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“Likely, yes. They can’t establish bases, but they’re free to come and go. I’m sure triads will touch down to trade.”

June stops chopping to wink at me. “Or to buy gossamer for their pleasure dresses.”

“June, you’re too free a spirit to go for a triad of Aurelians.”

She wipes her hands on a cloth, and her look is concerned. “Oh? So the triad is controlling?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You sort of did. Look, Adriana, I know I joke a lot. But I’ve been worried sick since the announcement. Are they treating you well?”

“They are. They have a code of honor.”

She keeps chopping, putting the veggies in neat piles. “That first kiss. Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it a little.”

“Okay. Maybe a little bit.”

“I knew it! The way he pulled himself up from the cliff and strode up to you after risking everything… Oh, that was beautiful. It’s all my friends have been talking about since. And he’s sotall.”

“Don’t remind me. Tonight is going to be a nightmare. Where are they even going to sit? I wasn’t expecting to sit down to a family dinner with them and my dad.” I bite my lip. “I’m almostglad Oakly isn’t going to be there. That sounds horrible, I miss him, but you know his temper.”

“Oh, Oakly is going to be here. He never backs down from a fight. He’ll take a walk, cool down, chew some of that disgusting tobacco leaf, and storm back in. He’ll want to look the three of them in the eye, show they don’t scare him.” She finishes chopping up the veggies, cleaning the knife in the sink and plops down in Mom’s chair, which she always steals when she’s not around.

Downing her cup of tea, she gives me a long look. “Hey, cheer up Adriana. No matter how awkward dinner is, we’re a bunch of angels compared to your new in-laws.”

I visibly wince. “Let’s not go there. Please.” The last thing I want to be thinking of right now is the Emperor triad, and Doman’s nightmare mother, Queen Jasmine. That woman creeps me out. She looks my age, but she’s lived centuries, and if she was ever a human, the Bond has changed her. Anyone willing to keep a pregnant woman captive lost their right to be called a member of my species in my book.

“So, you’ll be living in the royal palace on Colossus, right? Imagine that. You’re going to be a princess. A queen, even! Oh, wait. No,” she says, remembering that Queen Jasmine and her triad will live hundreds, if not thousands, more years.

“I haven’t even thought of it. To be honest, I thought they’d back out of the deal at the first ritual.”

June smiles, remembering the moment she’s obviously enamored with. “That was so romantic. Leaping over forty feet of fire for a kiss… ah,” she swoons. “You’ll hate me for it, but when he pulled himself up, I cheered. It was like something out of one of the old poems.”

In a flash, her face goes from entranced by the memory to concerned. “Those old poems never ended happily, though, didthey?” She hugs her legs to her chest. “Aurelians don’t really fall in love with a woman unless she’s their Fated Mate.”

The secret is burning up inside me.

I haven’t told a soul.

The thing I love most about June is her loyalty. She never spills a secret, not even when she found my stash of Starbliss. I was holding it for one of my partier friends, and she pretended she didn’t even see it, even though it would be a scandal if the daughter of two wardens was caught with the drug.

“June. I’m going to tell you something. But it’s just between us, okay?”

“Between us and the tree,” she says, mimicking our childhood pact, when we’d place our hands against the living tree that our home wraps around and tell each other everything.

“This is serious.”

She gets up and places her hand against the tree. The last time we did this was over a decade ago, but I take my place beside her, pressing my hand against the trunk.

“You remember the Bondthrumstory that made the news?”

She nods. “Absolutely. Jadah, from the next village over. She was the only woman on Virelia to feel it, and she took the first ship over to Colossus. She’s got a kid now, poor woman; it must have weighed a ton.” She wants to say more, but she’s waiting for me to spill whatever is on my mind.

“I felt it.”

She pulls her hand from the trunk like it caught fire. “What are you saying?” Her voice drops to an awed whisper.

“I had to keep it a secret, or my whole political career would be dead in the water. But when the Bondthrummed, I felt them, I saw them.”