Page 55 of Guiding Desire

“Calling me pretty.” Orrey ate another spoonful of his porridge, held the spoon between his teeth, gestured at himself. “I know I’m not all that elegant.”

“A matter of opinion,” Senlas said.

Orrey slowly finished his bowl, pretty sure he was feeling the meds he’d taken before eating as everything turned just a little duller.

“I’m okay now. I don’t need any more of those pills,” Orrey said.

“Wrong. The physician says your brain got shaken up pretty badly, and so did most of the rest of you. According to her, you’d be aching all over without the pain medication. And the phage boosters are simply non-negotiable. I don’t want you to develop an infection.”

“Mean,” Orrey said.

Senlas put an arm around Orrey and pulled him close. “Before you zone out too much, there are two things I’d like to discuss with you.”

“There’s a cookout, and I’m going,” Orrey said. The medication wasn’t making him dull enough to forget Vin. Vin gave off the aura of someone who didn’t want to be easily forgotten. At least not once he’d gone through the trouble of making you notice him in the first place.

Senlas sighed. “If you feel up to it. We can decide after your checkup at the hospital.”

“I’m going,” Orrey said. “Second item?”

“As you say. The second item is even less pleasant. It’s about the bomber, the one who planted the bomb that hurt you.”

Orrey sobered. “They caught them, you said.”

“They did.” Senlas hesitated. “We can discuss this some other time.”

“No, it’s fine. Just tell me.”

“The Judiciary AIs decided to give her the death sentence, but the verdict wasn’t unanimous. What that means is that there’s a chance to have the sentence converted.”

Orrey cackled, a dry sound that made his throat hurt. “Murder or attempted murder of a Conduit or Guardian. If a death sentence by the AI judges isn’t unanimous, the victim can intercede, citing conviction or humanitarian reasons or other that would render capital punishment excessive. In my case, you could intercede.”

“You knew all that.”

Orrey shrugged. “Laws are made to protect the people, and protectors are there to enforce these laws. To do so we have to know them.”

Senlas nodded. “I’ll do what you want here. Just think about it when you can. I don’t know how long—”

“A judiciary agent has to notify you in person, although a verified and encrypted video call will do. From there, it can be up to thirty days. But I guess that already happened.”

“Col happened. He followed up.”

Orrey looked out the transparent wall, gaze drifting over the city. His life before the blast felt far removed, his life before meeting Senlas even farther. The Guardian was in so many ways still unfamiliar while in others, he was as close as a lash to the eye.

“I need a nap,” Orrey said, “Just for a little while.” He looked at the alarm bot. “There’s that hospital appointment and the event at the Grounds. I need to take a bath before all that. Make sure to wake me early enough, okay?”

It beeped excitedly, eyes turning watchful, attentive; keeping time while Orrey wouldn’t have to.

“I’d have woken you up too, you know,” Senlas said, guiding Orrey down on the pillow with an arm that cradled his neck.

“I like it to feel useful,” Orrey said just before haziness overtook him, wrapped around him like a blanket.

He slipped off, felt a dream lurking where sleep and waking bordered against each other, but that was a problem to worry about later. If the alarm bot did its job well, it’d raise Orrey from deep sleep, catch him just before the dream could. Covenant knew it had done so often enough.

15

SENLAS

Theothersleftsoonafter breakfast. Being alone with Orrey was both exhilarating and anxiety inducing. The anxiety bit got worse the closer the appointment at the hospital came, but it had been simmering ever since waking in a cold bed.