SILVER: Acheron (A River of Pain) (The SILVER Series) by Keira Michelle Telford Page A

got a list as long as your arm.”
    “When do I get paid for the last one?”          
    “Check your balance, it should be there. You’re on the payroll now, don’t forget.”
    She had forgotten.
    “I can’t believe the Governor actually signed off on that, given the lengths he went to trying to get rid of me.”
    There’s the conspiracy theory again.
    Luka ignores it.
    “He signed off on the idea, in principle. Let’s just say that Maydevine didn’t exactly divulge all the specifics of it.”
    Silver lets out a half-hearted ‘ha’. “He doesn’t even know it’s me he’s funding? I guess that’s mildly satisfying, in some sort of way.”
    “Maydevine thinks so.”
    “Well, you’ve got to find the shining light somewhere,” she sighs.
    “You are the shining light.”
    Silver doesn’t know if Luka intended that to be funny, but she laughs anyway. She hasn’t been clean since the morning she was hauled out of Alex’s apartment under the armed guard of no less than six Omega security officers. From her skin to her attitude, there’s nothing ‘shining’ about her.
    “If you’re seeing anything glowing around here, it’s entirely in your head. I imagine it’s probably some sort of seizure, so you should get that looked at.”
    Realizing his attempt at flirtation was fifth grade clumsy, Luka tries a different tactic. He shuffles down on the sandbags so that he and Silver can lay face-to-face, his ever cheery grin meeting her weary half-smile. Too tired to argue with the proximity warning bells going off inside her head, Silver closes her eyes and tries to forget that she’s lying on a ‘bed’ of sand and dirt in the middle of a Fringe District rain storm.
    Intending only to close her eyes for a few minutes, she just wants to wait until the worst of the rain has passed. Except … Luka wants something else, she can tell.  As he tugs at the sleeve of the jacket around her shoulders, she opens one eye to look at him.
    “Come on, share,” he urges her. 
    Bells still ringing between her ears, Silver obliges and rolls closer to him, letting him drape the jacket over both of them. In doing so, her hand brushes against his and he snatches it up.
    “Christ, your hands are cold.”
    Scooping up her other hand, he clasps them together between his, rubbing them up and down to entice the blood flow back. Bringing them close to his lips, he huffs warm air around her fingertips, the moisture in his breath turning to tiny droplets on her fingernails.
    If she closes her eyes the tenderness of his companionship feels good, and she edges in a little closer. Even the smell of him is comforting tonight. On other days, she hates his cologne. Today, he’s spent hours with Maydevine. The scent of Maydevine’s cigarettes lingers on his clothing, and she tucks her head in against him, pressing the fabric up against her cheek.
    Alex smokes those cigarettes, too, and since she was fifteen years old, she’d often lain her head upon his chest in just this way. Without thinking, Silver clutches a handful of Luka’s shirt in her hand and holds him tight against her.
    “We’re here for the night. You know that, right?”
    Luka doesn’t answer her, but he doesn’t object to the notion either. The rain shows no sign of stopping, and he can think of much worse ways to spend a few quiet hours of another long, cold night.
    Her fingers separated from his skin by only a layer or two of thin woven hemp, she can feel his softly beating heart beneath. Not even the touch of his lips on the top of her head is enough to shake her out of the daydream she’s having; she just wants to feel some familiar sort of comfort.
    His arms around her shoulders, drawing her in to him, she begins to forget where she is. Right now, it could be a month ago when she and Alex snuck away to a secluded South Town beach and made love on an old truck bench seat. Or it could be her last birthday, cocooned in a blanket together underneath the