Page 164 of Marks of Rebellion

She bats her eyes and blows me a kiss.

I step out on the balcony, and the engines of the ship slow down. The blue of the ocean sparkles and stretches as far as I can see. It's a clear, sunny day, and the weather is hot but not muggy.

I need to make sure she takes it easy and doesn't have another attack.

There are a lot of people on this ship.

What if she freaks out and we aren't near the room?

I'm lost in my thoughts when Vanessa's arms circle my waist.

"What are you thinking?"

I spin. She has a towel around her hair and a robe on. "How was your shower?"

She beams. "Good. All clean. Ready for sun and fruity drinks."

"Flower—"

"I want to get back to normal life."

"You can't push it."

"I'm not. I'm going to lie on a lounge chair, preferably a double one so I can take advantage of your body as my pillow, and soak up some sun."

I stare above her head at the turquoise water.

"What?" she asks.

"It hasn't even been twenty-four hours since you had a fever."

"And now I don't. You heard Faron. It's fine for me to try."

"Maybe we should wait another day. Just to be safe."

"I'm fine. Get in the shower, and let's go."

"You're not fine," I growl.

She jumps back.

"Sorry I didn't mean to—"

"Stop," she shouts.

I freeze.

She steps toward me and places both her hands on my cheeks. "You can't put me in a new prison."

"What? I would never—"

"You are. You're trying to protect me. I know it's coming from a good place, but you can't keep me isolated from life so I don't have another attack."

"It's not been enough time. You were... I thought you weren't coming back to me." I blink hard.

Her voice softens. "But I did. And I'm not going to have you give up living life because I might have another attack."

"That's not what I'm doing."