Lucien arched a brow. "A story? You are a reporter?"
"Yes, and I’m working on a story on Blackfall Industries and the Hunter’s Guild. With everything that has come out in thenews on Blackfall Industries, I have it on good authority that their dealings with Tarz are only the tip of the iceberg."
Lucien kept a tight hold of his composure. Maybe they could leave, let someone else deal with this all, and he could keep Vesperin far from danger. "Why tell me this?"
"Because I felt for some reason you could be trusted." A holographic Star fell over the tablecloth. "Perhaps it was the Stars who led me to you." Jessa stood, leaving the card on the table. "Call me if you ever wish todance."
Atlas had seenmany different variations of this night, and with the emergence of the reporter, Jessa Nixo, the Celestial knew this night would be ending in only one way. For there was only one thread of fate in which she approached Lucien and spoke to him.
Leading the chosen informant from Tarz had been a tiring ordeal. Atlas had spun that thread for months, sowing seeds of doubt in the informant’s mind, before planting the perfect opportunity before him—a cargo ship, where he slipped on board and hid, finding an illegal forger to produce false documents while he sought refuge on Earth. Then, Atlas had led him to Jessa Nixo. She had been the reporter to break the story.
Now, her life on this Earth would end because her curiosity had drawn attention from the wrong people.
Cyrus spunVesperin around with grace, watching as the hem of her gown fluttered around her pretty legs, hidden by theruffled fabric and stitched butterflies; though, he knew their shape intimately. His mouth watered with desire for her.
They were dancing in a world alone. The other guests had been pushed to the edges of the dance floor, as if unsettled by Cyrus’s very presence. Helovedit.
"You have, um, gloss on your lips," Vesperin said sheepishly.
Cyrus only grinned. "I know." He licked his lips. "Tastes good, like you." Her cheeks, dusted with a soft blush to match her lips, darkened. She reached up, hand stalling midair, then her delicate brows lowered with determination as she surged forward, fingers hovering over his lips as she made to wipe it off. Cyrus moved his head away. "Leave it," he purred.
As he spun her out again, then brought her back into his arms, she made a softoof.
Her wide grey eyes skirted about the room like a frightened cat. "They’re all looking at you."
Cyrus shook his head, an artfully styled strand of red hair falling over his brow. "No, they’re all looking at you—us together. Do you know what they’re thinking?" When she softly shook her head, he continued, "They’re wondering which one of us they’d rather be—or if they want to be in the middle. They’re wondering what sounds you make when I’m inside you, and what our naked bodies look like, coated in sweat and slipping against each other in a bed with silken sheets."
Vesperin shivered in his arms, and his fingers skimmed down her spine until they rested over the swell of her hips.
Their rotations made her face the shadows, where he knew Lucien sat and watched.
Vesperin stilled. "There’s a woman over there. With Lucien."
Cyrus surreptitiously scanned the Starlit shadows, gaze pausing on the woman with dark hair who sat beside the doctor. They looked terribly close.
"What do you think they’re talking about?" Vesperin kept staring at Lucien, her words almost a growl.
Cyrus tapped her chin to draw her attention back to him. "Remember yourself, doll. Appearances," he reminded. "Are you jealous?" Vesperin nodded jerkily. "Well, let’s return the favor then." Due to her heels, he didn’t have to bend far. Cyrus leaned down slightly, kissing her.
She sighed against him, and the crowd was hushed—even more so than it had been.
As they pulled apart, Vesperin’s head turned to a side door, hidden by fluttering golden silks to keep it from sight. There stood?—
"Sabine and Talor," Vesperin breathed, face going ashen. "They’re here."
13
STARSTRUCK
Rin felt like she was in a fog as she walked to Sabine and Talor—her adoptive parents, the people she’d known since she was little. Nearly every memory she had, they were in it. Sabine had always been a distant, imposing figure, yet she had been there after her parents’ death. And then when Kit had?—
No.
Rin ground her teeth so hard her molars ached.
Theyhad been the cause of Kit’s not-death. His death of Soul. For the man with the brown eyes and freckles was a shell—one she wanted to find some way to save. To gather the pieces he’d left scattered amongst the Stars, press them back into his chest, and somehow make him whole again.
If the Stars were listening, she begged them to hear her wishes.
