Page 103 of Bonds of Starfall

"For you," he said, "but not without a price."

The corners of her lips tipped up, even as her brown eyes grew guarded. "Your price?"

"Your name," Rhyden prodded.

"Vesperin Vox," the human said. "Now that I’ve paid your price, pay mine. A dance." She arched a dark brow in invitation.

Rhyden slipped off the barstool, holding a hand out to her, palm up. In the distance, the dark bar opened into a floor swathed in red, soft music drifting from the piano tucked in the corner.

She took him in, gaze stilling on his hand. As she placed hers in his, everything stopped.

Everything.

It all narrowed down to her.

"Soulbond," they both breathed at once.

They forgot all about their dance, instead finding a quiet corner to sob and hold each other, drinks abandoned, loneliness a dim memory.

After that, everything transpired in a blur of lovestruck sweetness.

Rhyden discovered that Vesperin Vox, the enchanting human who had swept into the bar, was visiting Sangreal on business. A merchant in the Stars, who collected rare goods and sold them around the galaxy. But now, she had reason to stay. Rhyden gave her a reason to stay.

They were engaged within a week. Time spent dancing on the dark wood floor of his home, gifted jewels draped around her neck, twinkling like Stars, as Rhyden spun her and spun her. Dizzy, sick, infectious.

Drunk in love.

She had been his way forward.

God, if only he knew how dearly he would pay for it.

One night, they were tucked in his bed, her bare back glistening with sweat, her brown hair tousled around her shoulders as she lay on her stomach, cheek pillowed on red silk as she peered up at him. The blankets were pooled around Rhyden’s waist as he sat up in his bed, a glass of blood in his hands, because he didn’t want to drink from her until their wedding night.

I’m an old-fashioned vampire, he’d said, laughing as she tipped her head back, tempting him anyway.

Her brown eyes darted around his room, taking in the opulence of it all. She never seemed to stop doing that, he noticed, as if she were cataloguing all of his possessions. The art lining his walls, the jewelry scattered around.

Her fingers danced over the red sheets, tickling his thigh. He felt himself stir in interest, even spent from lying with her all night.

"You don’t need all of this, do you, Rhyden?" she asked, voice so soft.

"What?"

Vesperin’s hand twisted in the sheets. "Could I… be enough for you?"

"You’re more than enough for me." He grabbed her hand and brought it up to his mouth, placing a kiss on the back of it. A soft spot of red blood stained her flesh from his lips, and he licked it away.

Her breath hitched. "Then let’s leave from here. Let’s go somewhere different. Just me and you." Her eyes were wild now, as she sat up, the sheet slipping down her bare body as her hair hung over her chest, her peaked nipples peeking through the curtain of it.

"Leave?" Rhyden cupped her cheeks, thumbs brushing the space under her eyes. "Why, Vesperin? My whole life is here."

"We can make a life somewhere else."

He didn’t know where this was coming from. She had been so content, had seemed so happy to be wed.

He told her this, and her features dropped as she said, "Of course I am h-happy with you, Rhyden. It’s just?—"

Rhyden thought he knew, thought he had it all figured out. "You’re used to traveling a lot, to seeing the galaxy. We can still travel, enchantress. I will take you to see the whole universe."