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THEY HAD RESORTED TO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION OUT OF NECESSITY. It was the quickest and most conspicuous way of getting to Istanbul. Neither of them favored trekking thousands of miles through the elements and nature to reach their new destination. It took a few hours to run north to Moscow, where they planned to catch a 4-hour flight to Istanbul in the afternoon, calculated to land just after sunset.
Without the Volturi's official patronage of the farce of a mission, they were relegated to first class seating of the passenger airliner. Even with the obscene amount of money Alec basically threw at the ticket counter and subsequent flight attendants, the most privacy they could procure was a curtained off section of seating, closest to the exit.
There was a considerable lack of conversation since they left Russia. The silence wasn't hostile anymore, but it wasn't entirely lax either. They moved in operational silence, ensuring their discretion and vigilance.
"I have yet to apologize," Alec broke the tense silence without warning.
Rory tore her gaze from her sketchbook—a very important essential item, of course. "For what?"
"You were right."
"Always am," she pipped, but humor faded in the seriousness of his expression. She turned over his hand which was clasped over the armrest between them, sliding her hand into his. The immense comfort was unmatched. How they had gone so long apart was truly unnatural and wrong. She looked forward to the day she'd make sure Chelsea regretted her intervention.
"Love is...foreign to me."
He spoke like he was standing on the edge of a cliff. One strong breeze and he'd plummet down to doom. She felt the same—his opening phrase a painful reminder of the rejection she endured in Didyme's study.
But his gaze remained steady, resolved. He was done running, no longer afraid of the consequences of fully accepting his feelings for her. "The moment you burst through the door, it was like a rope binding a man lost at sea to safety. To home. To you. Even free from Chelsea's influence, I still don't have the words to explain the reasons behind my feelings for you. But you deserve to know."
If he had a beating heart, it would be hammering. But he persevered because no matter how much he thought he conveyed his feelings for Aurora through his actions and protection, his lack of speaking of it had done a magnitude of damage to their relationship—even without Chelsea's influence. "I'm certain I've done this all wrong, which has had undoubted consequences, largely, how difficult you may find it to believe me when I say that I have been in love with you for far longer than I realized I was capable of being so, and especially when I was incapable of doing so."
"Even with your distance, I knew you still cared," Rory said. He hadn't completely abandoned her—he was actually pretty bad at it. "That's why it was the worst hell to stay away from you when all I wanted was to be by your side."
