"It's a beautiful night," said Jason, looking up at the stars near the mouth of the cave. Elena sat beside him, her legs curved up under her flowing skirt, just one bare foot peeking beneath the hem. He refocused on the stars, the dandelion-fuzz of the Milky Way spread out against the immense blackness of the sky. In the west, beyond the dark chasm of the valley, lights of a small town glowed like a miniature galaxy. A breeze blew against Jason's face; it was cold but brisk, invigorating. He felt like he could do anything, even though in the back of his mind, he knew that he could not even run away from his enemies if they came.

"It's funny," said Elena. "I don't feel afraid."

"I've got my camera to protect us," said Jason. He tapped it, where it lay over his heart.

"It's not just that. I'm normally afraid of heights. But after you helped me down into the cave last night—I don't know. I should be afraid right now. But I feel like I could stand up, fly off the edge like an eagle—" She laughed.

"Don't try that," said Jason, as she inched forward.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to fly off the edge. But if you're with me, I think I can do this—" She held out her hand toward him.

He crawled to the edge of the cliff and sat beside her. She slipped one foot, then the other, over the lip of the rock a thousand feet above the valley. Jason grasped her arm, afraid she might fall. But she laughed, grabbed his hand, pulled him closer. He sat carefully on the rock, dangling his legs over the edge. His heart thumped hard against his chest; he wasn't usually afraid of this kind of thing, but Elena was in a strange mood; he didn't want her to hurt herself, or pull him down with her.

As he sat there, her arm warm against his, he gradually relaxed. She tipped her head back, her unbound hair flowing down over her shoulders. He plunged with her into the vast ocean of stars. They swam through its marvels, its glittering depths, diving further, further—drinking it in.

"It's so beautiful," she breathed.

He leaned in closer, almost unconsciously; she smelled of wilderness and spring flowers. She turned toward him, stars gazing from the depths of her eyes. She looked surprised, cautious; she turned away from him again, but her fingers pressed into his.

She shivered.

"Are you cold?" he asked. "We could go back to the fire." He glanced back; the fire, blown by the breeze, had dissolved into glowing coals.

She shook her head. "I want to stay here. With you."

Her face upturned toward his. Her eyes, as deep as the ocean of stars. Her golden hair, silver in the starlight. Her open, trusting face, so beautiful—her full lips, slightly parted—

He leaned in toward her, and this time she did not turn away. His lips met hers.

Her lips were as soft as just-unfolded petals; warm, smooth, welcoming. His hand trembled as he touched her beautiful face; he pulled back for just a moment, drank in her luminous skin, entrancing eyes that burned like coals fallen from a star. She caressed his face with her hand, slid her fingers into his hair. Tentatively, she kissed his cheek next to his ear, then down to his chin; she looked up at him invitingly and he pressed his lips to hers once more. Fire raged through him; he'd wanted her kisses for what had seemed like an eternity, and now he had her. He trembled with desire, fear surging through him at his overwhelming feelings. Yet he didn't want to stop. He needed to gather her warm soft body in his arms, protect this fragile, beautiful form—

His hand behind her head, he kissed her cheek, then back to those enticing lips. He kissed her neck in the corner where it met her jaw; she laughed, and pushed him away. He fell backwards, landing on his back on the rock. "You're mine now," she said, pressing his wrist down against the rock with her palm.

Clink! A sharp sound, like a stone kicked down a slope. Jason shot up, ignoring his injured leg. Completely tense, he grasped the camera gun and crept back into the cave, taking Elena with him.

"What is it?" she said.

"Hopefully nothing," he replied, though fear churned through him.

Tasha's heart drummed hard against her chest. She pressed back against the wall of rock, heat flashing up and down her skin, shaking as if she'd just gone through some trauma.

But it was nothing. Nothing! Not as if she hadn't suspected something like this would happen. And it didn't—shouldn't—matter to her. It was between Jason and Elena whether they wanted to get romantically entangled or not. It might not be best for the mission—seeing as how oblivious they had been to her presence, they'd probably have been just as oblivious to an enemy's. She could have jumped in there, broken them up on those grounds, forbade them to progress further in their relationship. But instead, she'd crept back into the shadows—for what? To give them privacy? Did she care that much about it—or was it something even worse? Something that—

I can't even consider that, she thought. But when she'd seen them embracing, kissing along the ledge of the cliff, seemingly oblivious to the thousand foot drop a few feet away—something had ripped through her heart like a gunshot. She'd frozen in place, unable to cope with what her eyes were telling her. And then, she ran, like a silly schoolgirl who'd just seen her crush kissing someone else—

I shouldn't be feeling this. But all attempts to destroy those feelings had only resulted in their resurgence—until this explosion. She walked in a daze back up the rocky path, not wanting to think about the images burned across her mind.

The horrible truth stabbed her heart: Jason loves Elena. He could never love me.

But why does that matter so much? Do I really love him?

She stumbled along in the dark, almost not caring if someone found her. She clutched the trunk of a tree, and stood there. What had it felt like the last time she'd been in love? She'd tried to forget it; it had ended in a bad experience, not to mention it was impractical in this line of work. She'd all but dismissed its possibility; shoved it back into a corner, to lie dormant, possibly for years while she focused on more useful, less painful, things.

She doubted that Jason would ever turn into another Robert, although you could never tell, could you? But Jason was too naïve; it was more likely that he'd get taken advantage of by someone than the other way around.

Maybe it's Elena, thought Tasha. Maybe she's trying to—

To what? What possible advantage could she get from getting hunted down, just so she could get close to Jason? She was on their side, she wasn't a-

No, that was too preposterous. Calm down, she told herself. You're going to get us all killed. She hadn't paid attention to her surroundings in the last fifteen minutes or so. A soldier could have crept up on her, and she wouldn't have noticed until it was too late. I've got to get a handle on this. I can't let this control me, not at this point when we're so close to freedom….

She tugged the loose backpack strap back up on her shoulder, and turned to head back down to the cave.

She froze.

A man stood a few feet away, aiming a rifle aimed at her head.