I woke the next morning with a jolt that sent a pain shooting through my neck. Sleeping awkwardly sitting up had left me with a crick in my neck that I knew would take a while to work out, but as I rolled my head and shoulders to try and loosen the muscles, I tried to get my bearings. We'd left Carolina behind several hours ago while I was sleeping, but I wasn't sure where we were now.

Moving slowly to minimise the pain, I leaned forward. 'Where are we?'

The driver glanced back. 'We're just arriving.' He drove in silence for a minute. 'There should be a bottle of water in one of the doors, if you're thirsty.'

Now that he mentioned it, I realised I was parched. True to his word, I found a bottle in the door next to me and took a big swig.

The car stopped suddenly, almost making me spill water everywhere.

'This is it,' the driver announced.

I looked out of the window. We had stopped by a small house down a quiet road, with a small patch of overgrown grass outside and slightly dirty windows.

I got out of the car, slinging my rucksack over one shoulder. The driver made a shooing gesture with his hand, then started the engine up again and the car purred away.

Unsure what to expect, I knocked on the door.

A few agonizing seconds of silence later, a bolt slid back and a key turned in a lock. The door creaked open.

Maxon stood in the opening.

I froze as the last six months of missing him hit me all at once, building up until a small sob escaped. The next thing I knew, I was in his arms, hugging him so tightly I was probably hurting him, but he was holding onto me just as tightly.

Eventually we drew apart, simultaneously remembering that we were supposed to be hiding, and that standing in the doorway was likely to draw attention at some point. Taking my hand, Maxon pulled me inside the house and shut the door, drawing the bolt across and locking it for good measure.

I let my rucksack slip off my shoulder, dropping it on the floor by the wall. The silence inside the house grew as I realised that neither of us had said anything yet. But somehow talking didn't seem right, or necessary, or anything like that. Instead I lifted my arm and stroked Maxon's cheekbone with my thumb. I raised my gaze to meet his. He seemed to be drinking me in, trying to see if anything about me had changed since we were last together.

He let go of my hand, slipping his arm around my waist instead to draw me closer. He dipped his head and his lips met mine, warm and familiar, and for a while, everything faded and my mind went blank.

Later, I asked him how he'd managed to get away.

'It took me a while to get things set up, but once I got your reply, I knew that the best time to get away would be when I wasn't in Angeles at all,' he explained, playing with my fingers. 'Father wanted me to go on a tour of the southern states, to try and rally support for him and cool support for the Southern Renegades. I went along with it, hoping he would just see an obedient son following his father's orders.' He rolled his eyes. 'Which I was – to an extent. I was attentive in planning meetings, efficient in completing preparations… but I also made sure that there were a few of my own officers in my retinue.' He broke off to flash me a smile. 'Our friend Aspen has been a godsend. Without him, I would never have been able to set this up. He led my retinue, in fact. He handpicked many of the guards who came with us – ones he trusted. He may also have 'accidentally' left a copy of the guard rotation in my room when he came to make his nightly security report when we were in Midston. A copy which may or may not have highlighted when each pair of guards would be where… and when the pair outside my door would be moving to the next location, and their replacement pair would be on their way to my door, which would give me a few minutes to leave without anyone noticing.'

I frowned. 'Won't Aspen be held accountable for your escape? If Clarkson realises how you knew when the guards would be between shifts…' I tailed off, not wanting to think about the possible repercussions Aspen might suffer if his part in this was discovered.

'He won't,' Maxon said confidently. 'For one, I made sure to bring the copy of the rota with me, so they won't find it anywhere in the room – I figured that even if I'd burned it, they might have found a scrap or two. Second, Aspen wasn't actually on duty that night, which meant he shouldn't be held responsible for actually letting me escape. As for the other guards… well, Clarkson won't be happy, but he shouldn't be able to blame any of them for anything – they followed protocol exactly, and I issued orders each night not to be disturbed until the next morning, but even that isn't unusual. They won't have discovered I was gone until someone came to wake me and found I wasn't there, which gave me about five hours' headstart, by which time I was most of the way here.'

I shifted, curling closer into his side. It wasn't perfect, but it was a strong defence for all the guards involved.

'Okay,' I murmured. 'Then what? You didn't just walk here from Midston.'

'Part of the reason why I took so long to answer was that I needed to speak to August. Make some arrangements before I left. Unfortunately, that took a while. But once we had spoken, he promised me his help to get away – after a long argument. He thought I should stay to take over from my father; he said I was being selfish by leaving. I said this was the first time in my life where I could decide what I wanted to do, and that I was going to do it with or without his help. I said that he could have the throne when my father died – I didn't want it. He caved, but with the caveat that if he needed us, we had to at least hear him out.'

'That seems… fair?' I didn't really see why August might want our help if we were no longer anywhere near the palace, but he must have his reasons for extracting that promise from Maxon.

'Yeah… Well, after August agreed to help, he said I was to get to a specific address in Orlea, close to where we were staying, and that someone would take me here. He contacted the Carolina cell of Northern Renegades to get someone to do the same for you, and now here we are.' He squeezed my hand, pressing a soft kiss to my temple.

'Here we are,' I murmured, slightly distracted by the feeling of his lips on my skin. 'So what do we do now? I'm guessing we can't just stay here – we probably attracted a fair bit of attention, two unknown cars arriving then simply disappearing without a word.'

'Georgia thought we should stay here in Clermont. She also said that she knew of a house that might work for us – it's quite small, but it's out of the way, and people around it are used to people coming and going, so we wouldn't seem out of place.'

'Sounds perfect,' I said slightly breathlessly. Maxon had started kissing his way down my throat, and I arched my neck to allow him better access. 'Where is it?'

'Just outside Miami.' He kissed my collarbone. 'How about no more questions for a while?'

I couldn't have agreed more.

Hey guys!

Sorry this chapter's a bit late – I just moved into my uni flat and have spent the last few days settling in. I'm planning on updating again before classes start, but after that it might be a slightly longer wait between chapters, but it still shouldn't be more than about 3 weeks.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Love

NewtPevensie xoxoxox