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out. It can t be fixed. There is no solution. Unsmiling, but with a strange lessening
of tension, they looked away.
Several minutes passed.
Sage wiped his nose with the back of his hand. ?God, Ax. I ve missedyou.
?Wasn t my idea.
Silence.
?Okay, said Ax. ?I accept that I fucked up. To some extent.
?I shouldn t have run out. But there was provocation. ?So what now? Are we going to try and force her
to choose between us? And
break her heart, he added, by means of a glare she couldn t see.
?I don t think we can, Sage answered, looking down at Fiorinda. Her eyes
were closed, but of course she was listening to every word. ?I think she d quit us
both. I d have tried to take her off you years ago if I hadn t spotted that.
?Well, thanks.
?No problem. He wanted to draw Ax s attention to the shadow under her
lashes, the lovely angle of her cheekbones, to the reckless curve of her sweet
mouth, the natural rose-madder still traced in clean scarlet, pomegranate flower.
?Why stop at two? he said fiercely. ?Every man and woman in the world should
worship her. She s a miracle.
?Hm. Maybe we should remember this is purely a diplomatic coma.
?Don t care. He poked the rock and roll brat with his foot. ?Hey. You are
amazing and wonderful and wise, and the best fuck in the universe.
?Yeah, said Ax. ?All true. Fiorinda? You can wake up now.
But Fiorinda had grown attached to her coma, and refused to stir. They
headed back to Travellers Meadow, Sage carrying the babe.
?So where were you last night, anyway? I brought a copy of Unmasked to the
party for you, er, kind of a peace offering
?But then, ironically, decided to screw my girlfriend instead. Makes perfect
sense. I was in Hiroshima.
?What? Oh God, you did it! ?Yeah. Ax grinned wearily. ?Yeah, we hacked the quarantine. Using my
chip,
and your code, and I don t know what the difference was but this time it worked.
It was fucking draining, and could we talk about it later?After I ve had about
thirty-six hours sleep?
?You re mad, said Fiorinda, opening her eyes. ?You re both insane. You ll get
nicked, and then things will be a million times worse. Put me down, Sage.
They d reached the van. She stood looking from one to the other. ?Well, what s
the verdict? Have you two decided you can handle sharing the meat?
?Ouch, said Ax. ?I deserve that. I m sorry, little cat. I m just a jealous guy.
Most unexpectedly, Fiorinda burst into tears and flung herself into her
boyfriend s arms crying, ?Oh, Ax. I m sorry too.
At four in the afternoon Sage and Fiorinda were sitting outside the Continental
Breakfast Bar in the arena. They d just struggled through brunch at the
hospitality benders with Dian Buckley an informal get-together they d
apparently agreed upon at some point during the previous evening. Needless to
say, they d had no idea until Ax told them. In normal circumstances they d have
stood Dian up, without a qualm. She ought to know better than to prey on
helpless drunks. After the way they d behaved, they d felt they had to go along
and mend some fences.
Before brunch they d organised the getaway, Ax having tearfully refused to
organise anything, as he was so crap at it and had fucked up so badly last time. They d left him sleeping
in the van, while they arranged for Allie to look after
their diaries, fixed for someone to go to the Brixton flat and pack bags, fixed for
someone to drive the Volvo down (Ax had arrived by train this morning). As
soon as the car arrived they were going back to Cornwall, to try again.
They d ordered coffee, bread and jam (neither of them had touched the
brunch), but they couldn t eat. Sage kept catching startled glances from passers
by, amazed that he was still unmasked. Fiorinda sat in a foul miasma of
patchouli. She d had to borrow clothes from Anne-Marie, who lived in the
hospitality area with her brood; or she d have been chatting to Dian in the
mandala frock. Her head felt broken and empty, a tub full of chemical fragments
that didn t know what the hell to do with each other. She wrapped her hands
around her coffee bowl, trying to get them warm. The coffee was Crisis Blend,
mainly ground roasted dandelion roots. It didn t taste too bad, but it smelled like
nothing.
?Sage.
?Hn?
?Last night when we were alone, you told me you couldn t do the threesome,
no chance, never. You talked to Ax and it s happening. Could you explain that?
?Don t you trust me?
?No. I think you and your boyfriend will surely run off and leave me.
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