Aura guides a loose strand of hair from my eyes. “Gorgeous and smart. This is my concern, too, Jovie. It is why I still want to fight for my people despite everything.”
If I could get my sister back for what she’s done to me, I would too.
“Do you— Do you still want me now knowing what you do?” he asks like he’s afraid of my answer.
I summon the courage to look up into his vibrant green eyes. It takes me a moment to push through the vulnerability I feel in his strong embrace. My skin tingles beneath his touch. But my willingness to do anything he says is what scares me most. “I do. I just—”
“Have broken trust,” he offers.
“It’s not because of you. I just have a bad track record.”
Aura guides me back to the bench, where we sit again. “I think what we need is to give each other time. I am afraid my collapsing life will bring you misery instead of joy. I want you to be mine. But I understand that just because I need and want you doesn’t mean you will feel the same about me.
“And you need to know you can trust me. So I want to give you the time that you need while I prove that my word is binding. Would you consider me as a potential match for this week’s activities even if I must, at some point, leave to protect my people?”
I smile and knot my fingers together, wishing I had something to work with to steady my hands. “I would like that.”
“So you forgive me?”
“Nothing to forgive,” I say. “But I’m going to need things explained to me.”
“I’m happy to do that.” Aura sighs, rests an arm atop the backrest of the bench, and sweeps his nose over my shoulder. “Thank you.”
A zap zings through my shoulder. The tingle disburses over my skin. I can’t help but jolt from the contact.
“Sorry,” he chuckles. “I can’t seem to help it around you.”
I glare at Aura, but he looks up at the stars through the lunar shield, grinning.
That was not an accident, you twerp.
I have a feeling I’m going to need a shield if I have any hope of surviving much more time with him without needing a replacement bodyweb. “Isn’t your colony pretty big? I mean, it must be with as long as you’ve been in space. So isn’t there someone else you could talk to besides your father? I just can’t see why they wouldn’t want you. You’re in prime condition. You care about your people. It doesn’t make sense.”
He hums a sad note and leans back. “My Storm took control during a recent conflict. It was effective at getting the involved parties to stop fighting. But because I broke our rules, if I go home, they will arrest me.”
“How long is the jail time?”
“Arrest does not mean the same thing in our world.” Aura presses a hand to his chest. “With Amphirans, it means they will lock me up in a cell and put me to sleep, slowly draining my Storm from my body. They will siphon my power and use it for their ships. They will arrest my Spark, which ignites my Vybrance nodes and therefore my Storm.”
“Until when?”
“I die. It’s usually a couple of years. I have never agreed with the procedure.” Aura stretches out his legs and crosses one boot over the other. “Can we just forget about all that? I’d like to just enjoy this time with you.”
But I have so many more questions. Yet I think Aura feels betrayed by his people like I do with mine. So I let it go and hope I can find a way to comfort him soon.
“I’ve left a life behind me, too. I wish that wasn’t how things had to work out, but it is. And here we are.” I hold up a fist to him. “I’m ready to move on to something new.”
Aura bumps my fist with azap.
I shake out my hand. “Ow, dick.”
He chuckles and nips at my ear. “Stars, you smell good.”
“Pretty sure that’s just the flower.”
He nuzzles against my neck and inhales. “Nope. All you, my prin— Beautiful.”
Aura gets quiet.
