"Cassia," Ky's voice calls from behind me. I don't turn to face him, but I part my lips. I want to say something to him, but I'm not sure what.
Ky comes closer, wraps his arms around my waist, and presses his head gently against mine. He follows my gaze up, up to the stars and the heavens above. "Pretty girl," he murmurs affectionately, playing with a strand of my hair. I shift closer to him. "What're you thinking about," he asks.
What was I thinking about? I hadn't been focusing. "My family, I guess."
He sighs heavily. "They understand." They do, too. I just wish that they didn't have to.
I don't say that, though. He already knows. Instead I reply, "My grandfather was so important to me. It makes me sad to think that my father- that either of my parents- won't be as close to..." I trailed off, running my hand across the swell of my stomach. I hadn't gotten used to saying things like 'our child' yet. I couldn't really get my head around the fact that in a few months, there would be another whole person living with Ky and me, a person that I was responsible for. It was actually really scary, especially because we didn't have the technology that I had always assumed would be there for me.
"They'll see each other as much as possible," Ky tried to reassure me.
As much as possible wasn't very often these days. Ky and I were never have supposed to have escaped, and even now, years later, we were being searched for. My family had been under suspicion from the very beginning; everyone assumed (rightly so) that my parents knew where I was. Even Bram knew, though he didn't know all the details of the situation. He was still so young, and I'm missing watching him grow up because it becomes increasingly more dangerous to meet up with my family.
"It's beautiful out tonight," I point out to change the subject. I don't regret my decision to abandon the society for Ky, but the pain that it brings is sometimes too much to handle.
"Sure is."
I don't know what the future holds, but for now, we were alive and healthy. Somehow, we'd always found a way to make it through.
"I love you," I tell Ky.
"Love you, too," Ky whispered back as he kissed the crown of my head.
And then we carried on.