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“Wait a second, anything I say?” Kat and Syd were sitting on opposite sides of the pipe house one rainy day in Hekseville. She was cross-legged on the bed, and he sat on the stool by the electric kettle.
“Anything you say,” Syd confirmed with a smile. Kat narrowed her eyes at him.
“Alright,” she said. “Kneel.” And to her surprise, he immediately dropped to one knee. She snorted with laughter. “Oh come on!” He just gazed at her steadily, smile still firmly in place.
“Will that be all, my Queen?” He looked positively…smug. Kat crossed her arms, exasperated.
“You know I’m not a queen anymore. You don’t have to obey my orders.” Syd raised his eyebrows.
“But what if I want to?” This gave Kat pause. She looked at him for a long moment, then said,
“Hold out your hand.” He obeyed. Kat slipped off the bed and walked over to him. She looked at his outstretched hand, but didn’t take it. Her memories were a jumble in her mind. Had this happened before? “Put it down now.” He did. She bit her lip. He'd said he would do anything she asked, but there was only one thing she wanted.
“My Queen?” He made it a question. And he was still smiling, damn him. While kneeling, his head was only as high as her navel. For once, he was the one craning his neck to look up at her. Kat’s heart quickened.
“Anything I say, huh?” He just looked at her, that laughing, quizzical smile on his face. She knew that smile by heart. She’d hardly ever seen him without it in Hekseville. Reaching down, Kat hesitated for a moment before cupping his chin in her hand. She could feel the roughness of the stubble against her skin. The beard was new. Or was it? Had he always had it? Different images of him flashed through her mind. Syd kneeling and helpless in the middle of a gang of thugs. Syd proudly showing off his new detective outfit. Syd pulling off his gravity suit’s helmet, concern in his eyes.
“I want you,” she said, “to tell me the truth.” His smile faltered for a moment, but he replied,
“Anything you ask.” Kat swallowed. Her throat felt dry.
She knew so much about him, but also so little. In all that time they’d spent together, he’d never betrayed a hint of their shared past. More images appeared in her mind’s eye. Syd, carefree and laughing, talking to Xicero. Syd sitting beside her, fixing her music box. Running to catch up with her on her way to a Senate meeting, carrying an important document she’d forgotten. And one more image. His face, contorted in pain and sorrow as he whispered her name through bloody lips. He’d lost his whole world. Did he blame her? Could she have prevented it somehow?
“Did you…miss me?” She finally asked, in a very small voice. Syd’s smile vanished, replaced by an expression that made Kat’s heart squeeze in her chest. It was a look she’d never seen on his face before. He looked vulnerable, off-balance. All of a sudden it felt like the air in the room had turned to water. “I mean, uh, you probably enjoyed not having to fix my stuff anymore, right?” She was babbling and she knew it. “I was always breaking things. And I ripped three dresses in a row, remember tha-“
“Kat, I…” They both stopped talking. Kat’s eyes found his face again. “I missed you,” Syd whispered. “I missed you every day.” Her hand was still cupping his cheek, and he placed his own hand over it, closing his eyes. Kat’s vision blurred.
“A-anything I say, right?” He opened his eyes and looked up at her. “Then kiss me.”
And in an instant he was up and she was in his arms.