Read Online Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray - Free Book Online Page B

It seems to belong to this dimension more than our own. “Shall we?”
    â€œI want to say goodbye to Paul. This Paul.”
    â€œYou get so sentimental about the duplicates,” Conley says, shaking his head. “But I won’t tease you about it. My other self is just as bad.”
    That’s definitely not the vibe I’ve gotten from our world’s Conley, but whatever. “Besides, you need to give that order protecting my parents. From the ‘witchcraft’ mobs. Right?”
    â€œOh, right! You got it.” He thumps the side of his head, like Duh . “I’ll talk to Her Holiness right away. Pope Martha the Third. Rumor has it she puts our Borgias to shame.” As he begins to walk away, Conley adds, “Listen, someday, when you’re on board with this and we’ve been workingtogether for a while, you and I will look back on this and laugh.”
    I don’t dignify that with an answer. Instead, I wait for him to leave, and then search for Father Paul.
    As I guessed, he’s been waiting. Paul kneels in a small room off to the side that turns out to be a private chapel. A mural of Jesus raising Lazarus covers one wall, perspective wonky and faces stylized—the art, too, looks older than the Renaissance. They haven’t rediscovered the techniques of the ancient world yet; this civilization is still crawling away from the Dark Ages. Light flickers from a handful of tallow candles in iron stands. Paul—Father Paul—is praying, but when I walk in he quickly murmurs something in Latin, crosses himself, and turns his face to me. “Is everything well? The cardinal will take care of your family?”
    â€œI hope so.” This chapel has no pews, only kneelers. So I go to my knees beside him; it’s the only way to be close enough.
    Paul glances at the doorway, no doubt worried we’ll be seen. “You could claim sanctuary here. The sisters would keep you safe until your parents fall under the cardinal’s protection.”
    Nuns? I’ll be spending the night in a convent? This world’s Marguerite doesn’t get to have nearly enough fun.
    She’ll be near her Paul, though. That’s enough. All I want now is to be back with mine.
    I bring my hand to Paul’s face and brush my fingers along his cheek. He draws in a sharp breath. Have they evenkissed? Paul tentatively covers my hand with his, so that I’m cradling the side of his face. If I were to kiss him right now, he wouldn’t resist. He’d kiss me back so passionately that—well, this chapel might be deconsecrated.
    But I stole the Grand Duchess Marguerite’s first and only night with Lieutenant Markov. I won’t steal any more firsts with Paul. Each me should get to experience that moment.
    â€œEverything’s going to be all right,” I say, to myself as much as to him. “You and I—we’ll figure it out.”
    â€œOurs is not an easy path.”
    Paul’s old-fashioned, elegant phrasing reminds me of Lieutenant Markov, which reminds me of falling in love with Paul in the first place, and now I can’t take it anymore. I have to go home; the journey to save my Paul has to begin.
    â€œThe path isn’t easy,” I tell him. “But we’re walking it together.”
    It’s true in every world, everywhere. I have to believe that.
    I take hold of my Firebird and Paul’s—the two of them around my neck, one of them carrying a splinter of Paul’s soul—and leap back home.
    I fully expected my parents to freak out about what Wyatt Conley had done and the bargain we’d struck. What I didn’t expect is that they would flat-out refuse to let me go.
    â€œDad—” I pull my hair back with both hands, trying to calm myself. “You know we don’t have any other choice.”
    â€œWe don’t know that,” Dad insists. “We have to at leasttry to get Paul out of this