Kriegspiel [Sequel to The Turing Test]

24. Deadlock

My hands clench into fists at my side, the gash on my cheek throbbing once as an intoxicating flood of rage rushes to my head. A queen? Is this how he would treat royalty? No. To him, I'm nothing but a servant. I open my mouth, searching for a biting reply, but his delusions steal my words.

"Queen's the strongest piece on the board."

I whirl around as Davis's quiet voice shatters everything. He hovers in the doorway, glaring daggers past me to where Sven stands. His eyes flick to me, just once, but the uneasy swiftness with which they refocus on Sven tears a hole in my lungs, stopping my breath.

"I know."

I freeze as Sven's hand lands on my shoulder, pressing down. In my shock, it doesn't take much for my knees to buckle. I wince as they slam into the floor. Sven's grip loosens into something almost recognizable as a comforting squeeze before he addresses Davis again.

"And I have taken her."

Davis finally looks at me, a long, searching look, as I kneel on the floor at Sven's feet. I feel his eyes find the crevice of my jaw, sliding over the hickey forming there, and I have to close my eyes because I can't watch him imagine where it came from. It was so much easier to hurt him when he was just a voice in my head.

I scramble to my feet, slipping out of Sven's grip to scowl at him. "I'm not your property."

Davis rushes forward to tug at my arm. "Come on," he whispers. "Let's get out of here."

He heads back toward the door, and I take two steps after him before Sven speaks again.

"She won't go with you."

I stumble to a stop as Davis spins around, his eyes glittering dangerously. The gaunt slope of his cheekbones only adds to his haunted, menacing appearance. "And why is that?"

"Because I know Ronnie." Sven turns to me. "You're logical. You never really loved me, not the way I knew you were capable of. I arranged a therapist, I tried constantly to make you feel something, I sent you texts and made you breakfast and made you feel safe. I made love to you like no one has or ever will."

Davis stiffens.

Sven sighs. "You never loved me. You never will. But you'll stay with me, because it's better than watching him"—he points to Davis—"grow old without you and slide away into an oblivion you'll never know, somewhere you can never reach. Because love hurts, Ronnie, and if you didn't know that before, you know it now. You understand. An eternity without him...." He shakes his head. "You might as well start now and get used to it. Make it easier for both of you."

My breath rasps against the back of my throat, pulling me closer and closer to hyperventilation. I don't want to hear it. I'm not ready to make this decision. Save the world, then deal with this. And now the possibility of never saving the world wiggles tantalizingly out of my reach. I almost long for it. Maybe I'll go up in flames alongside it, and never face the future.

"No."

I look up as Davis squares his shoulders, staring up at Sven with defiance pressed into the thin line of his lips.

"The Ronnie I know would never go with you. She wouldn't give up on this." He points at his own shoes, and I take him to mean us. "She would take a chance. Take a chance at pain if it meant a moment of happiness, because you know what? That happiness becomes a memory. And you will always have those."

He's speaking to me now, even though he hasn't broken eye contact with Sven. His chin angles toward me, his arm reaches into the no man's land between us.