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“What’s so funny?” she gasped. “What’s happening?
His warm, calloused hands cupped her face. The blue light reflected in his eyes like water on a summer’s day. “The fucking Well is blessing us.”
She scowled, pouting. “I don’t want help from that damned—”
He captured her mouth with his own, kissing her deeply until she thought of nothing but his salty, heady taste, and his need to be with her.
When he eased off, the blue light had dimmed, and he stared at her lips with a hot look in his eyes. She felt his desire surge as though it were her own. Then his gaze skipped up to her cheeks and widened in shock. He brushed his thumb across the cheekbone, and that shock became trepidation.
“How can I feel your emotions?” Her arm was covered in blue, swirling patterns glittering like the Guardian drop beneath his eye. “Leaf… what is this?”
“It’s the mating mark,” he mumbled, still distracted by her cheeks, studying them like a scientist. He held his palm before her face so she could see the blue light glancing off his skin. “It bonds us forever, uniting our emotions. I can sense your location now, no matter where you are.”
“Is my face blue?” she gasped.
He studied her cheeks with the perfect combination of awe and reverence. She wanted him never to stop looking at her this way. But not if her face was blue.
“Leaf?”
“It’s not your entire face,” he answered. “Just the smattering of glowing freckles that remind me of a constellation.” His eyes narrowed on one particular spot. “This little one up north is the brightest.”
Mi estrella del norte.Jace had called her that when they’d reunited before the world ended.
They’d just finished making love. She’d straddled him and looked down through the curtain of her hair.
“My North Star,” he mumbled, gazing upon her with adoration.
She rocked her hips against his, chasing the warmth of their completion, wanting it to last forever. She moaned, biting her lip, hardly paying his words any attention. “What do you mean?”
“We may have been apart, and I may have lost my way, but you never did. Your convictions never wavered. Whenever I felt adrift, I looked you up and flicked through any news I could find of you. I needed to remind myself there were good people left in the world.”
“You stalked me online?”
“Always.” He smiled sheepishly. “Whenever I had a difficult decision, I imagined what you would do.”
She swatted him playfully. “You could have called me and asked.”
Darkness ghosted his features so briefly, Nova thought she imagined it.
“I was too afraid to… I thought he would… doesn’t matter now. But I learned more Spanish, hoping that one day I could say this… Eres mi brillante estrella del norte. Dondequiera que vayas te sigo.”
You are my North Star. Wherever you go, I follow you.
ChapterTwenty-Six
Leaf convinced Nova to return to the wake and watch the final performance. With her hand in his, their souls connected, he felt more whole than ever. She watched two wingless females dance on the parquetry to sultry music, moving and twirling as though in love. He meant what he said to her and that everything would be okay. Together, they could work on finding the answers they sought.
The Prime sat alone at the edge of the dance floor. She watched the performance with all the emotion of a stone statue. He couldn’t tell if she was hiding her feelings or was truly empty inside. Would he detach or feel something else if he knew his death was on the horizon?
The Order would be left without a leader when they desperately needed one. With how the Prime had abandoned them lately, he wondered if it was her deliberate way of preparing them to sink or swim. But why hadn’t she come to him for help?
He might not have the mind of her oldest friend, but he’d always given her the benefit of the doubt. Trepidation swirled in his chest. What if this death was the final part of the prophecy she wouldn’t reveal? What if it had nothing to do with him at all? Casting his mind back over their conversations, his demands, and her replies, he looked deeper between the lines but still found nothing concrete.
The dance changed tempo, and a wingless male came into the mix. Dark hair, tanned skin, and… was that a baby?
Nova’s gasp sent a cocktail of emotions surging through their bond. Leaf had trouble sorting them out. Shock, maybe. Dread?
“Nova?” He ducked his head to whisper. “What is it?”
