Page 139 of Bonds of Starfall

Lucien’s green eyes were cool behind his glasses. "Vesperin, I didn’t know you were back in Solar City. Why didn’t you tell me?" He set the cloth down and pressed his fingers under her jaw, feeling her pulse as he counted each beat.

Lucien’s words danced around the truth that hung over them all.

She felt her heart, a weak, tired thump in her chest.

"I…" She couldn’t tell him.

Cyrus saved her. "It’s beenhours, Ves. I thought something had happened."

She looked up, meeting his eyes. Her head felt too heavy for her neck. "I fell asleep after dinner." She closed her eyes as memories fell through her fingers like sand. "I went to my room and slept."

Lucien’s hand went utterly still on her. He caught her chin and lifted her face to his. "Vesperin, where did you go?"

"Sabine called me after we got back. She asked me over for a late dinner. I felt bad telling them no. I ate, and I fell asleep," Rin repeated.

Such strong anger, the likes of which Rin had never seen before, swept over Lucien’s face. "You saw Sabine and Talor?"

Rin nodded.

"You went to their house?"

She nodded again.

Suddenly, Lucien pulled her close and held her tightly. She melted into his arms, forgetting to be wary of him.

"Vesperin, I’m so—" He cut off, pressing his lips to her temple.

It was a rare show of emotion, but he pulled away all too quickly, settling her back against the pillows. But she was done sitting back.

Rin pushed herself up, legs curling under her. The room spun, but she gritted her teeth. She was used to sickness. She could get over food poisoning.

She looked to Cyrus first, then Lucien. It was surreal, the both of them here on her bed. She’d been away from Lucien for what felt like years, but now, sitting before him, she realized how wrong she’d been to suspect that he’d ever hurt anyone—especially her.

"Lucien, Cyrus is my Soulbond," Rin said softly. The blue forget-me-nots on her dresser fluttered in a strange breeze. A shadow shifted along the wall.

And Rin told Lucien everything.

Starting with that grief-filled time on Sibeth, when she’d stumbled to a club in search of something, something that had found her in the form of the incubus sitting by her feet.

She purposefully left out what they’d done in that hotel—how he had moved inside her in a place in which no one had ever touched. Unwilling to share that with him, but as she met Cyrus’s eyes, she stumbled over her words.

And as Rin skimmed over her self-appointed mission to Lunar City, she could barely look Lucien in the eye. She knew it was the right decision to tell him, but she didn’t. She merely held fast to her lies.An assignment for Alpha Team.Lucien hadn’t yet earned her reasoning, but god, she wanted to tell him. Cyrus tapped her foot as she spoke, silent encouragement. Their eyes met, and within the purple depths of his irises, she saw devotion and understanding. Faith. Cyrus would do whatever she said. So,this, Rin knew, would be kept secret. Something just for her, the incubus… and the leader of Noctis.

She stalled as she first spoke of Rhyden Valkar, giving Lucien a glossed-over version of events. That was when Rin silently extricated herself from them, as they had inched closer over the hours of her talking.

In the kitchen, she found her phone on the counter, where she had thrown it when she stumbled inside and saw Lucien cornering Cyrus.

Vesperin picked it up and sent a message out to an unknown number.

She glanced up and saw Cyrus and Lucien both standing there. They had followed her.

"Who did you text?" Lucien asked, voice whisper-thin with shock.

She looked between them both, hands on the countertop to keep herself steady. She still felt weak and tired, but less so after the hours had passed. Just spoiled food, like she’d thought.

"Someone who should be here for this conversation—even though Ireallydon’t want him to be."

Auren steppedthrough the portal made by his scythe, right into the dimly lit bathroom of Vesperin Vox’s apartment. The end of his scythe scraped over the tile.