Page 67 of A Sweet Destruction

It was merely a planet that separated us, a nobleman’s war that kept us apart.

A war I was on the front lines of, I had to remind myself. These people had a right to be scared of me. We deserved their gawking stares and tense shoulders.

I took a deep breath in and remembered that I wasn’t given much of a choice, and I’d felt guilt every step of the way. All I could do was treat Muli and its people with kindness, the same I’d always done. I had to built up a well of reminders that I tried to be good, especially on the days where the harm I’d inflicted haunted my every waking moment.

Make eye contact. Warm smiles.

I will try to ignore anyone who looks too long at Ford, the Bond added, trying its damned hardest to be helpful. It was moments like that where I found it difficult to hate it.

I wasn’t sure I would even be able to tell if someone was looking at Ford for too long.

All eyes were on us, and my lip curled to hide a smile when I realized how many people were having trouble deciding where to look.

The gawking started with Elijah, backs snapping straight and jaws going slack when they saw his horse then the person who sat atop it. I was pretty sure I saw someone drop into a half bow before straightening with a confused expression, like they didn’t know what had come over them.

Bellamy and Soren were next, the reaction to them more in the vein of outright awe. Their status wafted off them like the most powerful of pheromones. You could tell they were royal—or extremely important at the very least. Hungry eyes ate up their Mark, tracing each line of the branches.

I looked over my shoulder at Freya, finding her hiding a smile. Likely realizing the same thing. Not, however, realizing how many people were staring at her. The sun was casting her in a brilliant light, her red hair blazing and Starlight shining a glittering white that put the stars on a clear night to shame.

I wasn’t the only one to look back. When I turned, I caught Elijah whipping back to face forward again. That little observation would be filed away for later.

I couldn’t pay much mind to it when I noticed how many people were looking at me like they recognized me. Not the friendly note of recognition I’d grown to expect from the Muli soldiers in Pax—though admittedly there were still quite a few people who kept a wide berth.

This…this was something different. It was more latent, eyes only blowing wide when they studied me. Long enough to recognize my Mark, I surmised, when I noticed a particularly comical jaw drop when their eyes settled on the snake on the back of my hand.

I turned to Ford, brows creased in question.

I decided then and there to abandon my commitment to ignoring him. I could keep the Bond at bay, but I couldn’t pretend like I didn’t need him—need my partner—anymore.

Thank God, because seeing Ford’s matching look of confusion made my chest relax.

“Give me your hand,” he muttered under his breath.

“What?” I asked, my breath escaping me.

“Hand, Esme. Please.”

I didn’t know if it was the gruff command in his voice or the fact that he’d said please, but I had my hand intertwined with Ford’s a second later. It took conscious effort to restrain the whimper that built in my throat, the only natural reaction to the white hot energy shooting up my arm, a warmth so intense it bordered on pain.

“Wh-what?” I repeated. Goodness, I prided myself on being eloquent and this was just…

“I don’t know why,” Ford said under his breath, leveling someone with a hard look over my shoulder. “But there are people looking at you like they are scared of you. The type of fear that might make someone do something stupid. Even with our Marks, they need to know that they’d be fighting two people if they came after you.”

Damn right. It’s always the two of you, the Bond snapped, pride filling my head. Ford’s thumb swept over the back of my hand, as if he knew the Bond had said something, and I had to turn back towards the crowd to hide the blush on my cheeks.

It was a good distraction, at the very least. One that kept me centered and my chest proud as we continued to move through the waiting crowd, heading further and further into the town center.

The town was well-built, roads shooting out from a central roundabout. One that housed an incredible statue—a round planet carved out of white marble with sharply pointed stars hanging in the space surrounding it. This far away, I couldn’t tell how the stars were supported, giving the illusion that they were floating.

The crowd grew denser closer to the statue, centering on a clustered group that was decked in such opulence, I could see their jewelry sparkling in the light from several meters away.

Well, it seemed that the royal love for riches was shared across planets.

Elijah hopped off his steed, who surely boasted a name like Midnight with that jet black mane of his, and rubbed a slow hand down his side. Not a rushed bone in his body, even as his planet’s leaders stood before him, waiting to be introduced to their opposition.

It was the older woman who stood to the left that stepped forward towards him first. Her hair was twisted into a sleek updo, the blonde tone so light you couldn’t tell if there was any gray streaking through. Her neck was adorned with a thick gold necklace with a large ruby right in the center, giving the illusion of blood pooling at her neck.

Despite the unseasonably warm weather, she was wearing a thick fur coat the same color of that ruby. When Elijah saw her step forward, his strides grew wider, cutting the distance between them in seconds.