Page 140 of Bonds of Starfall

"Quiet," Lucien hissed, fumbling for the tap to turn on the water.

"Why did you call me here, Lucien?" Auren asked. The Soul Searcher had been resting in his home, nursing a cup of tea after a long night of reaping.

It had been a shock to Auren to receive a message from Lucien. He still wasn’t used to technology, but the doctor had insisted, gifting him a basic flip phone so they could communicate.

And Lucien’s message had been a simple,Get to Vesperin’s dorm. Make sure you are not seen.

Like that was difficult for Auren. He slipped through the shadows with ease. He was not seen unless he willed it.

The rushing trickle of the water in the sink worked to drown out their voices. Auren watched it pool in the porcelain before spiraling down into the drain. His eyes flicked up to the mirror above the sink, taking in the sleep-rumpled blonde hair peeking from beneath his hood.

"You need to be here," said Lucien. His eyes cut to the closed bathroom door, then back to him. "We don’t have much time—Idon’t have much time to tell you. But…"

Auren’s grip on his scythe loosened with every word Lucien said, rushed and whispered.

Vesperin had two other Soulbonds.

A prince… and a criminal.

And they were both just outside that door.

"Celestials," Auren cursed, running a hand through his hair and dislodging his hood in the process. "Does she know about you?"

"No," Lucien said adamantly, "and I do not want her to. Please, Auren, do not tell her about me or Kiton. She’s had to deal with so much." His brows rose with a pained expression. "I don’t want to add to her anguish. If Vesperin finds out I’ve kept this from her for all these years, she may never forgive me. I could live with that, but I couldn’t live with her being put in harm’s way of the Blackfalls."

Lucien scrubbed a hand over his eyes, and Auren reached out, white gloves catching the fluorescent bulbs above the sinkas he placed a hand on Lucien’s shoulder. "You’ve done well, and you have done enough, Lucien. You cannot keep her from everything, and neither can I."

It hurt Auren’s very Soul to know with whom his Soulbond had been during this night. When Lucien had detailed the blood around her mouth and the way her legs had given out when she burst inside…

"I will not breathe a word of it to her," Auren vowed. "However, I will not lie to her unless it is to keep her safe. Do not force me to keep this from her forever. She must know."

Lucien nodded. "I’ll tell her, but not with those two bastards anywhere near her."

Auren understood the sentiment.

It was time to meet the other pieces of his Soulbond’s Soul, and finally tell her just what she meant to him.

Rin sat stifflyon the bed; though, Cyrus kept hovering, trying to get her to lie back after he’d snuck off to the kitchen for some juice for her.

She twirled the glass straw inside the cup, the clinking of it as it hit the side the only sound in her bedroom.

Well, besides the shuffling of Valkar’s boots over her carpet.Rhyden, she reminded herself.Rhyden Valkar?—

Who was in her bedroom, touching the petals of the forget-me-nots on her dresser and kicking up the edge of a fluffy rug at the foot of her bed every time he paced across it.

After Rhyden had shown up, Lucien had turned utterly still. There was no denying that Lucien knew who the male was. His face was plastered all over the news. The infamous Rhyden Valkar, leader of Noctis.

After a terse thirty minutes—with Lucien going toe-to-toe with Rhyden, vines curling up around his boots as Rhyden called on his flames to warm the air around them—she’d pleaded with Rhyden not to hurt Lucien. Something in the vampire’s red eyes had grown cold at her begging words, and he’d taken care not to touch Lucien even once since.

A few minutes ago, Lucien had sat silently between her and Rhyden, Cyrus deemed a non-threat in the face of the vampire. He’d held her hand, fingers cold, muttered,I need a moment,then disappeared to the bathroom.

Leaving Rin alone with Cyrus and Rhyden.

"You need to drink some more, Ves," Cyrus urged from her side.

She looked away from the purple swirling juice to the incubus at her side. "Right." She took a sip, and the sugary tartness did nothing to dispel her worry. She heard the water running faintly in the sink.

Her head still pounded, but she was getting better. Being near Cyrus and Lucien had calmed her, chased away the strange ache in her breastbone. When she’d opened the door to let in Rhyden, perhaps another part of her had calmed, too.That, Rin would take to her grave.