Page 142 of Bonds of Starfall

Auren leaned against the wall,his scythe a comforting weight on his back as Lucien fussed over Vesperin.

It was everything he had wanted it to be and somehow more. She knew, and she had not turned him away or been angered by his lies.

Now, Auren waited for doom. It was wired into him at this point. Their prior three lives had all ended in tragedy, especially the last one, when he had held her so dearly on that trail as she took her last breaths. Her Soul had been beautiful, but Auren found that her heart was even more so.

On edge, he stood guard by the wall, eyeing the one known as Rhyden Valkar with clear suspicion. The incubus Prince was not as threatening. Auren did not keep up with intergalactic politics, but his purple eyes never left Vesperin, and he guarded her as fiercely as Auren wished to. For that, he had his respect.

The vampire, however, was yet to be seen.

"Auren?" Vesperin whispered, speaking slowly as if to taste his name on her tongue. He wanted to hear it again and again.

Why had he waited to reveal himself to her?

"Yes, Hunter," Auren replied softly, loving the way her eyes lit up every time he used her title. Hunter… She was one, for the first time, in all the lives he had known her.

Strong, yet soft. The perfect dichotomy.

Her hands curled into Lucien’s, who was quiet, loathing radiating from him in waves. How could the doctor not see how much Vesperin cared for him? She looked at him when he was not aware, eyes filled with worry, teeth digging into her lower lip.

"You said you knew me for three lives?" she questioned.

He smiled, but it was painfully melancholic. "I did." Time had blurred, but never did it take those memories from him. Sometimes, he wished it had.

"Will you tell me about it?"

His eyelids fell closed, but the sense of doom struck, and he opened them swiftly, ensuring she was here, before him, safe. "Perhaps I will one day, Hunter. For now, you should rest. You are unwell."

Auren would not lie, but he would not ignore the truth. She had been experimented on by the people who had taken her in. That never should have happened. If she had simply trusted Lucien enough to tell him she was back…

Vesperin shook her head, dislodging Cyrus’s hand where it was tangled in the ends of her white hair. She looked past him to the vampire. "I can’t. I have… something to do."

"You meanwehave something to do," Rhyden Valkar said. His voice was like a hiss. How could someone as precious as Vesperin be tied to him?

"Yes," Rin amended, features tightening. "It’s why I went to Lunar City in the first place. Like I told you, it was just a coincidence I ran into Rhyden. The real reason I went there is still looming. I have to deal with this."

"Vesperin, absolutely not. I just got you back—I mean, you just met your Soulbonds, and you wish to leave?" Lucien implored.

"This is something we have to do. Lucien." Vesperin gathered Lucien’s hands in hers. "Please don’t ask me questions, because I don’t think I can answer you," she begged, and it was sucha private moment that Auren felt the need to turn away. He did not, consumed with the sight of her. "Just trust me? Like I trusted you?" Her voice wavered.

Lucien shifted until he sat fully by her side, a knee notched on the mattress by her hip. "I trust you, my V girl, and I trust that there is something you are not telling me. What I do not trust is the vampire."

He was not subtle.

"I’ll keep her safe," Cyrus said quietly from Vesperin’s side. The incubus had been rather silent.

"You act like I’m going to dump her body into the goddamn Azure River or something," Rhyden drawled. They all stiffened. Auren reached for his scythe. "I had plenty of opportunity to do that when I had her as my prisoner in Lunar City. Did she tell you how we met?"

Lucien and Auren shared a look. Lucien shook his head imperceptibly. No, then.

"Leave it alone, Rhyden," Rin snapped. "We made a bargain—we deal with this, then you can do whatever you want. Leave, for all I care."

The vampire curled his lip at her words. What had happened between them to cause such derision?

Her acerbic words seemed too much for the vampire to stand.

"If we’re going to see this through, then you come with me, or the whole thing is off," Rhyden said carefully.

Lucien protested, and Auren watched, holding his tongue.