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“My world went to hell from that moment on. I had no idea what you were or what to do with you. I only knew one day you’d toss a bloody celestial body my way. Admit it, you never wrote any more than that. I tortured you so much, you decided to torture me back for a few thousand years.”
I burst out laughing. If I’d thought of it, I might have.
“That was all I had to go on. Then when you began to turn black—”
“That’s why you were so certain I was becoming a Hunter,” I exclaim, “because they live among the stars!”
He inclines his head.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He’s silent a long moment then exhales gustily. “It was mindfuck to an extreme. I was concerned I might change things.”
“Illogical. If it—”
“—already happened, yes, it would no matter what. I thought of that, too. Barrons and I discussed it endlessly.”
“Barrons knew?”
“My brother is the only one I told. I’ve learned to take nothing for granted in this world.” He’s silent again then says, “I’d begun to suspect that because of my feelings for you, I’d try to sabotage whatever might happen. I questioned my motives.”
I still as the enormity of what he is telling me sinks in. From the day he met me he’d known I would one day throw a star at him. No wonder he hadn’t thought I was human! Then once I started turning Hunter, he’d known the what of it but not how things would end. He’d not known, even as I branded him, even as he encouraged me to embrace my destiny, if he would ever see me again. Still, he’d helped me through it.
“No cages, Dani. Ever. Not for you. It was possible being a Hunter would be everything you wanted. It was possible the final word was “happy.” If it had happened then it was supposed to happen, and the only thing I could do was be there while it happened. I thought I’d lost you forever. The moment you turned, I could no longer feel you. I thought your star was your goodbye.”
“Never,” I say swiftly. “It was my promise to you that I was returning, to set your mind at ease. Because I didn’t call you for those two years and I should have. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. I wasted those two years because I was stubborn and prou
d and kept boxing my emotions instead of admitting them. That I loved you. I’ve always loved you.”
“So, what the fuck did it say? Imagine working a cryptoquip for three thousand bloody years and never solving it.”
“I’m okay, I’m coming home.”
“Is this, Dani?” he says quietly. “Home? Will you live here with me?”
“Always. Well, half the time. The other half of the time—”
“Bloody hell, I’m going with you when you go.”
“As high as I can take you without killing you,” I promise. We would sail the night sky together, watch over our city, our friends and family.
“I might surprise you,” he says, smiling faintly. “I don’t need to breathe, Dani. Not all the time. Besides, I always come back.”
I cup that beautiful face and kiss him, long and deep. “I always will, too. That’s our number one rule, Ryodan. No matter what, we will always come back to each other.”
“A rule I’ll never break.” He flashes me a wolfish grin. “All the others are up for grabs. You’ll have to keep me in line. I’m not an easy man to handle.”
I know that already. It’s one of the things I like most about him. I’m still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that he’d been waiting over three thousand years for me. Something about the length of time he’d been waiting teases at my brain. “Wait a minute, how long was it again from the time you got my star and I turned into a Hunter?”
“Three thousand one hundred forty-one years, five months, nine days, and two hours,” he says flatly. “Wondered when you’d notice that.”
I stare at him. “Ryodan, that’s pi.”
“The first seven digits of it. It was the hope I held onto. That we would somehow get all the rest of those digits, too.”
I’m stupefied. Dancer was right. There’s pattern and purpose to everything.
This spectacular universe knew exactly what it was doing.
