide smile—anything that made Sonea happy, made him happy. As far as he was concerned, the First or not, she was family.
Good, Adam thought, watching them. If this were to work, Sonea and Nolan needed to be completely at ease around them, which would in turn ensure that Aelia and he would get used to having them around and relying on them for whatever they needed.
Sonea opened the bags Nolan now carried in from the elevator, Adam helping him. “They've got some great shops here, and the produce market, I simply can’t say enough about it,” she said as she stocked the refrigerators. She opened a cupboard, and Aelia saw that it was already full. “Nolan and I stocked this place the other day, the pantry too, but I had to leave most of the perishables until now. Mr. Kennard here said he'd be leaving the day after I arrived, but we weren't sure when you two would return. I cooked, too,” she chattered on happily as she filled the refrigerators with enough food for a small country. “I'll do all the shopping around here, and I'll cook. You can cook, too, if you want, just tell me what you need and I'll get it for you, but you don't have to, I'll take care of everything, we will, Nolan and I. Don't you worry.” She carried on, Nolan nodding vigorously now and then, obediently confirming everything she said.
A little over an hour later they were alone, Sonea having repeatedly promised to come back just a few days later. She wanted to return the very next day, but Adam wanted Aelia and him to have some time alone in Serena, to get used to their new home and to at least begin to get used to just the two of them being here, before fully introducing their two caretakers into their routine.
While Adam checked Serena's security and locked it down for the night for the first time with the First in it, Aelia forgot herself exploring the cottage. She then stepped outside to the balustrade that had been built around the roof and stood on it for a long time, looking at the falling dusk of the gently wintry day, not feeling its already cold edge. When the glimmer of the lake faded, she went back inside and down to the kitchen where Adam was busying himself with making dinner. She sat on the opposite side of the counter and watched him with interest as he began preparing a salad to go with Sonea’s cooking which he was reheating. Her mind returned to that first night, after he'd shot her. He had carried her, unconscious, up to her apartment that day, and in that oddest turn of events had treated her wound, and had then prepared her dinner. He had looked comfortable in the kitchen then, just as he did now.
He slid a cutting board with cherry tomatoes on it and a knife across the counter to her, and she began cutting. “You cook,” she said.
“You knew that already.” He smiled a little, knowing where her mind had gone.
“Well, back then I saw you more as a shoot first and cook later guy.” She was amused, he saw. Good, she was comfortable in her surroundings, and with this situation they were in.
And with him. Which was mutual, but then he was all too aware of that already.
“I still shoot,” he remarked, matching her amusement. “Except that now I shoot for you, not at you.”
“I kind of like it better that way.”
“Oddly enough, so do I,” he said, then realized what he'd meant and changed the subject. “So?”
“I love the place,” she said.
“Good. I think we’ll be comfortable here.”
“We will, Mr. Kennard.” She used the formal address that Sonea had used, which everyone used now, when they were not referring to him as the Protector.
He raised his brows. “Yes, that takes some getting used to. Kennard.”
“Hey, wait. I don't really exist anymore.” She suddenly realized what she'd forgotten, the witness protection part of it, which made her former identity unusable.
He stared at her for a moment, then got it. “It's all right, we registered new identities, new names. Ahir and I set up backgrounds to fit us, and our people among the humans filled these in brilliantly with every possible detail. We also have bank accounts, and Aeterna deposited in them funds to reflect a certain elevated status so that no questions will be asked.” He indicated the upper floor with his head. “We've got IDs, digital wallets, credit cards, cash in multiple currencies, everything a normal person needs anywhere in the world. It's all in my desk upstairs.”
“Mmm. And you're back to being Adam Kennard.”
“Yes. But I have credentials for another name, if I ever need it.”
“Kyle Rhys.”
“Yes.”
She nodded. It made sense for him to keep the identity the organization knew, and after all the authorities had never connected that name to what happened at her apartment, or to her. And it wasn’t as difficult for him as it might otherwise have been, using this name that reminded him of the past, since he now had his real name, his real family. She wondered if she would ever find hers. Pushing the thought away, she raised her head and looked at Adam resolutely. “So what's my name?”
“You’re still Aelia,” he said gently. “I thought you’d want to keep the name, and since we’re constantly watching out to
make sure you’re not found, it’s okay.”
“Thank you.” Her voice was equally soft. She tiled her head quizzically. “And the rest of it? My last name?”
He stopped mixing the vegetables and threw a look at her, and she was surprised to see him look somewhat self-conscious. She was about to ask again when she got it.
“You're kidding.”
He shook his head, still finding the salad bowl so much easier to look at. He wasn't used to this. He'd never let himself get involved before. Before her.
“Kennard. You called me Aelia Kennard.” She was in shock.
“Yes.”
“Whose idea was that?”
“Mine.” He continued quickly. “It was a given, really. Among the Firsts you don't even need a name. Yes, they know the name Aelia, but for them you're the Light, or, officially, the First. And that was enough in the past, when the Light lived protected among the Firsts, never venturing among the humans. But the decisions you've made will necessarily put you also around humans, in their world.” He paused, contemplating how to say this. “When we're out there, you and I, I've got to have unlimited access to you, and it's crucial that no one will be able to question my being near you, or my right to be with you. Among our people, I am the Protector of the Light. Among humans, I need to have the one status no one can argue with. So, yes,” he breathed in. “We’re registered as husband and wife.”
She lowered her eyes. He was right of course, it made sense. Still, it was . . . she didn’t know what she was thinking, how to look at this, at him. Or at what, for just an instant there, she felt from him, before he managed to conceal it.
“Set the table?” he said, his voice a notch softer than it was before. “Dinner will be ready in a minute.”
It was after midnight when Adam went up to his bedroom, after making a last round of the locked-down cottage and checking security through the system in his niche, the routine he would now fall to every night that they were here.
In her own bedroom, Aelia stood looking around her. Then she went to the windows that spanned two walls of the room and moved aside the light curtain—a mere decorative item, as no one would be able to see anything if they happened to be looking from outside. In the moon-lit night and with the gentle dimness of the room surrounding her, she could see clearly to the dark lake and to the far mountains of Serena beyond. She liked it here. She hoped that this time, this home she would not have to leave again so soon.
She prepared for bed, then walked into her closet—here too with the white robes she had never yet worn hanging in their own designated corner—chose a slip and a short robe and dressed unhurriedly. She climbed onto her bed and sat quietly in its middle. Her thoughts were calmer here, she realized. It was easier to distance herself, to find that place within her that would allow her some peace, here at this remote place where she was alone.
Not quite alone. She turned her head in the direction of Adam's rooms. But him being there felt right. He was in his bedroom right now, and he too liked it here, liked this place that he had chosen. Liked that she was finally there with him, that much she could tell.
Aelia didn't realize she was smiling.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Those first days they were just them, just Adam and Aelia, making a home for themselves in this place they had chosen for their refuge. They explored the woods around it, walked along the lake, and still there remained unexplored territory for them to see, whole mountains beyond. It was a serene solitude, a place to get away to, and it was all it was meant to be for them. Adam saw it on Aelia soon after they'd arrived, saw it in her eyes, in her smile. There was a new calmness to her. Serena was already shaping itself to be the sanctuary that she needed.
That they both needed. Under normal circumstances they would have been raised among the Firsts, allowed time to learn their destinies and their roles in the lives of their people, and for their abilities to develop gradually, with all the support they might have needed. As it was, they were thrown with unforgiving abruptness from lives they had grown into adults in, into an alien, unimaginable reality in which they were the most crucial players, responsible for the lives of so many. And these, their first days at Serena, were the first chance they had, since it all began, to smooth this transition over. They had each made a conscious decision to accept the role assigned to them, and that had allowed their transition to be completed. But that didn’t mean they didn’t need this time they now had, in this isolated place that was only theirs, to accept what had been done to them. And to accept what was now theirs.
While at Aeterna they were constantly surrounded by people, here they were alone much of the time. Sonea and Nolan came on most days to take care of the cottage, but otherwise Aelia and Adam were on their own. As for their loyal helpers, they loved their new life. Sonea chatted constantly about her new home, about the garden that Nolan—her Nolan, he already was—had prepared for her and the space he had set up for his carpentry in the shed at its edge, and about the market not far from the center of the village where people would stop and chat, everybody knowing everybody. She loved it here and she and Nolan loved being together, and Aelia was glad about it. She wanted Sonea to stay, felt comfortable having her around, but if she had not been happy here, Aelia would have sent her anywhere she would feel at home.
But their being alone here also meant no security and defense teams who could react if they needed them. The security detail Adam had brought from Aeterna lived in the village and was stationed in the structure beside the hangar. The village had people who could protect it if needed, but although they had regular training, the fact was that this had been a peaceful area for decades. They would not be able to stand up to the organization's killers. The Firsts did have a secure location where they trained their people and kept a defense force, one that the Protector had been aware of for a while now and that he had factored into Serena's security. It was equipped to launch teams anywhere globally, and would always know where the First and the Protector were. But still, these teams would take time to get to them.
This worried Adam despite the care he had taken to secure Serena. In the unlikely event that Aelia found herself here alone and in danger, he wanted her to be able to defend herself. He remembered what Ahir told him, that the Light could not be killed by anyone but her Protector. But the fact was that she had already been taken away from her people once, and he remembered all too well that she could be hurt. Worse, so far he'd only seen her protect others around her, and had seen no real indications that she was able to protect herself. Whatever her abilities were, he wanted her to also be able to defend herself as any person would.
Any person who had ruthless enemies.
And so he taught her how to access Serena's security, how to see their new home in images, holograms and data. He showed her all the security measures in and around the cottage and scattered around Serena's parameter for miles around, and how to access the screens in his niche, the capabilities he had made sure were available from there. He made sure she knew how to access their underground control center, how to seal it with herself inside, how to watch and control Serena from it, and how to communicate from it. All communications involving Serena were routed, he told her, through systems that made sure they could not be traced, to prevent anyone tracking the First and the Protector to their sanctuary.
He showed her that when she accessed the screen in her own niche, she had a direct connection not only to Neora and Ahir, but also to Rolly and the control center at Aeterna. On her command or if Serena entered emergency mode, it would automatically establish connection with Aeterna's control center, which would in turn lock on to Serena, notify the defense center and alert the security detail on call at the airfield, even as it tracked her and Adam's movements and locked down safe sections around them to isolate them from potential pursuers. Serena's security was not designed to fail.
He also showed her where he kept his gun and his knife when they weren't on him, in his bedroom, and
where the weapons arsenal was, in the cottage and under it. She refused to learn how to use a weapon. He insisted. There were some things he would not let even her argue with him about. And so she listened to it all, and tested her new knowledge. For him.
Later on that evening, the two sat together on the porch Adam had asked be built for Aelia, allowing themselves to enjoy this sensation of their new home settling down for the night in the dusk around them. Or at least, Aelia did. Sipping from his coffee mug, Adam still wasn't satisfied. His mind kept going again and again over everything he'd shown her, and everything that could happen to her, everything he feared and wanted to prevent. There must be something he missed, something he hadn’t shown her. He thought—
The sense of danger, of Aelia needing his help, hit him so fast, so violently, that he dropped the mug he was holding, spilling coffee on his shirt. “What the—” He turned to the woman sitting right there by his side. “Hey!”
She stood up, and, walking by him inside, threw him an innocent look.
He followed her with his eyes for a moment and then laughed. Yeah, okay, she had a point. He got up and went upstairs to change his shirt, then joined her in making dinner, finally allowing himself to relax in their new home.
No less new was just this, their living together. Different rooms, different wings even, but still. A man and a woman who were used to being alone, to keeping apart from others, and who had been thrown into the necessity of spending their lives together. But this, despite both having wondered about it before they moved to Serena, proved to be so much easier than they thought.
And so right.
The village quickly got over its initial shock at the woman who was rumored to have arrived in the jet that now remained closed in its secure hangar at the edge of their small airfield. News traveled fast but the Protector was prepared, and he went to the village to remove all speculation. There was a purpose behind him doing this himself. It wasn't just that his experience had taught him the wisdom of having people trust him. These were his people, he was one of them, and he was born to protect them, them and their Light. Their history told them to trust him, but it was important to him to establish such trust himself, to let them know him.
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